Avgolemono Soup
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Avgolemono is Greek comfort at its finest—lemony, silky, and so much more than your usual chicken soup.
Every culture has its favorite chicken soup—from classic American chicken noodle soup to cozy Jewish matzo ball soup. In Greece, it’s avgolemono soup, a light yet satisfying blend of flavorful chicken broth, bright lemon, eggs, chicken, and rice. The name comes from the Greek words “avgo” (egg) and “lemono” (lemon).
This avgolemono soup recipe is surprisingly easy to make, with just one “cheffy” step: tempering the eggs. This process gently warms them to avoid scrambling and creates the soup’s signature creamy texture. Don’t worry—I’ve made it foolproof with a blender. Pair it with souvlaki and a fresh Greek salad for a satisfying meal.
“I couldn’t believe I wasn’t at a restaurant. This had the most delicious taste with the perfect amount of lemon. I’m in heaven!”
What You’ll Need to Make Avgolemono
- Chicken tenderloins or breasts: Adds protein and heartiness. If using chicken breasts, you’ll need to cut them into 1-inch strips before cooking.
- Chicken broth, fresh dill, bay leaf & white pepper: The broth is what ties everything together; dill adds a fresh herby lift and gives the soup a familiar Greek flavor, bay leaf brings subtle earthy depth, and white pepper gives gentle heat.
- Long grain white rice: Bulks up the soup; a portion gets blended in to thicken the broth and keep it silky. Although rice is traditional, some people swap in orzo for a different twist—just keep in mind it cooks more quickly, so you’ll need to adjust the timing.
- Fresh lemon juice, eggs & egg yolks: The heart of avgolemono—eggs whisked with lemon make the broth creamy and rich, while the yolks add extra body.
- Heavy cream: Though not traditional in avgolemono, cream enriches the broth and helps soften the lemon’s acidity. Feel free to omit it for a more lemon-forward version.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1. Season the chicken. Place the chicken on a plate, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for 15 minutes.
Pro Tip: Salting the chicken ahead of time isn’t just about flavor—it also helps the meat retain moisture so it stays tender when it poaches in the broth.
Step 2. Start the soup base. In a large pot, bring the broth, rice, white pepper, dill sprigs, and bay leaf to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and cook until the rice is al dente, about 5 minutes.
Step 3. Add the chicken. Remove the pot from the heat, add the chicken, cover, and let sit until cooked through, about 15 minutes.
Step 4. Chop the chicken. Discard the dill sprigs and bay leaf. Transfer chicken to a cutting board, cool slightly, and chop into bite-sized pieces.
Step 5. Make the egg-lemon mixture. Blend ¾ cup of rice with the lemon juice, eggs, and yolks until smooth. Add ¾ cup broth, blend again, then repeat with another ladle of broth.
Step 6. Finish the soup. Stir the egg mixture slowly into the hot broth , add the cream, and gently simmer over low heat until the rice is tender. Just before serving, stir in the chopped dill and chicken. Serve right away, since the soup thickens as it sits. Refrigerating or freezing the soup can affect its texture, so, for best results, enjoy the soup fresh.
Video Tutorial
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Avgolemono Chicken Soup with Rice
Ingredients
- 1 pound chicken tenderloins (or chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch strips)
- 1¼ teaspoons salt
- 8 cups chicken broth
- ¾ cup long grain white rice
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 3 sprigs fresh dill, plus 2 teaspoons chopped (see note)
- 1 bay leaf
- 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 2 lemons
- 2 large eggs plus 2 large yolks
- ½ cup heavy cream, plus a bit more if necessary (optional; see note)
- Freshly ground black pepper, for serving
Instructions
- Place the chicken on a plate and season all over with the salt. Let sit for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring the broth, rice, white pepper, dill sprigs, and bay leaf to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is al dente, about 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, add the chicken, cover, and let sit until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
- Discard the dill sprigs and bay leaf. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board, let cool slightly, then chop into bite-sized pieces.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer about ¾ cup of the rice to a blender. Add the lemon juice, eggs, and yolks to the blender and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Using a soup ladle, transfer about ¾ cup (180 ml) of the broth to the blender and process until smooth, 10 seconds (be sure to leave the hole in the lid open and cover with a kitchen towel to allow the steam to escape). Add another ladleful of broth to the blender and process again.
- Slowly pour the egg mixture into the pot, stirring until evenly combined. Add the cream and bring to a gentle simmer over low heat. Do not boil. (The soup will be a bit frothy at this point; don’t worry, the froth will settle as it simmers.) Taste the rice to see if it’s cooked through. If it needs a few more minutes, gently simmer the soup until the rice is cooked. Right before serving, stir in the chopped dill and the chicken, then taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. If the soup is too lemony, add more cream. If the soup is too thick, thin it with a bit of water. Serve immediately, as the soup thickens up quite a bit as it sits.
Notes
Pair with
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Made this tonight to go with some chicken souvlaki and it was a hit! Super easy to make – I love how the chicken cooks off the heat, and the tempering of the eggs in the blender assured that the eggs didn’t clump up in the soup. The lemon and dill made the soup bright yet overall it was rich and comforting. Next time I will try without the cream just to compare.
Jenn,
Made this last night, to many compliments.
Didn’t use cream, and didn’t miss it.
I used 4 whole eggs, rather than the 2_whole_plus_2_yolks. Whenever I separate eggs, immediately upon refrigerating, they grow a sign that says “keep for 7 days, then throw out”.
Curious, what did I sacrifice by using all whole eggs?
Thanks,
Joe
Glad everyone enjoyed it, Joe! Using egg yolks makes the soup taste a bit richer, but many avgolemono recipes do call for whole eggs.
This is the perfect post-Christmas winter soup. Light but satisfying.
A big bowl of creamy deliciousness! All the flavors were beautifully balanced, creamy but not thick, lemony but not tart. I didn’t have fresh dill so used dried, gave the soup a dash of dilly delight!
Surprised—this is the first such recipe with neither onions or garlic. Has it been tried and abandoned?
Hi John, I was trying to keep this recipe as simple as possible and didn’t think it needed onions/garlic for flavor. Feel free to saute some and add them to the broth if you’d like. Hope you enjoy if you make it! 🙂
Do you think this would work with brown rice? I made a version of this soup one time and we really enjoyed it. I like your methods better than the recipe I tried. But we are trying a low carb diet so wonder if brown rice would work?
Oh sorry! I just saw your response to this same question already!
Hey there… I’m Greek and this is by far one of the best and easy food you can prepare… BUT… for God’s shake… DON’T USE CREAM or MILK… this is not in the recipe.
– Just boil the chicken… (either a whole chicken or some parts of it) Place it in a large pot and cover it with water.
– remove any foam from the top of the water while it is boiling
– remove the chicken once it is ready and keep the broth
– add some rice (not basmati or anything exotic… Just long grain rice)
– you can add a couple of carrots and one potato too aif you want
– mix 2 eggs (or one) in a bowl with the juice of one lemon, with some salt and some black pepper… USING A HAND BLENDER
– When the rice is ready remove it from the fire and add the broth slowly inside the egg and lemon mix… Add as much as you can… Slowly .. Really slowly (we don’t want to make the eggs look like an omelet) and don’t stop using the hand blender all the time…
Once you have finished return the mixed up broth back to the pot (away from the fire)
YOU ARE READY..
you can either serve it as it is or you can just add some chicken and the carrots inside the dish. Sprinkle some fresh pepper and it is done. Enjoy…
DON’T USE CREAM OR MILK… PLEASE!!!!
Loved the twist on this recipe both the process and addition of cream. Just the right balance of lemon. Didn’t have fresh dill but dried worked in a pinch. Yum
This comment is so rude. She purposely states that it’s not traditional to add the heavy cream and you can omit it if you’d like. If you don’t want to make this version of the recipe, then don’t.
This is always a treat to have.. restaurant at home! I call it soup therapy 🙂 light and refreshing, perfect mood lifter on a wintery day ❄️🌴🥣🍲🍜
Hi Jenn! I’m Greek so avgolemono chicken soup is on the table almost once a week during winter. We usually boil the whole chicken and then add the rice to the broth but your version is much quicker. If you love avgolemono you should definitely try youvarlakia soup which is a kind of meatball soup with avgolemono! So glad you introduce us with food from all over the world!
That sounds delicious, Vivi. I will try it!
How would you make this soup using an immersion blender? Any advice?
Unfortunately, this recipe won’t work with an immersion blender — sorry!
I just did that. Very easy. I used the tall 1-qt container that came with my blender, and had no splash problems at all.
I have enjoyed my Armenian grandmother’s similar version of this soup for almost 50 years.. Her soup would always thicken a bit too much . I found that cooking the rice separately and then adding it to the broth worked much better . Cooking the rice in the same broth deposits too much starch.
Hi Peggy, I considered cooking the rice separately but wanted to keep the dishwashing to a minimum. 🙂 I got around the starchy issue by using less rice than what is typically called for. You can definitely cook the rice separately; it’s an especially good option if you’d to make this soup ahead (in which case you would add the rice that isn’t blended into the egg/lemon mixture at the last minute before serving).
What is the delicious looking bread that it’s served with – pita bread?
Hi Gina, Yes it’s homemade pita bread. I was hoping to share a recipe for that this week as well, but I gave up after trying many recipes that didn’t really work — it’s very tricky to get pita to puff up reliably in a home oven.
Do try the whole-wheat pita recipe from Robin Asbell’s book Big Vegan. I’ve made it many times, to rave reviews, and the pitas puff up perfectly every time. 🙂