Avgolemono Soup
Egg yolks, lemon juice and broth form the silky, bright avgolemono sauce that beautifully elevates chicken rice soup.
Servings 4 as a meal
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup chopped celery, about 2 ribs
- 1 cup chopped carrots, 2 to 3
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 8 cups chicken stock or reduced-sodium broth
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
- 3 cups or so shredded/chopped chicken (see Kitchen Notes)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium flame in a Dutch oven or heavy soup pot until shimmering. Add onion, celery and carrots, and stir to coat with oil. Cook vegetables until starting to soften, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid browning or burning.
- Clear a space in the middle, add garlic, oregano and thyme, and cook, stirring constantly, about 45 seconds. Add chicken stock, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, stir in rice and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add chicken and cook until chicken is warmed through, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the avgolemono sauce. Whisk the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a deep bowl or measuring cup. Continuing to whisk, slowly ladle in 2 ladlesful of broth. This tempers the egg lemon mixture and keeps it from cooking into solids.
- Turn the heat off under the Dutch oven and whisk the avgolemono sauce into the soup. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt.
- Ladle into shallow soup bowls and serve.
Kitchen Notes
Let’s talk chicken parts. Many recipes specify chicken breast—rotisserie chicken serves well here. We had recently roasted some chicken thighs and used three of those, which produced about 3 cups of shredded/chopped chicken. You can also gently sauté chicken tenderloins.
Reheating leftovers. Do so gently, without bringing the soup to a boil. You don't want to break the sauce.
Liz’s Crockery Corner. This blue transferware soup plate is in the Wild Rose pattern. This pattern was very popular across many decades in the 1800s, but we suspect this dish was made before 1842 (when registration marks first were added to English pottery) and most likely around 1825 to 1830. That image in the center is taken from a print first issued in 1811—a view of the village of Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire. That body of water, with the people fishing from flat boats, is the Thames. And that stately home on the left is still standing. Today it’s a spiritual center: Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.
Liz’s Crockery Corner. This blue transferware soup plate is in the Wild Rose pattern. This pattern was very popular across many decades in the 1800s, but we suspect this dish was made before 1842 (when registration marks first were added to English pottery) and most likely around 1825 to 1830. That image in the center is taken from a print first issued in 1811—a view of the village of Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire. That body of water, with the people fishing from flat boats, is the Thames. And that stately home on the left is still standing. Today it’s a spiritual center: Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University.