Avgolemono is the soup that taught me a sauce and a soup can be the same thing. The name refers to the egg-and-lemon mixture whisked into hot chicken broth at the end, and it does something that seems impossible the first time you try it: the broth turns silky and pale gold, rich like a cream soup, but the flavor stays bright and clean because there is no cream in it at all — just eggs, lemon, and good stock. Underneath that silkiness is a proper chicken soup: tender shredded chicken, soft orzo, a little carrot and celery, and a snowfall of fresh dill at the end.
The only technique that matters here is tempering. If you dump cold egg mixture into boiling soup, you get lemony egg-drop soup with little white strands, which is a different (and sadder) dish. Whisk a ladle of hot broth into the eggs first, then another, and the mixture warms up gently and pours into the pot without a fight. It takes one extra minute and it is the entire recipe, really.
Greeks will tell you avgolemono is what you make when someone is sick, when it is raining, or when dinner needs to feel like being taken care of. I make it most often in November, when the lemons at the store are good and the evenings turn cold. Use the best broth you can — homemade if you have it, a good low-sodium store-bought one if not — because with this few ingredients, the broth is the flavor.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Silky without cream. The egg-lemon finish gives the soup a rich, velvety body with zero dairy.
- Bright, not heavy. Lemon keeps a winter soup tasting fresh instead of leaden.
- One pot, mostly hands-off. Poach, shred, simmer the orzo, temper, done.
- Pantry-friendly. Orzo or rice, eggs, lemons, broth — most of it is probably already in your kitchen.
- Even better reheated. Gently warmed the next day, it is one of the great desk lunches.
Ingredients
- 8 cups (2 quarts) low-sodium chicken broth, homemade or good store-bought
- 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced small
- 2 celery stalks, diced small
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 cup orzo (or 1/2 cup long-grain white rice)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 to 3 lemons), plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for the broth
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, plus more for serving
- Lemon wedges and extra-virgin olive oil, for serving
Instructions
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Poach the chicken. Bring the broth to a gentle simmer in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chicken, reduce the heat to low, and poach at the barest simmer — small bubbles, never a boil — for 15 to 18 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through (165°F in the thickest part). Boiling makes chicken stringy, so keep it lazy. Lift the chicken out to a plate, leaving the broth in the pot.
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Build the base. Add the olive oil to the broth along with the onion, carrots, and celery. Simmer over medium heat for 8 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender. Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds, until fragrant.
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Cook the orzo. Add the orzo (or rice) to the pot. Simmer, stirring now and then so it does not stick to the bottom, until just tender — about 8 minutes for orzo, 15 for rice. Meanwhile, shred the chicken with two forks into bite-size pieces, discarding any gristle, and return it to the pot. Season with the salt and several grinds of pepper.
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Make the avgolemono. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy and uniform, then whisk in the lemon juice. Now temper: while whisking constantly with one hand, slowly ladle about 1 1/2 cups of the hot broth into the egg mixture with the other. Go slowly for the first ladle — a thin stream. The mixture should feel warm to the touch when you are done.
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Finish the soup. Take the pot off the heat. Pour the tempered egg mixture into the soup in a slow stream, stirring the soup gently the whole time. The broth will turn opaque, pale gold, and visibly silky. Do not return the pot to a boil after this point — a hard boil can break the emulsion and curdle the eggs. If the soup needs warming, set it over the lowest heat for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, just until steaming.
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Season and serve. Stir in the dill. Taste carefully: it should be lemony first, then chickeny, then silky. Add more lemon juice a teaspoon at a time if it tastes flat, and more salt if the lemon is there but the soup still seems dull. Ladle into warm bowls, top with extra dill, a drizzle of olive oil, and serve with lemon wedges.
Tips for Success
- Room-temperature eggs temper more kindly. Take them out of the fridge when you start. Cold eggs need more hot broth and more patience.
- Off the heat means off the heat. The single most common avgolemono failure is letting the finished soup boil. Serve it from the pot while it steams.
- Strain the lemon juice. Seeds and pulp in the egg mixture can create little flecks. Juice through a small strainer for the cleanest finish.
- Watch the orzo. Orzo keeps drinking broth as it sits, so the soup thickens in the fridge. That is normal — thin leftovers with a splash of water or broth when reheating.
- Shred, do not cube. Shredded chicken catches the silky broth and distributes through every spoonful; cubes sink and hide.
Variations
- With rice, the classic way. Many Greek families use rice instead of orzo; swap in 1/2 cup long-grain rice and simmer 15 minutes before tempering.
- Meatball version (yuvarlakia style). Replace the chicken with small lemon-oregano meatballs poached in the broth — a heartier, very traditional cousin.
- Vegetarian avgolemono. Use a rich vegetable broth, skip the chicken, and add a can of drained chickpeas and a handful of spinach at the end.
- Extra-herby. Dill is classic, but half dill and half parsley is lovely, and a few torn mint leaves on top are a nice surprise.
- Shortcut night. A rotisserie chicken and good boxed broth get this on the table in 25 minutes; shred 3 cups of the meat and skip the poaching step.
On nights when I am leaning into Greek flavors, I serve this soup with warm pita and follow the same Mediterranean thread later in the week with Mediterranean beef kebabs — the lemon-and-herb logic carries straight over. And for the opposite end of the comfort spectrum, my creamy chicken pot pie is the other chicken dinner this household requests on repeat.
Storage and Make-Ahead
Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat gently — this is the one rule that matters. Warm the soup over low heat, stirring often, until it is steaming and hot but nowhere near boiling; a boil will curdle the eggs and the silkiness is gone. A microwave works if you use 50% power and stir every minute. The orzo will have absorbed broth, so add water or broth a few spoonfuls at a time until it looks like soup again, and finish with a squeeze of fresh lemon to wake it up.
Freezing is not avgolemono’s friend: the egg emulsion breaks and the texture turns grainy. If you want a freezer asset, freeze the soup base before adding the eggs and lemon — poached chicken, vegetables, and broth (hold the orzo too, and cook it fresh) — for up to 3 months. Thaw, reheat, cook orzo in it, then temper and finish as written.
To make ahead for dinner guests: poach the chicken and cook the vegetables and orzo in the morning; refrigerate the base and shredded chicken together. At serving time, reheat the base to a simmer, take it off the heat, and do the tempering fresh. It takes five minutes and tastes like you just made the whole thing.
Frequently Asked Questions
My soup curdled and looks grainy. Can I save it?
Partially. Take it off the heat at once and whisk vigorously — sometimes it comes back together. A quick blitz with an immersion blender for 5 seconds can also smooth it. It will still taste fine even if the texture is not perfect, so do not throw it out; just do not boil it next time.
Can I use bottled lemon juice?
Fresh is noticeably better here because lemon is a headline flavor, not background. Bottled juice tastes flat and slightly cooked. If bottled is truly all you have, use it, but add a pinch of lemon zest to fake some of the brightness back.
Is the egg in the soup fully cooked?
Yes. The eggs are tempered with hot broth and then stirred into soup that is just off a simmer, which brings them past the temperature needed to set and cook through safely. The soup should be served steaming hot, not lukewarm.
Can I make it with turkey?
Happily — this is a classic day-after-Thanksgiving move. Use turkey broth and about 3 cups of shredded cooked turkey, added with the orzo so it just warms through instead of poaching.
Recipe Card
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 6 bowls (about 10 cups)
Summary: Poach 1 1/4 pounds chicken in 8 cups broth at a bare simmer for 15 to 18 minutes; remove and shred. Simmer 1 diced onion, 2 carrots, and 2 celery stalks in the broth 8 minutes; add 2 minced garlic cloves and 3/4 cup orzo and cook 8 minutes. Return chicken; season. Whisk 3 eggs with 1/3 cup lemon juice, temper with 1 1/2 cups hot broth, then stir into the soup off the heat until silky. Add 1/4 cup fresh dill, adjust lemon and salt, and serve hot.
