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Avgolemono soup

Print Recipe
Course Soup
Cuisine Greek

Ingredients
  

Chicken and stock - see instruction

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup each of diced carrot, celery, onion
  • 2 whole bay leavess
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 liters Water, or chicken broth/stock if you can.
  • 1 whole chicken - approx 3 pounds, or 2-ish cups cooked and shredded

Soup

  • 2/3 cup rice, washed
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken

Avgolemono Sauce

  • 3 eggs room temperature
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 cup hot broth from the soup pot

Instructions
 

Chicken and stock

  • If you already have 2 liters stock (you can do 50-50 water) and around 2 cups of shredded chicken, skip this section.
  • Over medium heat, melt the butter, sautee the carrots for 3-4 minutes, add celery and sautee for 3-4 minutes, then the onions for another 3-4 minutes.
  • Add 3 liters of chicken water/broth/stock, bay leaves, sliced garlic, salt, and stir well.
  • Add the chicken, increase temp to medium-high.
  • Boil and cover for 60-90 minutes until internal temperature is 165F and the meat is falling off the bones.
  • Strain out the solids.
  • Set the meat aside, and shred up 2 cups.

Soup Base

  • In a large pot, bring the stock, and rice to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.
  • Meanwhile, heat the butter and caramelize the diced onions, and add them to the simmering soup when ready.
  • Also meanwhile, shred up the chicken if needed, and add it to the soup.

Avgolemono sauce

  • Whisk up the eggs with the pepper.
  • Keep whisking, and slowly add the lemon juice.
  • Keep whisking, and very slowly add the hot broth, 1/4 cup at a time.
  • Once everything is fully incorporated, pour the sauce into the soup pot.
  • Stir the sauce into the soup, remove from heat, cover, and let sit 5 minutes.

Notes

The only tricky part to this recipe is the actual sauce.
If you have a helper, you can do it all with a whisk, but a hand mixer on low works just fine.
Beat the eggs well, and I can't stress enough that you need to slowly incorporate the lemon, and even more slowly incorporate the broth.
We're not making scrambled eggs or egg-drop soup, so keeping the eggs whisked the entire time is necessary.