Greek Lemon + Chicken Soup

This brightly flavored chicken and rice soup is popular in Greece where its name, Avgolemono, means “egg-lemon”, referring to two of its staple ingredients. It’s light and super lemony base hints at the freshness of spring which waits around the next corner.

And just as I finally reconcile the notion of making my own chicken stock [don't you love the way Ina can pull a container out of her freezer at any given time] I notice that something curious is going on with Trader Joe’s chicken broth! I recently opened a box of their free range chicken broth to discover a richly colored, thicker looking liquid. A closer look at the ingredient list revealed that it is now produced as a stock rather than broth – meaning, they have cooked the chicken with carrots, onion and celery as well. What a find – but also a quandary, because now there’s even less reason to make homemade stock. I’m thrilled as this means a higher nutritional content and more flavor. A trip back to TJ’s confirmed that it’s still available – but double check the ingredients because the boxes labeled as low sodium contain chicken broth only.

Gosh, I hope this won’t affect how Ina feels about me…

Print This Recipe

64 oz. chicken stock
1 bay leaf
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice
boneless, skinless chicken breasts from 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded with fingers
3 egg yolks
zest of 2 lemons
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used Meyer lemons here, but found regular lemons best)
sea salt +lots of freshly ground pepper ( to taste)

Serves 4 to 6
Bring chicken stock, bay leaf, garlic and sprinkle of salt to a simmer. Add rice, cover and gently simmer over low-med heat for 10 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove bay leaf. In small bowl, whisk egg yolks together, then whisk in lemon juice. Add a cup of the hot soup to egg-lemon mixture, very slowly, whisking while you pour it in. Add another cup in the same manner. Take soup off the heat and add egg mixture to it – do not allow to boil or eggs may curdle. Add shredded chicken breasts. Season with S & P and serve.

Tagged as: chicken, Greek, lemon, rotisserie chicken, soup