Avgolemono (Greek Lemon-Egg Chicken Soup)
Chicken breasts poached in stock, rice or orzo cooked in the same pot, and five eggs tempered with hot broth until the soup turns silky and pale gold, then sharpened with lemon juice to taste and finished with the chicken and fresh dill.
Avgolemono means "egg-lemon," and Wikipedia calls it a family of sauces and soups: in Greece the word is the egg and lemon mixture itself, used on dolma, artichokes and roast meats as well as in chicken broth with rice, orzo or pastina. Serious Eats' Daniel Gritzer makes the same point: in the United States avgolemono has become practically synonymous with one chicken soup, but in Greece it describes the mixture alone.
Its roots may not be Greek at all. Wikipedia says avgolemono is "originally Sephardic Jewish," from agristada, an egg sauce Jews made in Iberia before the expulsion from Spain, first soured with verjuice, pomegranate or bitter orange and only later with lemon; for some Sephardic Jews the soup is still the way to break the Yom Kippur fast. Gritzer says the mixture may have spread around the Mediterranean with Sephardic Jews after 1492. In Turkey the same mixture is called terbiye.
Why it works the kitchen science
Tempering
Adding hot broth to the eggs a ladle at a time raises their temperature gently, so they thicken the soup into a silky emulsion instead of scrambling into strings.
Lemon in two stages
Gritzer found recipes ranging from 2 to 10 tablespoons of lemon per quart, so he adds a little with the eggs and leaves the rest to taste; the starch from the rice or orzo also helps hold the emulsion together (Wikipedia).
Step by step
- Step 1
Put the chicken and stock in a 3-quart saucepan and heat over medium heat until the stock is steaming with a few small bubbles, about 170 to 180°F. Hold it there, adjusting the heat, until the thickest part of the breasts reads 165°F, about 20 to 30 minutes. Move the chicken to a plate.
- Step 2
Bring the stock to a simmer, add the rice or orzo and cook until just tender, about 20 minutes for rice or 13 for orzo. Meanwhile dice or shred the chicken.
- Step 3
Turn the heat down so the soup barely bubbles. In a heatproof bowl, beat the eggs with 1/4 cup lemon juice until lightly foamy.
- Step 4
Whisking the eggs constantly, ladle in about 1/2 cup of hot broth, then three or four more 1/2-cup ladles, one at a time. Whisk the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan and season with salt.
- Step 5
Cook over low heat, whisking and scraping the sides constantly, until the soup thickens and reads 160°F, a few minutes. Don't let it boil, or the eggs will curdle.
- Step 6
Taste, and whisk in more lemon juice, a little at a time, until it's as tart as you like. Add the chicken, check the salt, and serve with dill.
Avgolemono (Greek Lemon-Egg Chicken Soup)
Serves 4 · about 2 quarts · 1 hr 15 min total
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb)
- 2 quarts homemade chicken stock or low-sodium broth
- 1/2 cup (about 3 1/2 oz) rice or orzo
- 5 large eggs
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2 to 4 lemons)
- Kosher salt
- 2 tbsp minced fresh dill, for garnish
Method
- Put the chicken and stock in a 3-quart saucepan and heat over medium heat until the stock is steaming with a few small bubbles, about 170 to 180°F. Hold it there, adjusting the heat, until the thickest part of the breasts reads 165°F, about 20 to 30 minutes. Move the chicken to a plate.
- Bring the stock to a simmer, add the rice or orzo and cook until just tender, about 20 minutes for rice or 13 for orzo. Meanwhile dice or shred the chicken.
- Turn the heat down so the soup barely bubbles. In a heatproof bowl, beat the eggs with 1/4 cup lemon juice until lightly foamy.
- Whisking the eggs constantly, ladle in about 1/2 cup of hot broth, then three or four more 1/2-cup ladles, one at a time. Whisk the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan and season with salt.
- Cook over low heat, whisking and scraping the sides constantly, until the soup thickens and reads 160°F, a few minutes. Don't let it boil, or the eggs will curdle.
- Taste, and whisk in more lemon juice, a little at a time, until it's as tart as you like. Add the chicken, check the salt, and serve with dill.
Adapted from Daniel Gritzer, "Avgolemono Soup (Greek Lemon-Egg Chicken Soup)", Serious Eats (April 2018; updated March 16, 2025), serves 4. We follow its ratios and method: 1 lb boneless breasts, 2 quarts stock, 1/2 cup rice or orzo cooked about 20 or 13 minutes, 5 eggs beaten with 1/4 cup lemon juice, four or five 1/2-cup additions of hot broth whisked in, the eggs cooked into the soup over low heat while whisking, and up to 1/4 cup more lemon to taste. Gritzer poaches the breasts in stock held near 150°F to 145°F inside; we keep the stock just below a simmer and take the breasts to 165°F (USDA FSIS), so our poaching time of 20 to 30 minutes is our estimate, and the 160°F check on the egg-thickened soup (FSIS for eggs) is ours. Serious Eats. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Gritzer says you can start from 2 quarts of a basic chicken soup with the meat already in it, skipping the poaching.
- Arborio or other risotto rice adds extra starch and a little more body; a Serious Eats reader swears by it.
- Reheat leftovers gently over low heat, stirring, just until hot; a hard boil will break the eggs. Bring the soup to 165°F for leftovers (USDA FSIS) without letting it bubble hard.
- Turkey broth and leftover roast turkey work too.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Avgolemono is Greek. Disputed: Wikipedia says it is "originally Sephardic Jewish" though often considered Greek; Serious Eats says Sephardic Jews possibly spread it after 1492.
- Mix the egg and lemon first. Disputed: most recipes blend them together; Gritzer argues for adding most of the lemon after the eggs, to taste.
- Whip the egg whites separately. Folklore: some recipes do; Gritzer tested it and found the result foamy.
- Rice, not orzo. Disputed: Wikipedia lists rice, orzo, pastina and tapioca without preference; Gritzer gives both.
- Avgolemono is a cold remedy. Folklore: Wikipedia's chicken soup article calls it a traditional remedy for colds, stomach aches and hangovers; no study tests it.
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