Avgolemono is the ultimate wintertime comfort soup for me. It is a chicken broth based soup, with rice, egg, and lemon. My mom made it quite often for us, and she had the perfect technique for ending up with a nice layer of egg foam on top of the soup. Your spoon would go through a layer of egg foam and land in a sea of lemon, rice, and egg-thickened chicken broth. There is honestly nothing like it.
The other day, I was thinking about the soups I am going to make this winter, and I immediately thought of avgolemono. It really is a perfect wintertime soup, especially if you have a cold or just need a little extra warmth. Since I have never had better than my mom’s, I asked her if I could share her recipe here. Even if you don’t perfect the technique right away, the soup is amazing and the recipe is simple and doable. It can be made start to finish in less than an hour, and most of that is cooking time. Allow more time if making homemade chicken broth, which really is best 🙂
I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we do. It pairs very well with chicken on the side.
Thank you mom for sharing this recipe with us, and of course for all of the delicious spoonfuls growing up. I love you!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup uncooked white rice
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 3 eggs
- 2 1/2 tsp. lemon juice (a little more than the juice of 1/2 lemon)
- 3/4 tsp. salt
Instructions
- Add the rice to 4 cups of chicken broth, and let it come to a boil. Add the salt, and keep covered and let the rice cook on low for about 25 minutes. When it is getting close, bring the last cup of chicken broth to a boil separately.
- Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the lemon juice (I don't like mine super lemony, so adjust the lemon to your taste once you make it the first time). An electric mixer will give you the best results. Beat the eggs and lemon juice until you get soft peaks. With a hand mixer, this will take at least 10 minutes.
- Once the rice is ready, temper the eggs, by slowly whisking or beating the 1 cup of broth into the eggs.
- Add the egg mixture to the rice, by stirring constantly, but gently.
- Immediately remove the soup from the heat. Serve with chicken and a nice crusty bread. Enjoy!
- Note: It should have a nice thick layer of egg foam on top. That will dissipate and leftovers will not have the foam, however the soup will get thicker and creamier after being in the fridge.
Wow now this sounds like awesome soup yummm
Thanks Lynn! It is really delicious 🙂
This sounds so wonderful with the rice! I love this Antonia
I love rice based soups! Thank you 🙂
It just sounds wonderful!
It really is. I ate it so much growing up, and always loved it.
So nice having memories with a recipe
I agree. I love how food can take you back…
yes 🙂
This is something new to me. Looks so beautiful and yummy
Thank you! It is a wonderful soup. Thanks for stopping by!
Antonia, this dish is so special! I have never heard of it and I’m totally intrigued! It is on my to make list! It looks delicious!
Thanks Francesca! I hope you enjoy it 🙂 It is really delicious and a traditional Greek soup.
Antonia! First of all I love your sunny yellow picture! Great composition and I love the lemon curls especially! I must admit something…I knew the name of this soup but I didn’t really know more than lemon as an ingredient! Thank you for sharing the recipe with us and also for the mouthwatering words you used to describe your mother’s soup!! Delicious !!
Thank you so much Lia! I was a little unsure how to photograph a white soup and make it appealing, so your kind words mean a lot to me. It is a really interesting and yummy soup 🙂
I think it really came out perfectly and very sunny and colorful! I have heard of the soup before on cooking shows but I have yet to try it. I bet yours tastes like 1 million bucks!
Thanks my friend! You are very sweet 🙂
Never tried a rice based souo..filling and flavorful
Thanks Vidya! Rice is really good in soup and so easy to make 🙂
Very delicious soup recipe with rice and I ‘m sure kids will love to have this soup….
Thank you Swapna! It is a great soup for kids 🙂
My absolute fav soup!!
Mine too! There is nothing better. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I definitely agree! You’re welcome.