Greek Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup (Kotosoupa Avgolemono)
This delicious Greek lemon chicken orzo soup is rich, velvety, and tangy, prepared with authentic avgolemono egg-lemon sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 medium carrot, diced small
- 1 small onion, diced small
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 10 cups (2.4L) chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup (210g) orzo, dry
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup (118ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- fresh herbs, chopped (Optional garnish. Parsley, dill, or chives.)
Directions
- 1
Small dice the onion and carrot, and mince the cloves of garlic. Cut the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces and season them with salt and pepper.
- 2
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Sauté the chicken for 2-3 minutes, then remove from the pan and set aside for now.
- 3
Add another tablespoon of oil to the pot. Sauté the diced onion and carrot for 3-4 minutes, then add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- 4
Add in the chicken broth and bay leaves, and raise the temperature to high heat.
- 5
Once the broth is boiling, add in the cooked chicken, dry orzo, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer until the orzo has cooked, about 10-12 minutes. Remove the soup pot from the heat.
- 6
In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice with the eggs.
- 7
Then very slowly pour in 2 ladle-fulls of broth from the pot, all the while continuing to whisk. The slow addition of the warm broth will temper the eggs, creating the avgolemono sauce. (Adding the broth too quickly will result in cooked pieces of egg.)
- 8
Pour the avgolemono sauce into the pot and stir it in to combine.
- 9
Serve and optionally garnish with some chopped fresh herbs.