Skip to main content
DinnerQuickSides, Salads, Soup

A 15-Minute Keeper

By December 14, 2010September 26th, 202336 Comments
[Photo updated September 2023] This Greek chicken soup (aka Avgolemono) was the single most popular dinner we ran in Cookie magazine (RIP) when I was working there, most likely becauseĀ it takes 15 minutes to whip up from start to finish, and yet…I had never actually tried it until last Thursday. At which point Phoebe picked up her bowl and drank every last drop, and at which point my husband nearly wept with joy, and at which point I began almost immediately emailing everyone I knew demanding they try it asap. (Abby will weigh in later, after her “15-20 exposures.”)

Avgolemono

4 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup uncooked orzo
salt and pepper
3 eggs
3 tablespoons lemon juice
handful fresh dill (chopped)
shredded rotisserie chicken (optional)

In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil.

Add the orzo and cook until tender but still al dente, about 7 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper and reduce heat to low; let simmer.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and lemon juice until smooth. Ladle about 1 cup of the hot broth into the egg-and-lemon mixture, whisking to combine.

Add the mixture back to the simmering saucepan. Stir just until the soup becomes opaque and thickens as the eggs cook, 1 to 2 minutes. Add dill, salt and pepper (to taste) and chicken if you have it, and serve.

36 Comments

  • Avatar laurel says:

    I think that the pretty green floating things are rosemary sense it would taste DELICIOUS!!!!! And they resemble the rosemary leave entirely

  • Avatar Colleen says:

    This soup is so delicious and lemony! It’s also very easy and quick to make.

  • Avatar Diane says:

    Pinned this a while ago, sad I waited so long to make it! Had it for dinner last night. It was wonderful and so simple to put together. This will be my go to recipe for any extra chicken I have. Thanks for sharing!

  • Avatar Jessica says:

    For those who like precise measurements, I used 1/2 cup tiny pastilla for the orzo, 1 Tbsp dried bottled dill, and about a cup of finely cut up chicken. Two thumbs up from me and my 1 year old son.

  • Avatar Lori says:

    I love this soup and thought of it when my dad was going through chemo and needed to get more protein and calories into his diet. He was eating a lot of soup, but couldn’t tolerate anything creamy. This was perfect – light enough to stay down but with protein from the egg and chicken. (Worked well with my morning sickness too.) Thanks so much.

  • Avatar Rebekah says:

    I made this tonight using a large filet of white fish (not sure what kind) instead of chicken. I had almost 2x more broth than I needed to my own taste. My husband really liked it and it grew on me even though I’m not a huge fan of dill, so I’ll make it again for sure and try it with chicken at some point. Thanks very much!

  • amanda june says:

    Wow, this is an old recipe, but got a link to it from somewhere and made it for the first time tonight. Came together quickly as promised and was delicious! I love that it’s “creamy” from the eggs and not dairy. Love the fresh lemon taste — a sort of spring take on chicken noodle soup. Will definitely make again, though my husband and I agreed more a higher ratio of orzo would be welcome. I had no fresh dill, but used dried (along with some dried basil); it was forgiving. šŸ™‚

  • Avatar katerina says:

    Hi. I visit your site for the first time and like it a lot. Just a small remark. In Greece (I am a Greek working mother of two, living in Greece) we just call the soup ” chicken soup” and not ” avgolemono”. Actually, avgolemono (meaning egg-lemon) is the name of the sauce, which we use in many many recipes (f.e. meatball soup with avgolemono, zucchini with avgolemono etc).

  • Avatar Naureen says:

    A miracle happened this evening in my home. My three year old, who barely weighs 25 lbs and refuses to eat pretty much anything, had every spoonful of this soup. She even asked for more. My husband and I are crying tears of joy into our own bowls of soup. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this awesome recipe!

  • Avatar Racheal says:

    Thanks Jenny for another fantastic recipe! I subbed 1/2 C arborio rice for the orzo to make it gluten free and it was fantastic. My two and five year olds loved it, and even the next day my husband was still talking about how much he loved dinner from the night before.

  • Jamie says:

    Throw in the whole remaining lemon after you squeeze the juice out and simmer it in there for a bit.

Leave a Reply

What is 3 + 9 ?
Please leave these two fields as-is:
IMPORTANT! To be able to proceed, you need to solve the following simple math (so we know that you are a human) :-)