A traditional Greek chicken lemon egg soup, perfect for a comforting meal. This recipe guides you through making a rich chicken broth from scratch, shredding the chicken, and then combining it with sautéed vegetables, seasoned broth, and the classic avgolemono (egg-lemon) mixture.
1. Start by adding a whole 6 pound chicken with the giblets removed to a large pot along with 2 carrots, 1 yellow onion, 8 cloves of garlic, 3 celery stalks with leaves, 2 bay leaves, whole peppercorns, and salt.
2. Submerge everything in 18 cups of water and bring it to a boil.
3. Then turn the heat down to medium-low and cook covered for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Once it’s done, remove the chicken and separate the meat from the bones.
5. Add all of the bones back into the pot, and cook covered for 1 more hour on medium-low.
6. Then strain all of the broth into a separate bowl, discarding the solids.
7. In the same pot, on medium heat, add 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 4 stalks of finely diced celery, 4 finely diced carrots, and 2 small diced yellow onions.
8. Cook until the veggies are soft, then add 5 cloves of minced garlic, all of the strained broth, and the shredded chicken.
9. Season with salt, pepper, and chicken bouillon. Let this cook until all of the veggies are nice and soft.
10. To a separate bowl, add 5 eggs, 2 egg yolks, and 3/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice. Whisk this together till it’s nice and frothy.
11. Then turn the heat of the soup down to low, so that it is barely simmering. Strain out 2 cups of warm broth from the soup and slowly stir it into your egg mixture to temper it.
12. Turn off the heat from the soup, and slowly mix in the tempered egg mixture into the soup, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.
13. Avgolemono is traditionally served with rice, but Orzo is also commonly used. Cook the orzo separately and mix it with olive oil so that it doesn’t get overcooked.
14. When serving, add in orzo or rice, then the soup, and garnish with fresh parsley, fresh dill, and lemon slices. Enjoy!
