Greek Lemon Chicken Rice Soup is a bowl of comfort with a rich, silky, fragrant chicken broth and a hint of citrus and sweet rice. This soup could be served as a meal with a salad and some good yeasty beer bread.
Why make this recipe
This soup recipe is perfect for a cool evening meal or to send to a friend who is not feeling well. It has a rich broth and with a fresh citrus note and is loaded with chicken, peas, and carrots.
Ingredients
What kind of chicken to use
You can roast a whole chicken and pick off the meat, but this can be time-consuming on a busy weeknight. I like to purchase a rotisserie chicken, pick off the meat, and then use the carcass to make rich chicken stock.
What is the best rice to use in soup?
I like to use jasmine because it lends to have a sweeter profile, which I like. However, plain white, whole grain brown, wild rice, black rice, or basmati rice are great in soups.
Adding uncooked rice to your soup allows your rice to soak up the flavors of your recipe. However, add the uncooked rice the last 30 minutes of your soup’s cooking time. If it is cooked longer, it becomes mushy.
How to make easy chicken stock
The key to any good chicken soup is having the base made from a good rich broth.
- You can roast a whole chicken for this recipe, but if you are pressed on-time, pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery.
- Pick all the meat off and place it in a separate container.
- Next, I place the carcass and bones into a large stockpot and cover with 1/2 water and 1/2 chicken broth, just enough to not quite cover the bird. Your house will smell amazing, just a warning!
- After the stock has cooked, drain broth through a colander lined with cheesecloth and discard bones.
What is avgolemono?
Avgolemono refers to a Greek sauce made from eggs, lemon, and warm broth. It is added to soups for thickening or as a sauce to top meats, roasted vegetables to fish dishes.
How do you pronounce avgolemono?
Seasonings
- basil
- thyme
- Cavender’s All Purpose Greek Seasoning
- parsley
- lemon juice
Why put leomon in soup?
A small amount of an acidic ingredient like lemon juice brightens flavors, especially in long-simmered soups. You can add the lemon juice as you cook or freshly squeezed just before you serve. This soup would be great served with a fresh lemon wedge.
Tips
How to make the soup ahead
If you want to make this soup ahead and store it, I suggest you do all the steps except the rice and peas. Add the rice as you heat the soup. Allow warming to 165 degrees for 20 minutes. Check to be sure the rice is done; if not, give it a few more heating minutes. Add the peas just before serving.
How to store
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat on the stovetop over low heat to 165 degrees. Be sure not to boil the soup.
Rreheating instructions
Reheat leftover soup on the stovetop at medium-low heat. You can also heat it with the bowl in the microwave. Just be sure the internal temperature reaches 165 F.
How to can the soup
Canning soup and stew is easy and safe when you use a few basic canning safety tips. You can have a quick heat and eat dinner ready on a cold winter night in minutes.
Make the recipe according to the directions. If you are new to canning, then I suggest you read my post How To Pressure Can. Pressure canning is a way to preserve low acid foods like this chili safely. The pressure canner is able to heat the food to a higher and constant temperature to kill botulism spores. For complete canning instructions, please read my post Canned Chili
How to freeze the soup
- Allow the soup to cool down to room temperature.
- Use thick, durable freezer bags or airtight freezer containers.
- Lay the bags flat on a cookie sheet and freeze.
- Defrost in the fridge overnight.
- You could also defrost in a bowl of room temperature water.
- To quickly defrost, use the defrost setting on a microwave.
How to cook it in a crockpot
This recipe would be great in a crockpot. You won’t be able to add the chicken carcass to make the broth rich in the crockpot. This can be done before adding it to the crockpot or starting with a really rich chicken broth first. You can add your vegetables raw to the crockpot. Follow the recipe as instructed, except do these steps after the soup base has been in the crockpot for 5 or 6 hours.
- Add rice, cook until tender, about 30minutes.
- To make the avgolemono, place the eggs in a medium bowl and whisk until lightened in color and frothy, about 2 minutes. While whisking, slowly pour in the lemon juice. While still whisking, temper in the eggs by slowly drizzling 2 cups of warm stock into the egg-lemon mixture. This warms the eggs just enough so that they do not curdle when added to the hot soup.
- Add the avgolemono back into the pot with the chicken and rice and stir to combine. Cook until the soup thickens slightly, 10 minutes or so, but do not let it come to a boil.
- Discard bay leaves, add peas, cook 5 minutes and serve.
What to serve with the soup
Italian Cheesy Pull Apart Bread would be a great addition to your soup dinner. The loaf is filled with buttery garlic, pesto, and Italian herb mixture then generously stuffed with mozzarella cheese to create each perfect bite for this pull-apart Italian bread.
You could also make a batch of Vegan Beer Bread to dip into your soup. A sweet, chewy crust on the outside with a soft scrumptious inside describes this crazy good recipe.
More soup recipes
Greek Lemon Rotisserie Chicken and Rice Soup
Note: Be sure to read through the recipe’s post for tips and details about this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 chicken, rotisserie
- 5 cups chicken broth, or more if needed
- 5 cups water, use if you cook down your chicken carcass. If not use 10 cups of chicken broth for the recipe.
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 onion , medium, diced
- 1 1/2 cup carrots, cut into round slices
- 2 bay leaves, small size
- 1 teaspoon basil, dried
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried
- 1 teaspoon greek seasoning, Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning
- 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped fresh
- 2 lemons, large, juiced (separated)
- 4 eggs, large
- 3/4 cup jasmine rice
- 1 cup peas, frozen
Instructions
- Pick all the meat off and place it in a separate container in the refrigerator.
- Next, I place the carcass and bones into a large stockpot and cover with 1/2 water and 1/2 chicken broth, just enough to not quite cover the bird. Your house will smell amazing, just a warning!
- Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat, cover the pot and allow to simmer for around 1 and 1/2 hours.
- After the stock has cooked, drain broth through a colander lined with cheesecloth and discard bones. Return stock to a large stockpot. Add enough canned chicken broth if needed to have 10 cups of stock.
- Sauté garlic and onions in olive oil in a saucepan until onions are transparent, about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add cooked onions and garlic to stock.
- Add shredded chicken, carrots, bay leaves, basil, thyme, greek seasoning, parsley and 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice to stock.
- Simmer 15 minutes
- Add rice, cook until tender; about 20 minutes.
- To make the avgolemono, place the eggs in a medium bowl and whisk until lightened in color and frothy, about 2 minutes. While whisking, slowly pour in the lemon juice. While still whisking, temper in the eggs by slowly drizzling the reserved 2 cups of warm stock into the egg-lemon mixture. This warms the eggs just enough so that they do not curdle when added to the hot soup.
- Add the avgolemono back into the pot with the chicken and rice and stir to combine. Cook until the soup thickens slightly, 3 to 5 minutes, but do not let it come to a boil.
- Discard bay leaves, add peas, cook 3 minutes and serve.
I buy rotisserie chickens often, and I tend to repurpose them also! Your soup looks so comforting and seems easy enough to make. Will definitely be trying it out especially now that the weather has changed.
Wonder how we managed before rotisserie chicken were so readily available. They really make chicken soups more delicious. Trying this for our weekend grab a bowl kind of meal!
Thanks Linda