Greek · Soup · Testée 9 fois

Avgolemono — soupe grecque au citron, poulet et riz

Stock thickened by eggs and lemon into a velvety, faintly tangy broth, with shreds of poached chicken and tender rice. The cure for grey weather, hangovers, and grief.

Par Eleni Papadakis · Mediterranean editor · Publiée 2025-12-11 · Mise à jour 2026-03-26
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Prép.
10 min
Cuisson
45 min
Total
55 min
Donne
4 servings
Difficulté
Medium
#greek#soup#comfort#chicken#gluten-free
Réponse rapide · Réponse en 30 secondes

Poach a whole chicken in stock with a halved onion, bay leaf, and peppercorns for 40 minutes. Pull and shred the meat. Cook ½ cup of long-grain rice in the strained broth. Whisk 3 eggs with the juice of 2 lemons, temper with hot broth in slow pours, return to the pot OFF the heat. Stir in the chicken. Do not boil — the eggs will scramble. Season and serve immediately with extra lemon.

  • Tempering is the whole technique — slowly heat the eggs with ladles of hot broth before returning to the pot.
  • The soup MUST come off the boil before the egg-lemon goes in. Boiling = scrambled eggs.
  • Real chicken-on-the-bone stock makes the soup; cubes make a wan version.

Equipment

  • Heavy stockpot or Dutch oven
  • Fine-mesh strainer
  • Whisk
  • Ladle
  • Heatproof bowl for tempering

Ingrédients

Stock

  • 1.5 kg whole chicken, or 4 bone-in thighs + 2 carcasses
  • 2 L water, or light chicken stock for extra depth
  • 1 medium yellow onion, halved, skin on
  • 1 carrot, halved
  • 1 celery stalk, halved
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 5 g black peppercorns
  • 5 g fine salt

Soup

  • 100 g long-grain rice, or orzo for thicker texture
  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 large lemons, juiced (about 90 ml)
  • Fine salt and white pepper, to taste
  • Fresh dill or parsley, chopped, to finish
  • Lemon wedges, at the table

Préparation

  1. ÉTAPE
    01

    Place the chicken in a stockpot with water (and stock if using). Add the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, peppercorns, and salt. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat, skimming any foam off the top.

  2. ÉTAPE
    02

    Reduce to the lowest simmer that maintains a few lazy bubbles. Cook 40 minutes for a whole chicken, 30 minutes for thighs + carcass. The chicken should be cooked through and easily fall off the bone.

  3. ÉTAPE
    03

    Lift the chicken out to a tray. Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot. Press the vegetables gently; discard. You should have around 1.5 L of clean, golden stock.

  4. ÉTAPE
    04

    When cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the carcass in big shreds. Discard skin and bones. Reserve the meat — about 400 g.

  5. ÉTAPE
    05

    Return the stock to a simmer. Tip in the rice. Cook 15 minutes for long-grain (8 minutes for orzo) — until tender. Off the heat. Wait 1 minute so the stock comes off a hard boil.

  6. ÉTAPE
    06

    In a large heatproof bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously until pale. Whisk in the lemon juice. Now, while whisking constantly, ladle in 2 cups of hot (not boiling) stock — one slow ladle at a time. This is tempering. The egg should be incorporated but not cooking visibly.

  7. ÉTAPE
    07

    Stir the tempered egg-lemon mixture back into the pot in a slow stream, whisking the pot. The soup will turn from clear gold to opaque, silky cream. Stir in the shredded chicken.

  8. ÉTAPE
    08

    Taste. Add salt as needed (you'll need more than you think). Pinch of white pepper. Ladle into warm bowls. Scatter with dill or parsley. Serve with lemon wedges — many Greeks add another squeeze at the table.

Make ahead

Make the stock and shred the chicken up to 2 days ahead, refrigerated. Cook the rice and add the avgolemono fresh just before serving — these last steps are à la minute.

Storage

2 days refrigerated. Reheat extremely gently in a saucepan over low heat — high heat re-curdles the eggs. The texture is best on day one.

Variations

With orzo (Italianate)

Replace rice with 80 g orzo for a thicker, more glossy soup. Cook orzo in the broth 8 minutes.

Lemon-heavy (Easter version)

Use 3 lemons. Add 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest to the egg whisk. The version served on Pascha.

Vegetarian avgolemono

Make vegetable stock with carrot, celery, leek, onion, and a small piece of celeriac. Replace chicken with 200 g cooked white beans. Different but legitimate.

Serve with

Crusty country breadOlives marinated in oregano and lemonCucumber and tomato saladRetsina or a crisp Assyrtiko

Nutrition per serving

320 kcal 11 g fat 22 g carbs 32 g protein 2 g sugar 1 g fiber 720 mg sodium
Allergens: Egg
Diet: Gluten-free, Dairy-free

Nutrition values are estimates based on the metric measurements. Adjust as needed.

Questions fréquentes

Will my soup curdle?

Only if you skip the tempering or boil after adding the eggs. Temper slowly (3+ ladles of hot stock added to the eggs one at a time), and add the tempered mixture back to a pot that is OFF the heat. If you see lumps you've cooked the egg — start the egg portion over (sad but doable).

Do I need a whole chicken?

No — 4 bone-in skin-on thighs make excellent stock. The whole chicken just gives more meat. If using boneless meat only, add a few chicken wings to the pot for the gelatin.

Can I use stock cubes?

Avgolemono lives or dies on the broth. A good cube/bouillon will give you a decent soup. The proper bone-stock version is dramatically better — it's worth the 40 minutes.

Why won't the egg incorporate smoothly?

Eggs were too cold (use room-temperature), broth was too hot when adding (let it stop boiling, then start ladling), or you didn't whisk fast enough during tempering. Watch the bowl, not the pot — and whisk like you mean it.

Can I freeze it?

Not really. The egg-thickened texture breaks on thaw and the soup goes thin and watery. Freeze just the unthickened broth and shredded chicken; finish with the avgolemono fresh.

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