Avgolemono Chicken Soup with Rice

Avgolemono, which means lemon-egg in Greek, is a sauce typically served alongside dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), vegetables, and roasted meats in Turkish, Balkan, Arab, Greek, and some Jewish cuisines. It's often used as the base of soups and stews, as it is here in our avgolemono soup with chicken. Though it contains only a handful of ingredients, the soup's ratios vary widely from version to version. This rendition uses just yolks instead of whole eggs. Feel free to stir in additional lemon juice at the end if you prefer a bit more tang.

Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen

Because this soup avgolemono recipe calls for both cooked rice and chicken, it's especially quick to make. There are no vegetables to prep; you'll simply need to juice a couple of lemons, shred a rotisserie chicken, and chop half a cup of fresh dill. Of course, you can cook the chicken yourself if you'd like — either poached or sous vide chicken will work nicely. For a slightly different texture, dice the meat instead of shredding it.

The rice in this chicken avgolemono soup serves two purposes: A quarter of it is pureed into the broth as a thickening agent, and the rest is stirred into the soup for a bit of contrast. Though a short-grain variety like arborio is best here, it can be swapped out for cooked orzo or even crushed angel hair pasta if that's what you have on hand.

Suggested pairing

This tangy and light soup would pair well with a tart white wine. We recommend a Greek wine, such as an Assyrtiko.