RECIPE: Rotisserie chicken broth soups up avgolemono in minutes
Greek avgolemono soup is a magically cream-less creamy chicken soup, thickened with eggs and made tangy with a generous amount of lemon juice. As it usually contains only a few ingredients, it’s a natural dish to adapt to the 5:30 Challenge.
No matter their origin, the best, most chicken-y chicken soups use homemade broth, which is hard to make from scratch in a 30-minute meal. However, it is possible to approximate a homemade broth using rotisserie chicken, which is heavily seasoned and easy to break up into parts. Rapidly simmering the legs, wings and back of the chicken with just enough water to cover can get you a flavorful broth in about 10 minutes. This leaves plenty of time to shred the breast meat and prep the remaining soup ingredients: eggs, lemon and rice.
To incorporate the eggs into the hot broth, you’ll want to temper them by slowly whisking some of the hot liquid into the beaten eggs before pouring the eggs into the pot. This step ensures that the eggs thicken the broth to a luxuriously creamy texture instead of turning to bits of scrambled egg. I add the bulk of the lemon juice with the eggs; the remainder is added to taste when serving.
You’ll find recipes for avgolemono soup that incorporate either white rice or orzo pasta to bulk up the dish; I prefer to use either microwaveable or leftover rice, which only needs a minute or so in the hot broth to heat through. The final flourish is a handful of green herbs (I prefer dill) for a fresh finish.
Avgolemono Soup
2 lemons
- 1 rotisserie chicken
- 8 cups water
- 2 lemons
- 2 (8.8-ounce) packs 90-second microwave white rice (or 3 cups leftover cooked white rice)
- 5 large eggs
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, for serving
- Separate the breasts, legs, wings and back from the chicken. Set the breasts aside. Place the legs, wings and back in a large pot and add the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook at a rapid simmer until the liquid is flavorful, about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, juice the lemons. Measure out 1/4 cup and reserve the rest for seasoning. Pull the meat off of the chicken breasts, discarding the skin and bones, then shred into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
- When the broth is flavorful, remove the chicken parts and discard. Add the rice and cook for 1 minute to heat through. Reduce the heat to low.
- Beat the eggs and 1/4 cup lemon juice together in a medium bowl until foamy. While whisking, gradually add about 2 cups of the hot broth to the eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the pot with the remaining broth and stir to combine. Continue to cook over low, stirring, until the broth has thickened to the consistency of light cream, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken breast meat and season to taste with salt, pepper and additional lemon juice.
- Serve topped with dill.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per serving, based on 4: 564 calories (percent of calories from fat, 35), 42 grams protein, 49 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram total sugars, 1 gram fiber, 22 grams total fat (6 grams saturated), 371 milligrams cholesterol, 1,094 milligrams sodium.Sign up for the AJC Food and Dining Newsletter
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