Make a great lemon chicken orzo soup with this easy recipe that's a lot like your favorite Greek restaurant without leaving the house.
There's a little gyro place near us that sometimes offers us lemon soup. I'm a huge fan of lemon everything and this soup is so good I decided to try to make something similar. The thing I noticed most was that it reminded me of an egg drop soup. You know the kind that you might get at a Chinese restaurant with the addition of a fairly strong lemon flavor.
Making Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
So I started with a basic chicken soup type recipe and added eggs and fresh lemon.
You need to be careful and temper the eggs before adding them to the pot. Otherwise, they will curdle in the soup instead of just giving it the creaminess that I was going for.
I used orzo as it is a common pasta used in Greek dishes. It's small like rice but it's made with semolina flour like most pasta.
I also added shredded cooked chicken from a rotisserie chicken for convenience. Adding a bit of protein for me makes this more of a one-pot meal. You could easily leave out the chicken and keep it meatless. And you could serve it as a side dish with a pan of delicious Moussaka.
On a final note, we found that adding more fresh lemon juice to the bowl just before eating made the soup taste even better. Opa!
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Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
Make a great lemon chicken orzo soup with this easy recipe that's a lot like your favorite Greek restaurant without leaving the house.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 3/4 cups of dry orzo pasta
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 2 diced carrots
- 2 quarts of chicken broth
- 2 eggs at room temperature
- 2 cups of cooked shredded chicken
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (~ 2 lemons)
- 1/4 cup of chopped fresh parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Saute carrots and onion in a large pot in olive oil for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent.
- Add garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir well.
- Add broth and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk eggs and lemon juice together in a small bowl.
- Add about 1 cup of the hot broth to the eggs and lemon juice a little at a time all the while stirring the mix so that the eggs do not curdle.
- Then add the egg mixture to the pot.
- Add the orzo and chicken.
- Simmer for 10 minutes or until orzo is cooked through and serve.
Notes
Have additional wedges of lemon available for everyone to add to their bowl if they wish.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 214Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 77mgSodium: 1015mgCarbohydrates: 21gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 15g
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
S Wilkerson
Hi Patti - like you I love anything lemon. I've been wanting to try Greek Lemon Soup for awhile and your version sounds doable and good. Steve brought home so huge lemons yesterday so I'll try to get the soup made in a day or so.
Thanks for the recipe
Sheila