Chicken soup with lemon – Avgolemono

I’m sure you’ve made chicken soup in a thousand different ways, but there’s always something you haven’t tried yet. Maybe it’s this recipe for a traditional Greek chicken soup with lemon, which is called avgolemono. The preparation process is complex, but the result is fantastic.

Preparation time: 2 hours
Servings: 6-8

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into fillets (about 1,5 kg without skin)
12 cups water
2 carrots, chopped into small pieces
2 celery sticks, cut in half
1 onion, cleaned and cut in half
2 bay leaves
5 peppercorns
2 tsp salt + more to taste
½ cup thin rice noodles for soup
3 eggs
1 tsp grated lemon peel
2 lemon juice
a pinch of black pepper (optional)

Instructions:
1. Pour the water into a large pot, add the chicken, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, and salt. Leave to boil, then lower the temperature, and leave to cook for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
2. After that, remove the chicken and vegetables from the pot, put them into a separate bowl, and leave them to rest. Carefully strain the remaining soup, pour it back into a pot, and boil. Set aside about 2 cups of soup.
3. Prepare the mixture of eggs and lemon. Beat the eggs with a hand whisk until they become frothy. Add the lemon peel and lemon juice into the same bowl, then stir well. Add 2 cups of soup into the mixture, stir well, and set aside.
4. Add rice noodles into the soup and cook for about 8 minutes, until softened.
5. Pour the eggs and lemon mixture into a pot with the remaining soup and rice noodles, then cook at moderate temperature for about 5 minutes. Be careful not to boil the soup after adding the eggs and lemon mixture.
6. Season the soup with salt and black pepper. Traditionally, the Greeks serve this soup without chicken or vegetables. However, if you wish, you can pour them in or serve them aside.
7. Serve and enjoy.