Lemon Chicken Soup (Instant Pot)
Lemon Chicken Soup (also known as avgolemono) is super easy to make and crazy delicious. We make it with cauliflower rice to keep it low carb and paleo and for a healthy boost of veggies.
Are you ready to meet your new favorite chicken soup recipe? Each bite is a little bit creamy and has a delicious subtle lemon flavor. It's been on heavy repeat here this month.
We make a lot of soups during the winter. They're always easy to make and adapt to what's available in your fridge. And they're warm, which is an important consideration when it's freezing cold outside.
This Greek lemon soup is perfect for winter AND for welcoming in spring with its bright flavors. If you love lemon, this soup is for you!
Why you want to make this lemon chicken soup
- I've used my old trick of making soup with bone-in chicken which creates a homemade chicken stock as the soup cooks. Read: so much flavor!
- The other trick is a funny one, but it works so well. To thicken the soup we use eggs. They create the most luscious and subtle creaminess PLUS they add lots of healthy protein to the soup.
- Just the right amount of lemon. This is not a lip-puckering lemon soup but rather a bright burst of fresh lemon flavor.
- It's a paleo + gluten-free + dairy-free + grain-free lemon chicken soup. I use cauliflower rice to make this a healthy and full of veggies version. If that wouldn't fly with the people at your dinner table, you can always add the rice on the side. IE: cauliflower rice in some bowls and regular rice in other bowls. It's an easy compromise.
- Made in your Instant Pot! Or not! The recipe calls for a pressure cooker, but I've shared the stovetop directions in the blog post.
How to make Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
This soup (like most soup recipes) is easy to make. In only 5 little steps, you'll have made dinner.
- Saute the veggies in a large pot or an Instant Pot. I'm looking at you carrots, onion, and celery!
- Add the chicken and chicken broth.
- Steam some cauliflower rice. Or make a pot of regular rice. Or cook some orzo pasta. Your choice!
- Whisk some lemon juice with the eggs then slowly add a little of the hot soup. This step makes sure the eggs become creamy instead of scrambled.
- Now to finish the soup you shred the chicken and add the whisked eggs, cauliflower rice, and spinach.
That's it! This lemon chicken soup recipe is so easy!
How to make this recipe on your stovetop
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can still make this recipe. The only difference is that it will take a little longer. (But not that much.)
After you add the chicken and broth to the pot, you'll want to bring it to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover the pot, and let the soup simmer for 30 minutes.
That's the only change you need to make!
How to temper the eggs
This is an important step. If you pour the eggs directly into the soup, you will end up with stringy bits of scrambled eggs. (Think of when you add an egg to ramen noodles.) For this recipe, we want the eggs to make the soup creamy.
To make sure they don't scramble, we want to warm them up before adding them to the soup. To do that, you'll want to SLOWLY pour about a cup of the hot soup into the whisked eggs while whisking at the same time. Sometimes I'm extra cautious and add 2 cups of hot soup, but that's probably overdoing it.
Once the eggs are nice and warm you can pour them into the soup without worrying about them scrambling.
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Delicious soup recipes:
- Creamy Paleo Cauliflower Soup with Bacon
- Best Kale Minestrone Soup Recipe
- Coconut Thai Chicken Zoodle Soup
- Cashew Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Curried Chicken Cauliflower Rice Soup
Lemon Chicken Soup (Instant Pot)
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 4 medium carrots, diced
- 4 sticks celery, diced
- Ā½ medium onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- Ā½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 6 bone in chicken thighs
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 head cauliflower, riced (about 3 cups)
- 3 large eggs
- Ā½ cup lemon juice
- Sea salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 ounces spinach
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to Saute. Add the oil to the pot and add the carrots, celery, and onion and saute for 3 minutes. Add the garlic and chili flakes and cook for 1 more minute.2 teaspoons olive oil, 4 medium carrots, 4 sticks celery, Ā½ medium onion, 4 cloves garlic, Ā½ teaspoon chili flakes
- Add the chicken thighs and stock to the pot. Seal the lid, turn it to Soup Mode and set the timer for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn the release valve and wait until the pressure is released before opening the pot.6 bone in chicken thighs, 6 cups chicken stock
- While the soup is cooking, add the riced cauliflower to a pan over medium-high heat and add Ā¼ cup of water. Steam until the cauliflower is soft.1 head cauliflower
- Remove the chicken thighs from the pot and shred them using 2 forks. Discard the bones.
- Whisk the eggs with the lemon juice. Slowly whisk 1 cup of the hot soup into the eggs then pour the eggs into the pot. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.3 large eggs, Ā½ cup lemon juice
- Return the chicken to the pot, add the cauliflower rice and the spinach, and stir.2 ounces spinach
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you having the ingredient measurements along side the written instructions. I wish all recipes did this.
Plan to make this tonight. The photo shows lemon slices in the soup. That is not a step in the recipe. Also, step 2 mentions āsoup modeā for the insta pot. Does that just mean high pressure? Thank you.
You can add lemon slices for garnishes if you’d like. Not necessary for the flavor though. Soup mode controls the temperature so that the soup doesn’t boil too rapidly. If you don’t have that function, I would think that low pressure is probably a better option.
Making this tonight! If you were to use actual rice instead of cauliflower, would you use white or wild? Iām a huge fan of your recipesāthank you for making dinner in our house so flavorful!!
I think that wild rice would be really nice in this soup!
Foodie Dave here,
I would think browning the meat skin on, on both sides with the veg b 4 adding the garlic would impart a more flavorful result. That is what I’m gonna do anyways. I like the egg part. Thanks yet again for your great recipes. I’ve made several of em.
F.D. / Dave the Foodie.
Browning the meat is a good idea, but I would caution against using skin on chicken. I suspect the skin will make the soup too oily and the skin will end up soggy and not so nice to eat.
So happy to hear you’ve been liking the recipes!
Can I substitute the egg?
If you don’t eat egg, you can omit it. It will be missing a little creaminess but it will still taste great.
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
It’ll keep for 2-3 days in the fridge. š
This looks so good! What a great spring lunch meal prep!
Thank you so much!!
Instead of bone-in chicken thighs, do you think instead you could use bone in chicken breasts?
Absolutely you can!
Canāt wait to try this! Would this work in a slow cooker?
I think it would work great!
Hi! Would it hurt to cook the chicken the entire soup mode? 10 minutes with bone and seems like a very short time to me to have fully cooked bone in thighs. Ā
I’m not familiar with the soup mode but 10 minutes in an Instant Pot is enough to thoroughly cook the chicken. It cooks very fast under pressure!
Hi! I know this sounds silly, but… how would you make this if you, say, didn’t have an InstaPot? :-X
Not silly at all! The stove top directions are actually in the blog post. Basically, simmer the soup for 30 minutes. š
Hi Kristen
If I wanted to use shredded chicken from a rotisserie chicken would you still set the instant pot for the same amount of time?
If you’re using rotisserie chicken I would skip the Instant Pot and simply make it on the stovetop. You’ll only need to simmer it for a few minutes before adding the shredded chicken. š
Adding an egg to this soup is such an interesting concept. I will have to try it. I do love lemon and this soup recipe is perfect for these crazy cold days we are having in Kansas City. What a GREAT healthy recipe to help keeps us warm until Spring finally arrives. Thanks for sharing.
I think you’ll really like the egg trick. It gives the soup the best texture. Stay warm in Kansas!