Lemon Chicken Soup with Cauliflower Rice
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Lemon Chicken Soup (also known as avgolemono) is super easy to make and crazy delicious. We make it with cauliflower rice for a boost of veggies
Are you ready to meet your new favorite chicken soup? This Greek lemon chicken soup has been on heavy repeat in my kitchen lately, and for good reason. Every spoonful is cozy and comforting with just a hint of creaminess and a bright, subtle lemon flavor that keeps things feeling fresh — even in the depths of winter.
I make a lot of soup this time of year because it’s easy, flexible, and exactly what I want when it’s cold outside. This one uses my favorite trick: bone-in chicken, which creates a rich, flavorful broth as the soup cooks. To thicken it, I use eggs (it sounds a little strange, but trust me), and they give the soup the most beautiful, silky texture without weighing it down. The lemon adds a clean pop of flavor without being overpowering, making this soup just as perfect for late winter nights as it is for welcoming spring.
You can make it in the Instant Pot for extra ease, or on the stovetop if that’s what you have — either way, it’s a reliable, comforting bowl you’ll want to come back to again and again.
Stovetop version
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, 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 ensure they don’t scramble, we want to warm them 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. 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.
Lemon Chicken Soup with Cauliflower Rice
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 4 medium carrots (diced)
- 4 sticks celery (diced)
- ½ medium onion (diced)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- ½ teaspoon chili flakes
- 6 bone in chicken thighs
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 head cauliflower (riced (about 3 cups))
- 3 large eggs
- ½ 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, ½ medium onion, 4 cloves garlic, ½ 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 ¼ 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, ½ cup lemon juice
- Return the chicken to the pot, add the cauliflower rice and the spinach, and stir.2 ounces spinach
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
I made this recently and was completely bowled over by how delicious and unexpected it was. It’s not something I would eat every day, but it’s in my permanent arsenal of soups. PS, I read the Syrians also have a version of this soup.
One of my biggest regrets is being vegetarian when I traveled through the middle east. The veggie food in Syria was incredible, but I missed out on so much. I’ll have to take a look online for that soup!
Will it be significantly less flavorful using boneless chicken breasts? I have all the ingredients already except bone-in thighs!
If you are using chicken breasts, I would really encourage you to use bone broth. Cooking the bone in chicken thighs in the soup essentially creates a quick chicken bone broth, adding lots of flavor. So if you skip the bones, make sure you’re using real chicken bone broth.
can this be made in a 6 quart instant pot? I am new to instant pots and six thighs seem like a lot. Thought I’d check.
6 thighs is correct!
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.
AGREED!! I have never seen that before, but it’s amazing not having to scroll all over
One of my favorite things about her recipes!!! Agreed!
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 “soup mode” 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? I’m a huge fan of your recipes—thank 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.
Thank you so much!!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
It’ll keep for 2-3 days in the fridge. 🙂
Instead of bone-in chicken thighs, do you think instead you could use bone in chicken breasts?
Absolutely you can!
Can’t 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.
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!
I think you’ll really like the egg trick. It gives the soup the best texture. Stay warm in Kansas!
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. 🙂
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. 🙂