Roy’s Light Greek Lemon Chicken Soup (Avgolemono)

Servings: 6 (about 1 1/2 cups) 1 Better Balance Bite/Blue Point

Calories 169 Fat 3.1g Carbs 17.1g Fiber 1.1g Protein 17.9g

Ingredients

· Cooking spray

· 3/4 cup small-diced onion, about 1 small

· 3/4 cup small-diced celery, about 3 stalks

· 3/4 cup small-diced carrots, about 2 medium-large or 10 baby

· 1 Tbsp minced garlic, about 3 cloves

· 1 tsp dried dill (see notes)

· 1 tsp lemon zest, about 1 small lemon (see notes)

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 1/4 teaspoon pepper

· 1/2 cup Arborio rice (see notes)

· 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth

· 2 bay leaves

· 12 oz chicken breast, cooked and shredded (see notes)

· 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, about 4 medium or 3 large lemons (see notes)

· 2 large eggs

Instructions

1. Coat the bottom of a large stockpot or Dutch oven with cooking spray and set over medium heat. Once hot, add in the onion, celery, and carrots; sauté until tender and the onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.

2. Add in the garlic, dried dill, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Sauté until slightly browned and fragrant, 30-60 seconds.

3. Add in the rice and spray lightly with cooking spray, then toss together with the veggies and let toast lightly for 1 minute.

4. Add in the broth and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the rice is tender, about 10 minutes.

5. Add in the shredded chicken and simmer about 5 minutes.

6. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice and eggs together until light and frothy.

7. Remove the saucepan from the heat (see notes) and remove the 2 bay leaves! Then, slowly whisk 2 ladles of the hot broth into the egg mixture. Slowly pour the egg mixture back into the soup, stirring constantly as you do.

8. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.

Notes

· You can use fresh dill if you prefer, using double the amount AND adding in just before you add in the eggs.

· If you don’t have or don’t want to get fresh lemons, you can omit the zest and use bottled juice.

· You can use medium- or long-grain rice if you need to but will need to cook it longer.

· You can also swap out the rice for orzo (cooking only about 7 minutes), cauliflower rice, or even chickpeas.

· If you’d like to, you could use more chicken breast or even turkey breast.

· Do not put the soup back on the heat once you add the egg mixture. The eggs could scramble or turn into ribbons (like egg drop soup)

· To reheat, set the pan over medium to medium-low heat or use the microwave.