Avgolemono Soup Shortcuts

Avgolemono soup is a classic Greek egg-lemon soup with rice cooked in chicken stock slowly over a low heat. But if you are strapped for time, what are some shortcuts you can use to make authentic, great tasting avgolemono soup?

Use Pre-cooked Chicken

Avgolemono soup just isn't the same without the chicken that is added to the pot of soup. Traditionally, a whole, gutted chicken is slowly cooked in a large pan of water and the stock reserved as a base for the avgolemono soup.

However, if you do not have time to cook a whole chicken, skim off the fat and use the stock for the soup, use a can of pre-cooked chicken chunks or leftover pieces of cooked chicken instead. Add the cooked chicken about 20 minutes or so before you turn the burner off.

Use Prepared Chicken Broth

Homemade chicken stock is a mainstay of a good, rich avgolemono soup, but it can also be quite time consuming to prepare as you wait for the chicken to cook and you remove the bird before using the stock for the soup. Instead of making your own chicken stock (which differs from broth, as it is derived from the chicken as it cooks) use prepared chicken stock instead.

Choose fat-free varieties of chicken broth so that you do not have to spend your time skimming off the fat as it rises to the top. Prepared chicken stock can be quite salty, so do not use too much, but if you do, use an equal amount of water to balance out the salt content and increase the amount of lemon you use in the avgolemono soup.

Egg-Lemon Shortcuts

The egg-lemon mixture is combined and added slowly to the pot of chicken stock or broth to create a cloudy appearance. Use an egg substitute and a generous dash of bottled lemon juice if you do not have lemons on hand or you are strapped for time.

Avgolemono soup slow cooks, which can mean hours in the kitchen, as the ingredients come together to form this wonderful, aromatic Greek soup. However, if you are pushed for time, use pre-cooked chicken, rather than a whole chicken carcass and prepared chicken broth. Finally, use an egg substitute and bottled lemon juice to give the avgolemono its distinctive taste. These suggestions can shave a lot of time from off the cooking and preparation.