Description
Roasted Greek Lemon Chicken Soup – a flavorful and delicious winter comfort food!
Ingredients
Broth
- (1) 5-6 pound whole roasting chicken (fresh or thawed)
- 2–3 tablespoons ghee, softened (or butter or olive oil)
- salt and pepper
- 1 small yellow onion, quartered
- 1–2 stalks celery, cut into 2–3 inch chunks
- 2 medium whole carrots, cut into 2–3 chunks
- 1 head of garlic, cut off the top
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1–2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1–2 sprigs fresh dill
Soup
- 8–10 cups chicken broth
- shredded chicken (using the roasted chicken)
- 4 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 medium sweet yellow onion, chopped
- 4–6 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- (optional) a few handfuls of either spinach or kale
Instructions
Broth:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Place chicken in a dutch oven and rub all over with softened ghee.
- Sprinkle with generous amounts of salt and pepper to coat.
- Place onion, carrots, celery, garlic and lemon around the chicken.
- Roast on middle rack, uncovered, for 1.5 hours.
- Remove from oven and place on burner.
- Add broth and turn heat up to high.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cover for 45-60 minutes.
Soup:
- Remove chicken from the broth and set aside to cool slightly.
- Strain broth and discard the cooked vegetables, reserving the garlic and lemon.
- Place strained broth back in your dutch oven along with fresh onion, carrots, celery and dill.
- Take the roasted lemons and squeeze into the broth.
- Take garlic and remove 2-4 cloves and roughly chop; add these to the broth as well (you can add more if you want).
- Shred chicken and add meat to the pot. Stir to combine and let simmer 15-20 minutes.
- Remove from heat to let broth cool a bit.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and fresh lemon juice in a medium bowl. Then take approximately 1 cup of broth (which should be around 170 degrees) and slowly whisk together. Once that is combined, slowly add it back into the dutch oven, whisking to combine.
- Feel free to place back on low heat, but be sure not to boil as the eggs will cook!
- Taste and add any salt or pepper, as necessary, as well as any additional dill.
- Before serving feel free to add a handful of fresh spinach or even kale if you want!
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Size of dutch oven: I used a 5 1/2 qt. dutch oven.
- Meat thermometer: I used an internal meat thermometer to test the temperature of the broth.
- Whole30/Paleo: if you are concerned with Whole30/Paleo just be sure and check your broth ingredients.
- Add-ins: if you aren’t concerned with Whole30/Paleo feel free to add in some cooked orzo or pasta of your choosing at the end! I wouldn’t recommend cooking it in the broth as it will soak up quite a bit of broth during the cooking process.
- Consistency: If you want your soup thicker than I would suggest sticking with 8 cups broth and if you want it thinner I would lean towards 10 cups broth.
Keywords: greek lemon chicken soup