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Healthy Greek Lemon Chicken Soup is bursting with delicious flavor. It's easy to make using wholesome ingredients for a cozy, low calorie, Paleo and gluten free meal for any time of year!
I love a good soup recipe! It easy to pack nutrients like protein and veggies in a soup and I find it's easier to get that high quality nutrition during the winter.
Some of my favorite soup recipes are chicken pot pie soup, Zuppa Toscana, turkey kale enchilada soup are classics I make time and again during the winter. And now this Greek Lemon Chicken Soup is getting added to that list too!
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Why You Will Love This Greek Lemon Chicken Soup Recipe
- Healthy and Flavorful: This healthy chicken soup recipe bursts with citrus flavor and the herbs balance it out perfectly. Not to mention it has a vibrant, yellow color that just screams to bounce in your mouth!
- High Protein: This soup recipe has 35 grams of protein per serving which is considered the recommended amount of protein for most individuals per meal.
- Higher Fiber: Each serving has 4 grams of fiber. I talk about the importance of fiber in this free weight loss class. So many of my clients are deficient in fiber!
- Diet-Friendly: This lemon chicken soup is gluten-free, dairy-free, and Paleo more importantly, the recipe is BALANCED.
- Low Calorie: Each serving, about a fourth of the recipe, is 377 calories which is considered low-calorie. Don't worry that you won't be satisfied because the amount of food is large as the recipe uses whole food ingredients which makes this a great chicken soup for weight loss.
Ingredients
Here's what you need to make low calorie Greek Chicken Lemon Soup recipe! You will also need a large pot (I love this one) and this gadget makes veggie chopping easier for you.
- Shredded Chicken: Use pre-shredded cooked chicken to save time. Time savers such as rotisserie chicken is a good option here or you can also make your own shredded chicken in bulk to uses in recipes throughout the week.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: A healthy option for sauteeing the vegetables but avocado oil or ghee can be substituted if you prefer.
- Vegetables and Aromatics: Carrots, yellow onion, and garlic form the flavor base for this soup recipe.
- Cauliflower Rice: I am all about adding more vegetables into dishes whenever possible and this one is also a simple way to make this soup lower in carbs. Even better it cooks super quickly.
- Chicken Broth: Ensures you have a much more flavorful broth than cooking with water alone. Any broth or stock will work but I always use low sodium broth.
- Egg Yolks: These give the soup a creamy consistency and adds fat which makes the broth in this soup recipe so flavorful and satisfying.
- Lemon Juice: Adds a brilliant splash of brightness to this classic soup recipe.
- Kale: Any green can be substitute. Swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, cabbage be great and stand up well in this recipe!
- Seasonings: A bit of dried parsley, salt, and pepper are all you need.
Substitutions and Variations
Here are the substitutions I recommend for this recipe. Remember that when you substitute an ingredient in the recipe, it will change the nutrition data from what you see in the recipe card below!
- Change Up the Meat: You can substitute the chicken with any meat or protein you like or even omit it for a simple yet flavorful veggie soup.
- Vegetarian: It's so easy to do by using beans or lentils and vegetable broth. Using canned beans makes it quicker and easier but if you use dry, you will need to cook the soup longer.
- Veggies: Feel free to add or swap veggies to use up ingredients you have in the fridge or that you enjoy.
- Egg Yolks: Egg yolks are HEALTHY so don't be scared to use them. If you are being mindful of fat intake, you can reduce to one egg yolk or swap for egg white. The egg yolks do give this recipe it's healthy fat and beautiful vibrant color so it will look different and be less filling if you omit them or swap for egg whites.
- Spices: Feel free to substitute fresh herbs and spices. Use double the amount of fresh herbs in place of dry herbs.
How To Make Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
Making this healthy chicken soup Greek style is easy. The best part is it will make your kitchen smell yummy and delicious!
- Step One: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and cauliflower rice. Stir and heat until the veggies are translucent.
- Step Two: Add the chicken broth and parsley to the pot. Stir and heat for 10 minutes. While the broth is warming, mix the egg yolks in a bowl with a small amount of the chicken broth from the pot. Whisk together until the yolks are mixed in.
- Step Three: Add the egg yolk mixture to the pot along with the pre-cooked shredded chicken, kale, lemon, dried parsley, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-minutes or until the soup is warmed through and the kale is wilted.
- Step 4: Serve warm with lemon slices and parsley!
How To Store
Storing Leftovers: Transfer the cooled soup to a container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze it for up to 2 months.
Reheat: Return the soup to a pot or saucepan and heat over medium until it's heated through. If the soup is frozen, thaw it out in the fridge overnight before reheating. Alternatively, you can reheat an individual bowl of soup in the microwave.
Expert Tips
- Time Saving Tip! Make your shredded chicken in the Instant Pot ahead of time. After it's cooked you can portion it out for recipes and either store in the fridge or freezer depending on when you plan to cook it.
- Use Fresh Lemon Juice. For the best flavor do not substitute bottled lemon juice! In a pinch it will work but I find you don't get the freshest flavor.
- Don't Skip the Egg Yolks: Years ago egg yolks really had a bad reputation but they are actually a rich source of healthy fats and add flavor, protein, color, and creaminess to the soup you can't get without it or with egg whites. (source)
Recipe FAQs
There are many options you can use for this. One is pre-cooking the chicken in an Instant Pot or slow cooker. I make shredded chicken in my Instant Pot all the time. It's easy and fast! You can alternatively use a slow cooker for hands-off cooking. Just note it will take 4-6 hours in a slow cooker vs. 30-minutes in an Instant Pot.
Yes, of course. You can purchase pre-cooked shredded chicken at almost every grocery store these days. Look in the meat section or in the pre-packaged food section. A rotisserie chicken is another alternative too but you might want to taste the soup before adding any more salt as rotisserie chicken is often already seasoned.
More Healthy Soup Recipes
If you tried this healthy lemon chicken soup recipe or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below.
Healthy Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb Shredded Chicken pre-cooked
- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Carrots chopped
- 1 cup Yellow Onion diced
- 2 cups Cauliflower Rice
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- 4 cups Chicken Broth low sodium
- 2 Egg Yolks
- ½ cup Lemon Juice
- 2 cups Kale shredded
- 2 tablespoon Dried Parsley
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in the large pot over medium heat. Then add the onion, garlic, carrots and cauliflower rice. Stir and heat until the veggies are translucent.
- Add the chicken broth and parsley to the pot. Stir and heat for 10 minutes. While the broth is warming, mix the egg yolks in a bowl with a small amount of the chicken broth from the pot. Whisk together until the yolks are mixed in.
- Add the egg yolk mixture to the pot along with the pre-cooked shredded chicken, kale, lemon, dried parsley, salt and pepper.
- Simmer with the cover on for 10-minutes or until warm and the kale is wilted. Serve warm with lemon slices and fresh parsley!
- Store the soup in the refrigerator in a container up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 60 days.
Notes
- This Lemon Chicken Soup recipe can be stored in a container in the refrigerator up to 5 days. You can also freeze this soup recipe up to 60 days.
- Time Saving Tip! Make your shredded chicken in the Instant Pot ahead of time. After it's cooked you can portion it out for recipes and either store in the fridge or freezer depending on when you plan to cook it.
- Use Fresh Lemon Juice. For the best flavor do not substitute bottled lemon juice! In a pinch it will work but I find you don't get the freshest flavor.
- Don't Skip the Egg Yolks: Years ago egg yolks really had a bad reputation but they are actually a rich source of healthy fats and add flavor, protein, color, and creaminess to the soup you can't get without it or with egg whites. (source)
Nutrition
This post was originally published January 2022 and has been updated for you.
I love this soup! I also like how your recipes are so easy to follow. Thank you for sharing!
Can you use lime juice instead?
You can, might be a little more tart than lemon juice though.
This is my new favorite soup! I doubled the recipe, used homemade chicken bone broth and boneless skinless chicken thighs that I made according to another Pinterest recipe and it came out fabulously! I love Avoglomeno soup and am so happy to have found a version without rice or orzo! I didn’t miss them at all!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Is a serving 1 cup?
There are 4 servings in the recipe so 1/4th of the recipe equals one serving. If you want to know the exact amount, then you will weigh the entire cooked soup on a food scale in grams then divide by 4. The amount of grams left equals how many grams for one serving.
SOLID WIN
Second recipe of yours I’ve made and I LOVE them both! I forgot the eggs on accident- but added some Fat free Greek Yogurt. My roommate liked it so much she took seconds and asked for some to take for her lunch tomorrow. Thank You! I appreciate the ease, flavor and calories you take into consideration in developing these tasty meals.