Chicken Lemon Rice Soup
Updated Apr 19, 2026
This Chicken Lemon Rice Soup is recipe full of hearty vegetables, chicken thighs, and rice in a homemade lemony broth!
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Lemony Chicken rice soup
When the weather turns chilly in Michigan, it’s time to bring out all the cozy soup recipes. One of my favorites is chicken lemon rice soup—a twist on the classic chicken noodle soup, but made with short-grain rice instead of pasta and plenty of fresh lemon juice. It’s similar to Greek Avgolemono but skips the eggs, keeping it simple yet comforting and delicious
My mom used to make this chicken lemon rice soup all the time when I was growing up, especially during Ramadan or when we weren’t feeling our best. It’s hearty, soothing, and lemony to warm you up and clear out any stuffy noses.
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Aromatics: Onions, celery and carrots cooked with olive oil. You’ll want to dice these so they’re all about the same size and cook at the same time!
- Spices: I always include salt, pepper, bay leaves, and dried thyme in this chicken rice soup. You can use 1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh thyme instead of the dried.
- Garlic: Sometimes I use 4 or 5 cloves of minced garlic (I love garlic!). You can substitute ½ teaspoon of garlic powder for every clove if that’s all you have.
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs: Chicken thighs are really hard to overcook, which is why I like using them! You can also use chicken breasts if you prefer.
- Rice: I like to use white short grain rice, like arborio in this soup. A long grain white rice like jasmine or basmati will also work well. If you like, you can make this with brown rice too, you’ll just need to increase the cooking time for an extra 25 minutes to make sure that it is cooked through.
- Lemons: You’ll need ⅓ cup of juice for this recipe! This is usually 2 lemons, but some lemons are less juicy than others.
Popular Additions
- Sweet peppers: About ½ cup diced – any color works, added with the onion, carrots, and celery.
- Zucchini: 1 small, about ¾ cup finely chopped – added at the same time as the onion, carrot, and celery.
- Frozen peas: ¾ cup – stir in during the last 5 minutes of cooking to let them defrost and warm through.
- Cheese: Try ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese or even crumbled feta cheese before serving.
How to Make Chicken Lemon Rice Soup
Chicken Lemon Rice Soup Recipe
This Chicken Lemon Rice Soup is recipe full of hearty vegetables, chicken thighs, and rice in a homemade lemony broth!
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 3 large carrots diced
- 3 celery stalks diced
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt divided
- 1 teaspoon black pepper divided
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 8 cups water
- ½ cup short grain rice
- 2 lemons juiced about ⅓ cup
- Parsley for serving
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, 1 teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon of pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened.
- Add the garlic and thyme. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, until fragrant Add the chicken, bay leaves and remaining salt and pepper.
- Add the water and rice, and bring everything to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for 25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
- Transfer the cooked chicken to a cutting board and chop into ½-inch pieces. Return the chopped chicken to the soup and remove the soup from the heat. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley.
Equipment
Notes
Storage: Let it cool completely before transferring in an airtight container. It will keep well in the fridge for 4 days. Reheat the soup gently on the stovetop or in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring halfway through. The rice will absorb moisture as it sits, so you may want to stir in a little water or stock when reheating to loosen it back up.
Freezing Instructions: Transfer it to multiple airtight containers, then freeze for up to 6 months. I recommend thawing it in the fridge overnight before reheating.
My Top Tip: Don’t add the lemon juice until you’re done cooking because adding the lemon too early will create a bitter taste.
Original Recipe
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 onion diced
3 carrots diced
3 celery stalks diced
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
8 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup short grain or Arborio rice
2 lemons juiced
Parsley for serving
Instructions
Place chicken and scraps from the outer layers and end of the onions, carrots and celery in a large stock pot. Season with salt and pepper, add bay leaves and water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is fork-tender, about 30 minutes.
Remove chicken and shred; then strain the chicken broth using a fine-mesh sieve and discard the vegetable scraps.
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onions, carrots, celery, garlic and thyme and cook until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken and rice, then return the broth to the stockpot and bring a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is cooked, about 20 minutes.
Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with fresh parsley, if desired.
1 onion diced
3 carrots diced
3 celery stalks diced
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
8 cups water
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup short grain or Arborio rice
2 lemons juiced
Parsley for serving
Instructions
Place chicken and scraps from the outer layers and end of the onions, carrots and celery in a large stock pot. Season with salt and pepper, add bay leaves and water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is fork-tender, about 30 minutes.
Remove chicken and shred; then strain the chicken broth using a fine-mesh sieve and discard the vegetable scraps.
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onions, carrots, celery, garlic and thyme and cook until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken and rice, then return the broth to the stockpot and bring a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is cooked, about 20 minutes.
Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately with fresh parsley, if desired.
Nutrition
Serving: 1.5cups, Calories: 249kcal, Carbohydrates: 22g, Protein: 24g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.02g, Cholesterol: 108mg, Sodium: 723mg, Potassium: 482mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 5150IU, Vitamin C: 23mg, Calcium: 53mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
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Recipe Tips
- Stir the garlic constantly while it’s cooking. Garlic can burn fast—and the flavor of burnt garlic can ruin this lemon soup recipe! That’s why I recommend stirring the garlic constantly while it cooks and moving onto the next step of the recipe when the garlic’s just fragrant.
- Don’t add the lemon juice until you’re done cooking. When I’m making soup, I’m tempted sometimes to throw everything together to cook at once in the pot. And that’s fine sometimes. But when it comes to this soup, adding the lemon too early will create a bitter taste. Instead, adding it after it’s finished cooking will bring out a fresh and bright flavor.
- Use chopped leftover roast or rotisserie chicken as a shortcut. I’ll sometimes do this if I’m trying to make the most out of leftovers! If you do do this, though, I’d suggest using chicken broth instead of water to amp up the flavor of the soup.
- Simmer the soup with the lid off. You want the soup to reduce a bit, which will make it taste more concentrated and better!
Comments
Made this exactly as the recipe was written. We found the soup to be very bland so I added Better Than Bullion to give it some balance and body. The lemon 🍋 is a nice touch for the brightness of flavor.
Sorry to hear you found it bland. I’m going to retest it to see if it needs any tweaks. Thank you for the feedback, I appreciate it!
Super warm and hearty while also fresh and bright! I substituted celery for fennel, used orzo, and didn’t use chicken. I also didn’t use thyme (didn’t gave any) and added lots of dried parsley. Still so amazing! Perfect for gloomy days 🙂
Love the tweaks you made! I agree, this recipe is so comforting on a gloomy day!
A new favorite!! I used rotisserie chicken and broth. I had leftover Milanese lemon risotto and it was the perfect use of leftovers. I took your advice and added zucchini. It came together quickly and it was absolutely spectacular. Do not hesitate to make this dinner. Thank you so much. Sooo good! Xo
Aww, amazing!! So happy you loved it, Carolyn! Thank you so much!!
Wonderful recipe! Turned out great will be making often. I did use the short grain rice and love it!!
Amazing!! So happy you liked it, Beth! Thanks!!
I made this today and it was so so good. The lemon really makes it. I used Chicken Bone Broth and cooked the rice separately so it wouldn’t absorb all the broth. Thank you!
Yay!! So glad you liked it! Thank you!
Best soup in the world!
Aww, so glad you love it!! Thank you!
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