This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Jump to Section
My Chicken Lemon Rice Soup is So Good!
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 full of bright, comforting flavor.
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 that hit of lemon adds just the right amount of zing to warm you up and clear out any stuffy noses.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Olive oil: Avocado is fine if you don’t have olive oil.
- Onion, carrot, and celery: 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 2 teaspoons 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:
- Parmesan: ¼ cup grated, or more to taste, for serving.
- Feta: ⅓ cup crumbled, sprinkled on top before serving.
How to Make Chicken Lemon Rice Soup
My Best Lemon Chicken Soup 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!
Recipe Help & Common Questions
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.
Yes! You can freeze this lemon soup. Transfer it to an airtight container, then freeze for up to 6 months. I recommend thawing it in the fridge overnight before reheating.
You can! I would just thaw them in the fridge before using them, but frozen chicken thighs are totally great.
More Soup Recipes:
- Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Vegetarian Lemon Rice Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Chicken Lemon Orzo Soup
- Easy White Chicken Chili
- Red Lentil Chicken Soup
- Zucchini Orzo Soup
- Tomato Lentil Soup
- Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Vegetable Beef Soup
- Spinach Tortellini Soup
f you try this Chicken Lemon Rice Soup recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe. We would love to hear about your experience making it. And if you snapped some shots, share it on Instagram so we can repost on Stories!
This chicken lemon rice soup recipe was originally published on January 26, 2019. The recipe has been updated with new images and a simplified process with step-by-step images to help make the recipe. If you loved the original recipe, you can still find it in the recipe card notes below!
Chicken Lemon Rice Soup Recipe
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
- 1 teaspoon 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, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and thyme. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chicken, the bay leaves and the 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 simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through, about 25 minutes.
- 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.
Notes
- Instead of short grain rice, you can use long-grain rice or brown rice. If you’re using brown rice, be sure to add an extra 25 minutes to the cooking time though. You can also use potatoes, riced cauliflower, celery root or chopped zucchini for some grain free and/or low carb options.
- If you don’t have thyme, feel free to use oregano, parsley, cilantro or other herbs.
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
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Why did you change this recipe? I’ve had this URL saved to my phone for a few months and this recipe is completely different than what it used to bring me to. Pretty upset about it
I’m so so sorry about this!! I updated it because a lot of people found the old method cumbersome and this was just an easier method. However, I just added my older recipe to the Notes in the recipe card and I’ll keep it there for future reference. Sorry again for the trouble!!
Subbed the chicken thighs with chicken breasts & used brown rice and it came out delicious! I did use skin on & bone-in breasts to add more flavor to the broth and shredded the chicken & discarded the skin/bones afterwards.
Yum, love that you used skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts for more flavor! Thanks so much for sharing, Jessica!!
My family and I loved this recipe! The lemon is so beautiful and tasty and gives such a great “Greek” feel to the soup. Bookmarked!
Yay!! Aww, so glad you and your family loved it! Thank you!
Just made this and it was very yummy but wish it had more lemon flavor like the traditional soup.
I love citrus too, so I hear you! You can absolutely add more lemon.
The vegetarian version mentioned after bringing it all to a boil to cover and place it to simmer, is there a reason this one isn’t?
Great question! This one has 8 cups of liquid versus 6 cups and I wanted to reduce it more and concentrate that flavor compared to keeping all the moisture in by covering the pot.
What key ingredients are included in the traditional Avgolemono that are not part of the inspired recipe?
There are different variations, but traditional Avgolemono is made by tempering an egg into the broth. Mine doesn’t include egg and adds some butter and flour, which is why I say it’s simply inspired by Greek lemon chicken soup!
Flat leaf parsley or Curley parsley?
Whichever you prefer will work just fine.
YUM!!! – So full of flavor!
Thanks, Doreen!
Can you use chicken breast instead of thigh?
Yes!
Absolutely delicious! I’ve never made my own chicken stock before but it was perfect, I’ll never buy store bought again!
Thank you so much, Erika!!
Came down with a post-Thanksgiving cold and didn’t feel like having a high sodium canned soup. Soup was just what was needed and easy to make for a sick newbie.
Accidentally bought bone in chicken thighs but just separated the meat from the bone and dumped it all in for the stock.
SO glad this helped you to feel a little better, get well soon!
We love your soup! It is a staple now and my family asks for it often. I add grated ginger root and a dab of red paper flakes for a little extra punch, but that is just what we like. I love your tip about making the broth from scratch and throwing in the veggie throwaways. Thanks for a great recipe : )
Aww, thanks for sharing this, glad it is a family favorite. And love your tasty tweaks to the recipe!
Can you tell me the serving size? Thanks!
This soup makes about 12 cups, and usually I like each serving of soup to have about 2 cups, so this would be about 6 servings!
Pro tip for beginners‼️ SLOWLY ADD THE LEMON AT THE END 😂 I used two thinking it might not be enough for the amount of soup I made, and like a novice just dumped it in without slowly adding and tasting- I made lemon soup 😂 delicious lemon soup, but much too much lemon!! Be careful 🥰🥰🥰
love that tip, thank you for sharing!
When making this broth, is it ok to use chicken breast instead of thighs? Will the broth have enough flavor? Thanks!
You can! It might be a little lighter flavor-wise but nothing too drastic.
Yummy! I used rotisserie chicken, broth and canned carrots to make it quickly.
Thank you! That sounds excellent.
I’ve never made home made broth before…SO GOOD! Best soup I’ve had in a long time.
So glad you enjoyed!
My husband was sick so I made this for him, and he liked it a lot. I subbed oregano for thyme cos I didn’t have any, and it was still fine.
So glad he enjoyed! Hope he feels better soon!
This was so good!! Thank you!
I love that! You’re so welcome!
Made this yesterday, loved it! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! You’re so welcome!
I’ve made this twice now, both times because my girlfriend is sick. she loves it. it reminds her of a soup her grandmother used to make. definitely worth a try!
So glad she enjoyed it! Yay!! Hope she feels better soon.
Is it 10-12 cups or water or 8 cups of water? In step 3 under “how to make chicken broth, it says 10-12 cups, but in the recipe directions it says 8 cups.
Sorry about that, it’s 8 cups of water. Just adjusted it in post. Thank you!
I finally made this recipe and it’s instantly one of my favorites. Thank u.
I LOVE this delicious soup recipe! I make this once a week and it just warms my soul. The tangy lemon brightens up the chicken soup and gives it an irresistible flavor! Love trying your recipes because they always turn out amazing!!
Hello my name is Andrea, I love cooking and trying new dishes. I always order out when I have a taste for lemon rice soup. But today I have a little time and a taste for lemon rice soup 😋 So I googled and found this recipe, along with a 5 star rating. I have all ingredients needed so let the fun begin!!
I love that! Let me know what you think once you give it a try!
Hello Yumna! I’m Greek and in Avgolemono, there is absolutely never any butter or flour! Only egg tempered with the broth! It’s a pretty big NO-NO for any Greek anywhere in the world who makes it with butter or flour (you’ll never see that anywhere in our cookbooks or recipes). Butter is not something us Greeks use in our cooking (more only in baking),
Hi Maria! Oh that’s good to know! I think I noticed it in a few popular recipes for Avgolemono, but they must not be authentic greek recipes then. Thanks so much for letting me know, and I just deleted that part from my sentence.
Thank you Yumna! I’m a big fan of yours and love your recipes! Yes, the recipes on the net where they add flour and butter and definitely not Greek people posting it:)
Thank you so much! I appreciate it!
So easy to make, even when making the broth yourself. I did change up the cooking instructions & I made this soup in my crockpot. After all the ingredients, except the lemon, were together I cooked it on low for 4 hours. It was SO delicious! So metal can taste, completely fresh! Accompanied with a crusty bread it was a perfect, satisfying meal! The absolute best part of making this soup, other than eating it, is I had ALL the ingredients!! No trip out to stores! I so appreciate recipes I can put together without an extra shopping trip!
Thank you, Sheila! I’m so glad to hear this recipe can be made in the crockpot too. Next time I’m going to enjoy this with some bread!
Tasty, nice bright lemony flavor
So glad you liked it! Thank you!
I will use ground chicken (well seasoned) and make tiny balls for this soup..similar to Italian Wedding Soup.
Yup! That’s perfect!
I have 2 pounds of bone in chicken thighs. Should I use all of that or just use half. Recipe calls for 1 pound but I didn’t know if that was for boneless. Or does it matter?
Good question actually! You an use 2 pounds of bone-in chicken thighs since I used boneless thighs. I just clarified this in the ingredients. Thanks for bringing it up!
YES! A food blog by a Michigander!! So happy I found your site! I’m going to make this recipe tonight for my girlfriend.
Yay! Love my fellow Michiganders! Thank you so much and hope you like the recipe!
Hi Yumna, I tried the soup, it was absolutely delicious. My husband and I both loved it. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi ma’am.. I hope you are doing well. Happy Ramdan!. yesterday I tried your chicken lemon rice soup recipe and it was really amazing. I had in iftar ?? Thank you so much for motivating us and sharing awesome recipes. Loads of love from ??.
Hi ma’am.. I hope you are doing well. Happy Ramadan. Yesterday I tried your chicken lemon rice soup recipe and it was really amazing. I had in iftar ?? Thank you so much for motivating us and sharing awesome recipes. Loads of love from ??.
Awww so glad to hear it. Ramadan Kareem to you!
So delicious and super easy! This is definitely on my weekly rotation for my family. Plus, I’ve never made my own chicken stock before trying this recipe. Now I do it all the time!
That is so awesome to hear!! Thank you!
contingencies***
Beautiful recipe and love that you take so many things into account with all the constringentes! ???
Aww so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you!!
Really good! Needed a ton of salt added for me and my household. I also added some cilantro and avocado, which was really good!
Haha, that’s why I left the salt and pepper to taste because it depends on the broth and personal preference. Love that you added cilantro and avocado to it! Yummy!
What if I don’t have bay leaves? What can I use instead?
You can add other fresh or dried herbs like thyme, rosemary or oregano.
So easy and so yummy – love that you make your own broth for the Arborio rice using veggie scraps
Thank you so much and I’m glad you enjoyed it!!
Can you make this soup in a crockpot?
Yes you can! Just make sure to add the rice in the last half hour because otherwise it will become too mushy.
? my 6 year old son loved it and the cabbage soup last week.
He said “Mom, you’re the best cook!” ??
I’m a huge novice but thank you so much for making recipes that are easy to follow ?
Aww I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing!!
There is a Greek restaurant my husband and I love to go to for their lemon soup! This looks just as good so I’ll have to make it so we can have it more often. I wanted to let you know I featured this in my recent post: https://amysenter.com/january-pinterest-roundup/
Awww, you’re the best…thanks so much for the feature! 🙂
I did 10 cups of water instead so I had to double the rice and use an extra lemon but it’s so good!!! Thanks for the recipe! Very fresh and filling!
That’s perfect! Thank you so much for sharing and glad you liked it 🙂
It was good but way too lemony for me and my family. I would start with one lemon and taste test from there
Yes, that might be a good idea! I love to bring out a big lemon flavor since it’s an important part of the recipe, but I agree that two might be too much for some taste buds. Thanks for sharing!
Made this for dinner tonight for my fam and it was absolutely so good! I cheated a bit and bought a whole rotisserie chicken from Costco and cooked rice in our Asian rice cooker ha ? Empty pot said it all! Delicious, easy recipe and a keeper! ?
That’s so awesome! I love the shortcuts you made and I think what matters is the empty pot in the end haha!
Why would anyone consider the inner tender leaves of celery a scrap? It is the best part of celery.
I know what you mean and it’s 100% edible. But in general the stalks are what most people eat. Like you, I find the leaves delicious, and I like to chop them up to include in salads and soups. But most of the time, I save them as “scraps” for making chicken broth since they are so flavorful.
such a wonderful recipe! i made it as is and it was comforting and delicious. it really helped with my cold
So glad to hear it!! Nothing like chicken soup when you have a cold!
How much broth if you are using store bought?
Great question. I use 8 cups of water that gets reduced to make about 6 cups of chicken broth. So if you’re using store-bought, try 6 cups and you can always adjust it. 🙂
store bought is fine but why? with this recipe? you are chopping the veggies anyway and boiling the chicken anyway..however I am no stranger to convenience so as the recipe says 8 cups of broth it doesn’t matter where you get it. FYI I used 5 cups of broth bc that is how many fit in my pot… worked fine. this is a very nice soup, it stands to reason, her name begins with YUM
HAHA! I really should have named my blog something with YUM in it! Thanks hun 🙂
Do you leave the skin on the chicken when boiling?
Yes you can leave the skin on. It will give the broth more flavor. But I recommend taking it off when shredding for the soup, although that comes down to preference 🙂
Can you add more rice?
Absolutely!
This was so easy and delicious! I added some zucchini and only the juice of one lemon instead of two. So excited to eat this as my meal prep lunches. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
So glad to hear that you found the recipe easy and delicious! So smart to prep it for lunch for the week!
ok love chicken lemon rice soup. reciepe calls for 2 lemons. can you use lemon juice from a bottle. if so how much?
Yes, you can use lemon juice from a bottle. Each lemon has about 2 tablespoons of juice, so I would recommend up to 1/4 cup, but feel free to adjust it by your preference 🙂
This soup is SOO good!! We’ve made it multiple times and will make it again tonight! Thank you!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Thank you so very much for this recipe! A dear friend will begin chemo next week … and we’re making this recipe as our friend’s favorite soup so she can eat … even when she doesn’t feel up to it! Thank you so much for the keto friendly tips … my friend is doing paleo while doing chemo, so this is very helpful!
That makes my heart so happy. Thank you for sharing, and hope this soup brings some warmth to your friend. She’s so lucky to have you thinking of her!!
Getting chilly here in Michigan, so I made this today. It was amazing! Absolutely delicious. Thank you.
So happy to hear that! Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Any opinions on using chicken breasts instead of thighs? It’s all I got thawed right now, eek!
Yes, that’s absolutely fine. You’ll need to boil the chicken for only 15 minutes then. And you can actually boil it when it’s frozen! Enjoy 🙂
Tried this recipe because it looked interesting and now it’s a weekly staple! Delicious, wholesome and so easy to make. I didn’t have celery and thyme so skipped those two and it still turned out to be amazing.
Yay! So glad to hear you tried it and enjoyed it!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Goodness in a steamy bowl…happy slurping!
Hahaha thank you!
Cusune: Greek (not American)
You got it!