Instant Pot Greek Chicken Lemon Rice Soup–this is a thick and hearty version of creamy Greek avgolemono soup. It has tender bites of chicken, rice, carrots and of course fresh lemon juice. This soup has unbelievable flavor! And it’s made quickly in your electric pressure cooker.
Get the SLOW COOKER version of the recipe here
Instant Pot Greek Chicken Lemon Rice Soup
If you’re a fan of all things lemon you will love this soup! It is creamy and the lemon just gives the soup such a pop of flavor. I started with a small bowl and just kept going back for more helpings because it was so delicious! I added feta cheese to the top of my soup for a little more Greek flavor. Even though it was close to 85 degrees my family really enjoyed this soup!
This version of Instant Pot Greek chicken lemon rice soup is very thick thanks to the rice, a little flour and butter mixture and the eggs that are used as a thickener. If you want a more brothy soup you might want to leave out the roux and perhaps cut the rice to 1/2 cup instead of 3/4 cup.
I used long grain white rice but I believe you could have good results with short grain white rice, jasmine rice and even basmati rice.
More recipes you’ll love…
Instant Pot Mexican Street Corn Soup
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Instant Pot Greek Chicken Rice Bowls
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Greek Chicken Lemon Rice Soup I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
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Instant Pot Greek Chicken Lemon Rice Soup
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes (plus 10 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 40
- Yield: 6-8 servings 1x
Description
This is a thick and hearty version of creamy Greek avgolemono soup. It has tender bites of chicken, rice, carrots and of course fresh lemon juice. This soup has unbelievable flavor! And it’s made quickly in your electric pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 yellow or white onion, diced
- 6 cups chicken broth (or 6 cups water + 2 Tbsp Better than Bouillon Chicken Base)
- 2 large carrots, cut into quarter inch slices
- 1 rib of celery, diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 3/4 cup long grain white rice
- 2 chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 eggs
- Optional: feta cheese
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the olive oil. Swirl the oil around. Add in the onion. Stir and saute the onion for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the broth and let the broth heat up while you cut up your carrots and celery. Add in the carrots, celery, salt, pepper and rice.
- Cut your chicken breasts in half, so they are half as thick. This will help them cook at the same rate as the rice. Add them into the pot.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 5 minutes (high pressure).
- Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting.
- Open the pot and use tongs to remove chicken. Place the chicken on a cutting board and let rest.
- In a bowl whisk together the butter and flour until smooth. Ladle a cup of the soup into the flour/butter mixture and whisk until smooth. Ladle the mixture back into the pot. This will help to thicken the soup.
- Add the lemon juice into the pot.
- In a bowl whisk together the eggs until frothy. Ladle a tablespoon of the hot soup into the eggs and whisk, then repeat the process a few times. This way the eggs won’t scramble. Add the entire mixture into the pot and stir. This will make the soup creamy and thick.
- Shred the chicken* and add it to the pot.
- Ladle soup into bowls and serve with feta, if desired.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
To make gluten free: Check your broth to be sure it does not contain gluten. Omit the flour and substitute with a cornstarch/water combination.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Greek
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of the recipe
- Calories: 281
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 709 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Carbohydrates: 23 g
- Protein: 32 g
Keywords: soup, chicken
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*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I made the changes the previous reviewer made. Also used 3 eggs in place of the butter/flour mixture. It was excellent.
★★★★★
Good idea!!
I made this recipe with 3 medium carrots and 2 stalks of celery. I also used about 1/3 c. lemon juice and added 1/2 tsp. each of thyme and oregano before cooking. It was perfect!
Sounds amazing Elizabeth!
I’m still playing with the recipe. The one I mentioned here is still the best.
Thank you!
This soup is out of this world! I would sacrifice pantry space for my instant pot, just to be able to make this recipe weekly. It blew my mind, thank you sooooo much!
★★★★★
Wow! What a review. Thank you so much 😊😊😊
The best soup I’ve ever had! SO GOOD. I added two tablespoon of dill as well, made it so yummy.
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks Paige!!
Hands down the best soup I’ve ever had! You rock!
★★★★★
ahhhh thanks!!! 😊
This recipe is delicious! I made it on Monday and there were zero leftovers as everyone had seconds or thirds even. I am making it again today. If I double the recipe do you think that a 6 quart IP Will still work or should I use an 8 quart?
I’d use the 8 quart to be safe.
Recipe looks amazing! Could I replace the rice with a short pasta (ie: orzo or ditale)?
Yep you could. But the pasta might get a little over cooked by the time the rice is cooked. You may want to cook the pasta separately and then add it in later.
Awesome. I saute bacon bits first, then the veg. Also I add a bit of sriraccha sauce. We love this recipe and make it often!
★★★★★
Sounds like a great version to me!
I made this tonight in my IP mini so I halved everything, and added a bit less rice after reading the comments. I used chicken thighs because that’s what I had. After dinner, I immediately went to my computer so I could pin it to my “Must Make Again” category. Easy and delicious, and my husband, who doesn’t like much, loved it too. It will be a long, cold winter here in Michigan and I predict I’ll be making this a lot! Thank you.
This is great Pam!!
We love this soup! I’ve made this several times already and it’s quickly becoming a staple recipe. Each time I’ve made it and go to release the pressure after 10 minutes, the pressure takes an abnormal amount of time to release and it sprays tons of soup from the valve. This happens even when I let the pressure release naturally for longer than the recommended 10 minutes. I’ve learned to place a kitchen towel over the valve, but any tips for preventing or lessening the mess?
Thanks so much!
★★★★★
What you do is go back and forth between sealing and venting kind of like when you’re opening a fizzy bottle of soda. That helps a lot.
I found that if you cur the rice back to 1/2 cup it can be releases without soup spraying out when releasing the pressure.
★★★★★
Just made this for the first time and LOVE it. The only change I made was I used potato starch instead of flour to make it gluten free. It’s so thick I think next time I might cut that back a bit. Delicious!
★★★★★
Glad it worked out with the potato starch!
I have made this twice in 2 weeks. We absolutely love it. I’ve made it with both white and brown rice and both are equally good. The brown rice needs 15 minutes to cook. I add more lemon juice for preference. Thank you!
★★★★★
Yum! More lemon is so good!
This is a good version of avgolemeno. I added more carrots, celery onions and lemon juice. I omitted the flour and butter part and added an extra egg. Lower calories and higher protein! It was plenty thick, I had to thin with more broth at the end.
★★★★
Good tip I will try that next time!
Loved the soup!! And so quick & easy. I will definitely make it a lot in the future.
Can you freeze it? Does anything need to be done different to freeze it!
Thanks for the recipe!!
I’m not sure about freezing. I would think that it might get weird with the eggs.
I make this soup weekly and yes, it freezes well!
★★★★★
This soup was great, and so much easier than the stovetop version I made last time. There are just a couple of things I think I’d do differently next time:
-cut the amount of the roux in half
– temper the eggs before thickening with the butter and flour
But super delicious as is!
★★★★
Good ideas!
Will this recipe work in the smaller instapot
Yes but you may need to halve it. Don’t fill past 2/3 full.
Omitting the Feta can I make this soup the day before and gently reheat it? Easter is a big celebration around here and I would like to start with your soup.
I bet that would work!
does the the rice has to be cooked on the side
nope! It’s uncooked rice.
Karen I made this for my family a few nights back and they had a fit over it. EVERY one of us went back for another bowl and My wife took it to work for lunch for 2 days. (I’m retired so I just ate it at home). LOL. A unique flavor and one of the best new dishes I have tried in a long time. Thanks for the post
P.S. All of your recipes turn out great.
Bill
Great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Just made this and finished eating it with my hubby. He said, “This is AWESOME!” The only changes I made were to use a regular sized bag of frozen peas and carrots (thawed and the water drained off) and (based on a similar recipe and because we like dill – added 1 T + 1 tsp dried dill).
So very GOOD!! Oh. I didn’t have feta on hand, so we each mixed in a Tbs or so of blue cheese crumbles. It was perfect! I’ll be sharing this with my daughter and daughter-in-law to fix in their instant pots! The hubby and I each ate 2 bowls and have about a bowl and a half left for lunch tomorrow. PERFECT!!
★★★★★
Thanks for your comment Kari! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This was gourmet quality when made exactly according to the recipe! (Except I added a wee bit more lemon juice — juice of 2 lemons). The chicken was so tender and shredded easily using this method. Alas my husband loved the soup except for the lemon taste!!! Go figure. Next time I’ll just add lemon juice to mine in the bowl!
★★★★★
I love the extra lemon yum yum!
Just sat down with a bowl of soup. I started it about 35 minutes(including cleanup) I never anticipated the brite rich flavor I usually get with hours of cooking on the stovetop. I loved your recipe and kept everything as you suggested. Delicious.
★★★★★
I just love the lemon flavor that comes through on this soup!
Karen I’ve looked at a few recipes, and yours looks like the best, using more ingredients and really using that IP to full potential!. My question: how long should I cook the chicken with short grain white “Calrose” rice? I’m thinking about cooking it with whole chicken breasts.
I’d cook for 8 minutes.
So I read this recipe several times, and I don’t see when to add in the rice? Does it go in with the chicken?
it’s at the end of the first step “Add in the carrots, celery, salt, pepper and rice.”
Absolutely perfect! Thank you so much for the recipe!!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I lived in Greek neighborhood while attending university and miss the days of lemon egg soup and fresh bread! This soup was similar after a little more lemon, and delicious. Great winter recipe
★★★★★
So glad you liked it! It’s one of my faves 🙂
Love it. For low fodmap I switch the onion for the green part of green onions. Also added extra lemon juice and zest and lots of carrot and celery.
★★★★★
Sounds great! I’m glad you liked it 🙂
So good and so easy! Thank you for this recipe! It is definitely a keeper!
★★★★★
Can you cook chicken from frozen?
The problem with that is they won’t cook at the same rate as the rice. I bet it would work with frozen chicken tenderloins though.
Could you make this with orzo?
You probably could. But I wouldn’t pressure cook the orzo. It will be done well before the chicken and get mushy. I would add it in after the chicken is cooked and use the saute function to boil it. Or cook it on the stovetop.
Could I use cornstarch to thicken this instead of the flour? I’m gluten-intolerant and I’ve found that the gluten free flours really tend to clump when I try to make gravy…otherwise I can follow your suggestion and just omit it.
Any ideas about freezing it?
I got the InstantPot like yours for my birthday and it’s my go-to cooking method now. Looking forward to more of your recipes.
Thanks!
I bet you could make a cornstarch slurry and it would work well
Yum! Add extra carrot, celery and lemon juice plus a lemon’s with of zest. Made with the green part of scallions so it could be low-FODMAP
★★★★★
I just had to google FODMAP. I’ve never heard of that!
I made a big pot of this last week, hoping it would last several days for me & my husband. He loved it and asked for it to be added to my “usual rotation” of recipes. It only lasted 2 days of lunches & dinners because we gobbled it up! The lemons were such a bright addition – really made the soup special. Thank you for the great recipe!
★★★★★
I love the lemony flavor too! Glad you both like it!
Do you think I could omit the eggs? My son is allergic and I am wondering if it could thicken up “good enough” without the eggs…?
Yes you could thicken without the eggs! I think it will be plenty thick with the flour/butter mixture.
Looks very tasty! Do you think I could use brown rice and not cut the chicken breasts in half to allow longer cook time for brown rice? I haven’t quite figured how to sub brown for white in recipes yet…
Hi Julie, I really love brown rice too. I want to see if this works so try it and let me know! I know usually when I cook just brown rice it takes 22 minutes. However this soup takes a while to come to pressure so I bet you could cook for 18 minutes. If you want to use chicken thighs that would probably be good too. If not I’d leave the chicken breasts whole. Let me know!!!
I can’t have rice so I will substitute quinoa – will I need to adjust the cooking time?
Perhaps you could add in cooked quinoa after the soup has cooked? Quinoa only needs a couple of minutes of cooking time.