Source: Adapted from A Spicy Perspective: Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
Snapshot Review
My Rating: 
My Husband’s Rating:
Will I make again?: I make this all of the time and all year long!
Recipe Difficulty: Easy
Time Involved: Quick
Occasion: Weeknight dinner or when someone is under-the-weather
About this Recipe
We have loved this Lemon Chicken Soup recipe for years, and I have adapted it to our tastes from A Spicy Perspective‘s original “Greek Lemon Chicken Soup.” This soup is absolutely one of our favorites. It is great if someone is under-the-weather, and it’s also light and comforting. We even prefer it to Chicken Noodle Soup.
Ingredients
The ingredients mainly consist of chicken, chicken broth, garlic, onion, lemon and Israeli Couscous. Then we add some red pepper flakes for a bit of spice, some chives and some mozzarella to garnish.
Recommendations
I know when I saw the soup had 8 cloves of garlic, I thought, “that can’t be right,” but I did it anyway, and let me tell you: you must do it! It is exactly right, and it doesn’t make the soup taste too much like garlic, it just adds this lovely, subtle flavor.
If you happen to have leftover chicken, or you want to use a Rotisserie Chicken, you can make this soup even faster. In that case, add the shredded chicken with the couscous at the end.
One mistake I have made in the past, is to add the couscous and then let the soup cook for a while. Do not do this. It’s important to add it at the very end, otherwise it soaks up all of the broth and gets gummy.
If you dislike spicy flavors, I still think you can use the 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. It doesn’t make it spicy, in my opinion, but if you are nervous about it, cut it down or just add it at the end after you ladle the soup into your bowl.
The original recipe called for feta cheese, and we aren’t big fans of feta, so we substitute mozzarella, and we like that a lot better, but feta is also an option if it suits you.
Final thoughts
Every time I make this soup, I think we love it more and more. It is just heavenly! I hope you will try it!
Lemon Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 10 cups chicken broth plus 2 cups more for leftovers
- 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 8 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 cups sweet onion diced
- 1 lemon zested
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 1/3 cups Israeli Couscous (box from Trader Joe’s)
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup chives chopped
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese for topping the soup
Instructions
- Drizzle the grapeseed oil into a large 6-8 quart pot over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, saute the garlic and onion for about 3-4 minutes or until soft.
- Add the chicken broth, chicken breasts, lemon zest, lemon juice and red pepper flakes to the pot. Raise the heat to high, cover, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium, then simmer for 5 minutes.
- About 10 minutes before you are ready to eat, add the couscous. Simmer about 5 minutes.
- Remove the chicken breasts from soup and shred, and then return them to the pot. Stir in the chopped chives and salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of mozzarella cheese on each bowl of soup, and garnish with extra red pepper flakes, to taste.
- If you need to reheat the soup later in the week, add 2 cups of chicken broth to the pot before reheating.
Hi! I’m Sara Allison, and I’m the author behind Bright SaraPhim. I have always loved to cook, and I’m excited to share new and favorite recipes with you as well as my love for Essential Oils!
So healthy!!!
And soooo good!