This light lemon artichoke orzo soup sneaks in at low calories, but contains decadent ingredients and a creamy avgolemono-style broth.
Wut. Mikaela, have you lost your mind? You blog cookies. Or cakes. Pastries. Or something involving copious amounts of all-purpose flour that will give me my little foodie high of the day.
Guys. It’s that #quarantinelife. Flour? I had to order a 50 pound bag from Amazon that now permanently resides on one of my dining room chairs. Butter? Hit or miss. Yeast? Fuhgeddaboudit. Been replaced by a sourdough starter named Francis that is SUPER buff, always hungry, and likes to get funky.
Not to mention that I’m typically baking based on my cravings, but have refrained from popping over to the store any time I need a special ingredient. We are currently on the two-week grocery delivery schedule, which means last minute cravings aren’t happening.
So rather than go dark on the blog, I figured I would just share whatever I’m making. (I know that sounds fairly normal, but guys – that is NOT what they tell us in the blogging world. We’re supposed to pick a lane and stay in it. The internet is weird.)
This lemon artichoke orzo soup is a recipe I make at least once a month, on a Sunday, so I can have healthy lunches throughout the week. It was inspired by GimmeSomeOven‘s own play on an avgolemono soup – which is a soup that originated in the Baltic region and uses an “egg-lemon” mixture to give the soup a creamy texture. Typical avgolemono soups have chicken and rice, which is mimicked here with the chickpeas and orzo.
But don’t worry. We will get you back to your regularly scheduled heavy-on-the-butter programming shortly. 😉
Stay safe y’all.
What does avgolemono mean?
An avgolemono soup refers to a soup that is thickened by slowly tempering a lemon-egg mixture and adding it to the soup’s broth. Classic avgolemono soup uses chicken and rice, but this is a vegetarian chickpea soup version.
Can you reheat avgolemono soup?
Yes – but gradually! You never want to bring this soup to a rolling boil after you’ve added the egg-lemon mixture back into the soup. If you boil the soup, your egg-lemon mixture will “break” and you’ll have little bits of scrambled egg in your soup. So reheat this soup gradually, stirring frequently.
How long can you keep avgolemono soup?
Up to three days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
mikaela | wyldflour
Serves 4
This lemon artichoke orzo soup is a vegetarian play on an avgolemono, which uses tempered eggs to achieve a thick, creamy consistency.
10 minPrep Time
25 minCook Time
35 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 2 cups sliced carrots (3 medium/2 large carrots)
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic cloves
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, no salt added (garbanzo beans)
- 1/2 cup uncooked orzo
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/8 - 1/4 tsp dried dill
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped (6 oz jar)
- 2 small handfuls baby spinach
Instructions
- Dice the onion and add to a large soup pot with the olive oil. Begin to saute over medium heat, while you peel and slice the carrots, giving the onions a stir every so often. Add the carrots to the pot and continue to saute until the onions are soft.
- Add the garlic and saute 1-2 minutes more to take the "bite" out of the garlic. Add broth and garbanzo beans, and increase to high heat. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, add dry orzo, salt, parsley, and dill, and cook according to orzo's package instructions regarding cook time. (Should be around ten minutes.) Once your orzo is cooked, be sure to check and make sure your carrots are fork tender. If your carrots are too crunchy for your taste, boil another five minutes or until they're to your liking. Then turn off the heat and remove the pot from the heat.
- Measure out your lemon juice and eggs into a 4 cup glass measuring cup or a similarly-sized bowl. Whisk the lemon juice and eggs to combine. Using a small glass measuring cup, lower the cup into the hot soup and remove 1/2 cup of hot broth. While vigorously whisking the lemon/egg mixture, VERY slowly drizzle the hot soup into the lemon/egg mixture. The drizzle stream should be smaller than a plastic straw's diameter. If you pour too quickly, you'll see little yellow chunks where the hot soup has cooked your egg. If you add the soup slowly, it will very slowly raise the temperature of the eggs, creating a creamy thick foam-on-top mixture.
- Gather another 3/4 cup of hot broth and repeat the slow whisking incorporation into the lemon/egg mixture. Then, you'll need to VERY slowly incorporate the lemon/egg mixture back into the main soup pot. While stirring the soup (still off of heat), very slowly drizzle the now-foamy lemon/egg mixture back into the main soup pot.
- Return the soup to low heat, add the artichoke hearts and spinach, and cook only long enough to wilt the spinach. (Do not let the soup come to a hard boil, since it will break your egg mixture and you'll start to see little yellow chunks.) Ladle out into bowls and enjoy!
Notes
If you don't like chickpeas, feel free to substitute an equal amount of white navy beans or even shredded chicken!
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When reheating, be sure to gradually reheat over low heat, so as not to break the egg mixture!
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