Youvarlakia avgolemono is a dairy-free traditional Greek meatball soup made with an egg-lemon sauce that adds a creamy and lemony flavour and thickens the soup. It’s a comforting soup made with an egg lemony base (avgolemono), tender ground beef meatballs, veggies, and rice.
Avgolemono sauce is versatile and made with egg, lemon juice, and broth. You can also add cornstarch, but the sauce beautifully thickens as it cooks, and avgolemono is the base for many popular Greek soups like youvarlakia avgolemono soup and Greek chicken soup. Youvarlakia avgolemono is high in protein, packed with nutrients and a hearty soup that will satisfy your cravings!
Tempering the eggs can be tricky, but once you make this delicious Greek soup, it will become a favourite since it’s pretty simple to make.
KITCHEN TOOLS RECOMMENDED FOR THIS RECIPE
- Large pot
- Box grater
RECIPE TIPS
- This recipe makes about 16 meatballs, so four meatballs per serving, but you can always make the meatballs larger or smaller.
- Place the meatballs in the fridge for 20 minutes so that they hold together as they cook in the soup. Some of the rice will fall out, but that’s ok!
- Don’t stir the soup once you’ve added in the meatballs. Very gently shake the pot once you add the meatballs if you need to move them around.
- Once you add in the meatballs, the water should cover the meatballs. Use a large pot that isn’t too wide so the meatballs can cook in the water.
- The meatballs must be added when the broth is boiling. This will help the meatballs hold their shape because they’ll seize together in the higher heat.
- The two eggs needed to make the avgolemono sauce need to be at room temperature so there is less of a chance that they will curdle when mixed with warm soup broth. Remove some of the hot broth and place it in a separate bowl so that it has time to cool slightly while you’re whisking the eggs. Add the warm broth to the eggs slowly and continue to whisk in one direction while you pour the broth into the whisked eggs.
- The fresh lemon juice should be added to the whisked eggs before you add in the broth. This will help prevent the eggs from curdling.
- When adding the avgolemono sauce back into the pot, turn the soup off so the broth isn’t boiling. This will reduce the chance of the eggs curdling. Stir gently once you’ve added in the avgolemono sauce.
- The meatballs may still be slightly pink in the centre even after they’re cooked.
INGREDIENT NOTES
Fresh parsley and fresh dill: I love using fresh herbs in recipes because they bring a lot of flavour to recipes. You could substitute dried parsley and dried dill if you don’t have fresh herbs. But you’ll want to use a smaller amount of dried herbs because they have a stronger flavour.
Lean ground beef: I use lean ground beef when making meatballs. I find lean ground beef provides a better mix of tenderness and flavour than extra lean ground beef. I’ve tested this recipe with ground chuck because it was all I could find at the grocery store, but I didn’t love the flavour, and I thought it released more oil into the soup. I haven’t tried this recipe with ground turkey, pork, or chicken.
Chicken base: I love using Better Than Bouillon chicken base when making chicken stock or chicken base recipes. This company does have different base flavours like roasted beef base and roasted vegetable base, as well as low sodium options that you can experiment with if you’d like.
I haven’t tested it with this recipe, but you may be able to substitute chicken or vegetable broth instead of Better Than Bouillon. I sometimes use low-sodium chicken broth, like in this Greek rice recipe, because you can control the amount of salt.
White rice: Any short-grain white rice will work for this recipe! The rice is uncooked when added to the meatball mixture. It will cook with the meatballs in the soup.
HOW TO MAKE GREEK MEATBALL SOUP (YOUVARLAKIA): STEP BY STEP
STEP 1: Make the meat mixture. Peel 1-2 yellow onions (depending on the size) and use a box grater to grate the onions. Drain the juice from the onion. Remove the stems from the parsley and dill and dice the herbs. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk one egg together. Set aside.
Combine the lean ground beef, grated yellow onion, parsley, dill, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Mix well with your hands or a large spoon to combine the ingredients well. Pour in the whisked egg. Mix together. Finally, add the uncooked white rice. Mix together, cover the meat mixture with saran wrap, and place the bowl in the fridge.
STEP 2: Prepare the veggies and broth. Add the extra virgin olive oil to the large pot. Heat up the oil over medium-low heat. Peel and chop the carrots. Clean and chop the celery stalks. Chop the veggies into about inch pieces or a bit larger so that they don’t become mushy as the soup cooks. Add the chopped celery and carrots to the pot once the olive oil has heated up.
Sauté the veggies uncovered on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Once the veggies have had time to cook, add 8 cups of warm water to the pot. Allow the water to boil, and then add the Better Than Bouillon chicken base. Stir together.
STEP 3: Make the meatballs. Take the meatball mixture from the fridge. Grab about a tablespoon of the meat and form meatballs into a size a little smaller than a golf ball. The meatballs will expand slightly as the rice cooks in the soup. But the size of the meatball is up to you. Just try to shape them all evenly so that they can cook similarly.
When adding the meatballs to the soup, the water must be boiling. Then, carefully place all of the meatballs in the boiling water. If you need to move the meatballs, slightly shake the pot (don’t forget to use gloves since the handles will be hot). Loosely cover the pot with a lid and allow the meatballs to cook on a gentle simmer for 40-45 minutes.
STEP 4: Make the avgolemono sauce. The avgolemono sauce acts as a thickening agent in the soup. Once the meatballs are done cooking, the final step is to add in the avgolemono sauce. To make the avgolemono, remove about 1/4 – 1/2 cup of the soup broth into a bowl so that it has time to cool. Separate the eggs into two bowls. One with the egg yolks and the other with the egg whites. The bowl with the egg whites should be bigger because we will eventually add the egg yolks, lemon juice and broth to the bowl.
Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites. Whisk the egg whites using a whisk or electric hand mixer for about 4-5 minutes until the egg whites are very frothy. Then, add in the egg yolks. Continue to whisk for another 2-3 minutes. Pour the fresh lemon juice into the egg mixture. Whisk together. Then, slowly pour the warm broth into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Continue to whisk lightly in one direction.
Turn off the heat for the soup so that the soup isn’t boiling when you add in the avgolemono sauce. Pour the avgolemono sauce into the soup and very gently stir the soup with a large spoon, careful not to break apart the cooked meatballs. The soup is ready once you’ve added in the avgolemono. Serve the youvarlakia with fresh crusty bread, and you could also add a bit of pepper, fresh lemon, and parsley on top. Enjoy!
HOW TO STORE YOUVARLAKIA AVGOLEMONO
You can store your youvarlakia in an airtight container and store it in the fridge for 3-4 days. You can reheat the soup in a microwave-safe container or on the stovetop in a saucepan.
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Lemon Greek Meatball Soup (Youvarlakia)
Ingredients
Soup
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 carrots peeled and chopped
- 2 celery stalks cleaned and chopped
- 8 cups of warm water
- 5 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon roasted chicken base
Meatballs
- 400 grams of lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup grated yellow onion don’t include the juice
- 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley
- 1/4 cup fresh dill
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 egg whisked
- 1/2 cup short-grain uncooked white rice I like Kokuho Rose
Avgolemono Sauce
- 2 eggs room temperature and separated into yolks and whites
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4- 1/2 a cup or a ladle of warm soup broth taken from the soup to temper the eggs
Instructions
- Make the meat mixture. Peel 1-2 yellow onions (depending on the size) and use a grater to grate the onions. Drain the juice from the onion before adding the grated onion to the mixture. Remove the stems from the parsley and dill and dice the leaves of the herbs. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk one egg together. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the lean ground beef, grated yellow onion, parsley, dill, salt, and pepper. Mix well with your hands or a large spoon so that the ingredients are well combined. Pour in the whisked eggs. Mix together. Add in the uncooked white rice. Mix together, cover the meat mixture with saran wrap, and place the bowl in the fridge for 20-25 minutes.
- Prepare the veggies and broth. Add the extra virgin olive oil to the large pot. Heat up the oil over medium-low heat. Peel and chop the carrots. Clean and chop the celery stalks. Chop the veggies into about one-inch pieces or a bit larger, so they don't become mushy as they cook in the soup. Add the chopped celery and carrots to the pot once the olive oil has heated up. Sauté the veggies uncovered on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Once the veggies have had some time to cook on their own, add 8 cups of warm water to the pot. Allow the water to come to a boil, and then add in the Better Than Bouillon roasted chicken base. Stir together.
- Make the meatballs. Take the meatball mixture from the fridge. Grab about a tablespoon of the meat and form meatballs into a size a little smaller than a golf ball. The meatballs will expand slightly as the rice in them cooks in the soup. When adding the meatballs to the soup, the water must be boiling. This will help the meatballs hold their shape as they cook in the broth. Carefully place all of the meatballs in the boiling water. If you need to move the meatballs, slightly shake the pot (don't forget to use gloves since the handles will be hot). Loosely cover the pot with a lid and allow the meatballs to cook on a gentle simmer for 40-45 minutes.
- Make the avgolemono sauce. The avgolemono sauce acts as a thickening agent in the soup. Once the meatballs are done cooking, the final step is to make the avgolemono sauce. Remove about 1/4 cup – 1/2 cup of the soup broth into a bowl so that it has time to cool. Separate the eggs into two bowls. One with the egg yolks and the other with the egg whites. The bowl with the egg whites should be bigger because we're going to eventually add the egg yolks, lemon juice and broth to the bowl.
Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites. Whisk the egg whites using a whisk or electric hand mixer for about 4-5 minutes until the egg whites are very frothy. Then add in the egg yolks. Continue to whisk for another 2-3 minutes. Pour the fresh lemon juice into the egg mixture. Continue to whisk for another minute. Then slowly pour the warm broth into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Continue to whisk lightly in one direction.
Turn off the heat for the soup so that the soup isn't boiling when you add in the avgolemono sauce. Pour the avgolemono sauce into the soup and very gently stir the soup with a large spoon, careful not to break apart the cooked meatballs. The soup is ready once you've added in the avgolemono. Serve the youvarlakia with fresh crusty bread and the option to add a bit of pepper, fresh lemon, and parsley on top. Enjoy!
Notes
- This recipe makes about 16 meatballs, so four meatballs per serving, but you can always make the meatballs larger or smaller.
- Place the meatball mixture in the fridge for 20 minutes, so the meatballs hold together as they cook in the soup. Some of the rice will fall out as the meatballs cook in the soup, but that's ok!
- The meatballs must be added to the soup when the broth is boiling. This will help the meatballs hold their shape because they'll seize together in the higher heat.
- Don't stir the soup once you've added in the meatballs. Very gently shake the pot once you add the meatballs if you need to move them around.
- Once you add in the meatballs, the water should cover the meatballs.
- The two eggs needed to make the avgolemono sauce need to be at room temperature so there is less of a chance that they will curdle when mixed with the warm soup broth. Remove some of the hot broth and place it in a separate bowl so that it has time to cool slightly while you're whisking the eggs. Add the warm broth to the eggs slowly and continue to whisk in one direction while you pour the broth into the whisked eggs.
- Fresh lemon juice should be added to the whisked eggs before you add in the broth. This will help prevent the eggs from curdling.
- When adding the avgolemono sauce back into the pot, turn off the soup, so the broth isn't boiling. This will reduce the chance of the eggs curdling. Stir gently once you've added in the avgolemono sauce.
- The meatballs may still be slightly pink in the centre even after they're cooked
Nutrition
Date Published: January 16, 2023
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