Greek-Inspired Chicken, Orzo and Lemon Soup with Instant Pot Elements

I had my second vaccination today (hooray!) and I wanted to make a big pot of soup so that if I had side effects we could still all eat well. A year or more ago we had some extra egg yolks and I made a version of avgolemono that we all loved. We are huge fans of orzo and I’ve been enjoying the whole wheat orzo we’ve been getting from DeLallo since our co-op stopped carrying it. I had bought a chicken from Green Bow Farm on sale and it was waiting in the freezer for just this kind of occasion so I went for it. 

I did a bit of Internet searching to find the accepted level of egg and lemon only to find ratios all over the map. I saw 2 eggs to 1/2 c lemon juice or 3 eggs and 3 TBSP lemon juice. I gathered that it’s about personal taste both in terms of tartness and thickness. I also realized that there is no need to separate eggs just for this dish unless I already have yolks needing to be used.

As per usual, I added extra vegetables to the soup, thereby taking it firmly out of traditional territory. I’m okay with this because I want the family to have a higher veg to meat ratio in our meals. I added carrots and my go-to favorite, a bag of frozen riced cauliflower. Neither interfere with the light, pleasing flavor of the soup.

INGREDIENTS

1 3-4lb chicken, thawed with the giblets removed, cut into pieces if desired (my chicken was giant at nearly 5lb but it worked fine—more soup for us)

1 onion, peeled and cut into 8 roughly equal pieces

2 large or 3 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into about 4 chunks each

2 ribs celery (optional) cut into about 4 pieces each

Small handful of peppercorns

A few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried

A handful of fresh parsley (stems are fine), optional

3 fresh bay leaves or 2 dried

4 qt cold water or to max fill line

Stock from recipe above

2 qt water

2-3 large carrots, scrubbed and diced or cut into half-moons (optional)

8 oz whole wheat or regular orzo pasta

1 bag frozen riced cauliflower (optional)

3 eggs or 3-4 egg yolks

1/3 c lemon juice or to taste

2 c reserved broth, warm

Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Put the chicken through the bay leaves into the insert of the Instant Pot and then fill to the Max Fill line (assuming you have a 5 or 6 qt machine)
2. Put the lid on to Sealing and select the poultry setting for one hour. Because my chicken was still quite frozen I added an additional 45 minutes just to be safe and it worked fine
3. Once the time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally if you can. Mine sputtered a ton even after I waited ten minutes but I was running out it time
4. Remove the chicken from the pot and put on a cutting board. Carefully strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer and set aside. Put 2 cups of the stock in a separate small saucepan for mixing with your egg & lemon mixture
5. Take the chicken off the bone and cut into bite-sized pieces. Set aside (put in fridge if you think you’re going to take a while to get to the next phase)
6. Put the stock in a very large pot (I use my 6 qt Dutch oven) and add an additional 2 qt water. I do this because my Instant Pot is smaller and my chicken was bigger so the resulting stock was super concentrated and could handle being extended with water without losing flavor. Use your own judgment for what works for you
7. Add the diced carrots and bring stock to a boil. If you’re not ready to serve the soup, you can keep the pot warm as long as you need to
8. When you are ready to serve, bring the carrots and stock to a boil and add the orzo. Boil until al dente according to package instructions (7 minutes was what our package said)
9. Once the pasta time is up, add the bag of frozen riced cauliflower and turn off the heat. There is plenty of residual heat in the pot to cook the cauliflower
10. Crack the eggs into a small bowl or jar and whisk or use an immersion blender to mix the eggs so there are no streaks of white
11. Add the lemon juice and blend well; I really like the immersion blender for this task
12. Slowly add the reserved warm stock to the egg and lemon mixture to temper the eggs, pulsing the immersion blender while you do so
13. Add the mixture to the big pot and briefly reheat until steaming (if it doesn’t seem hot enough) if desired. Just don’t bring the soup to a boil or the eggs could separate or curdle
14. Taste and adjust seasoning