Greek egg lemon (avgolemono) sauce

The traditional Greek egg lemon sauce called avgolemono is fundamental to so many traditional Greek recipes. It is quite simple in that it is made with only eggs (avgo-) and lemons (-lemono) and some of the broth from the meal you will be using it in. Although simple, there is a technique which helps ensure that you get the tastiest, frothiest and richest avgolemono you can. I will teach you how to do that!

You will find that Greek egg lemon or avgolemono sauce is used in several traditional Greek recipes like avgolemono soup (the Greek rice and chicken soup), yiouvarlakia, artichoke and peas stew and in some cabbage roll recipes to name a few.

What is egg lemon (avgolemono) sauce?

This is a staple of Greek cooking and you will find it in several recipes. It is a frothy sauce made with raw eggs and freshly squeezed lemon juice. It is added to a variety of dishes to enhance their flavour. It adds texture to many meals by thickening the broth and it adds visual appeal as well.

Why this recipe works

This method of making egg lemon sauce works so well because the proportion of egg to lemon gives you just the right amount of frothiness and tanginess. It is a good place to start if you have never made avgolemono sauce before, or if you haven’t had much success with it.

Once you make avgolemono sauce with my recipe you can adjust the amount of lemon juice you add to make it more or less tangy, according to your taste. Remember however that this is an egg lemon sauce – it should have a tartness to it.

Traditional egg lemon sauce also requires that you add some broth to it before pouring the sauce into our pot of cooked soup or stew (or whatever else you will be using it with). I will explain how you to make the best avgolemono sauce, without curdling your eggs!

Key ingredients

Eggs – I use large pasteurized chicken eggs to make avgolemono sauce. They should be at room temperature as this will help prevent them from curdling.

Lemons – Use the juiciest lemons you can find. Avoid any lemons that appear wrinkled or that have green spots on the outside. Your lemons should be at room temperature.

Broth – You will add your avgolemono sauce to a dish that has a broth. You will be using some of this broth to thin out your egg lemon sauce before adding it to the recipe.

Substitutions

Lemons
Fresh lemons are always best but if you find yourself without, you could use the equivalent amount of good quality, pure, bottled lemon juice. The label on the bottle will tell you how much of the juice is equivalent to one lemon.

How to make

Preparation

• Squeeze your lemons and set the juice aside.
• Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites.
• Ensure that the meal you will be adding your avgolemono sauce to is not piping hot. Remove it from the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Transfer approximately one cup of the broth to a bowl and set aside to cool further.

Directions

Step 1
Using a hand held mixer, a rotary hand held mixer, or a whisk, beat the egg whites until frothy. You will not be creating soft peaks – that is fine. You want the egg whites to be frothy and foamy.

Step 2
Add the egg yolks to the egg whites and continue to beat until well incorporated.

Step 3
While still beating the eggs, slowly pour in the lemon juice.

Step 4
While still beating slowly stream in the cup of broth that you have set aside. It should be warm (not hot). Continue beating until smooth all of the broth has been incorporated.

Step 5
Pour your avgolemono sauce into the pot with your meal. Carefully stir, or shake your pot, so that the avgolemono sauce gets incorporated throughout the meal.

Recipes that use egg lemon sauce

There are many traditional Greek recipes which are enhanced by the addition of egg lemon sauce. Some of my favourites are the following:

Pork and celery with egg lemon sauce (Χοιρινό με σέλινο αυγολέμονο)

I absolutely adore this meal! The pork is cooked with a lot of celery, including the celery leaves, to produce a most wonderful stew. The avgolemono added at the end brings this to a whole other level!

Yiouverlakia avgolemono and tomato (Γιουβαρλάκια αυγολέμονο με ντομάτα)

Yiouverlakia are rice studded meatballs and this soup is made with a tomato based broth. The avgolemono is added at the end giving the finished product a rich and creamy texture, and a tangy lemon taste.

Avgolemono soup

We can’t forget this classic recipe! The Greek version of chicken soup for the soul! The ingredients are simple for this rice and chicken soup, and the egg lemon sauce makes it what it is! Perfection!

Thanks for sharing!