A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Lemony Chicken Soup
- Ready In: 30 minutes
- Serves: 10
- Calories: 218 cal
- Protein: 32.5g
- Fat: 3.4g
- Carbs: 10.8g
- Why You'll Love It: The perfect extra healthy, but still cozy chicken soup with a little extra pep from the lemon. Packed with veggies, you won't even miss the noodles.
This healthy lemon chicken soup is my perfect soup right now. Classic and soul-warming with just enough zesty, fresh lemon… all for killer macros, so you can eat a GIANT bowl and still fit in some crusty bread. Because IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY?
I know the real classics are chicken noodle, chicken and wild rice, or chicken and quinoa soup. And I LOVE my grains and my noodles! But I love being able to manipulate my macros more. Leaving the noodles out of the pot means I can eat a double serving if I need it (or want it, ha) without every macro going way up. And I don’t feel deprived… and neither does my family!
It’s packed with celery, onions, and carrots, and the rotisserie chicken does most of the protein work for you. If you’re a soup person like me, my veggie chicken soup with butternut squash and chicken minestrone soup are two more cozy ones.
Is Lemon Chicken Soup Healthy?
This one is! It’s mostly lean rotisserie chicken breast, veggies, and broth, with no noodles or cream in the pot. One 400g bowl has 218 calories and 32.5g protein. The optional blended cauliflower makes it thicker and a little creamy for barely any macros.
Is This Greek Lemon Chicken Soup?
Not exactly. Traditional Greek lemon chicken soup (avgolemono) is thickened with eggs and usually has rice or orzo cooked right in. Mine has no eggs. It gets its body from blended steamed cauliflower, plus lots of lemon zest, rosemary, and parsley. If you love orzo or rice, cook it on the side and add it to your own bowl.
Important Ingredients and Substitutions
- Rotisserie chicken breast: I use the big pack of pre-pulled rotisserie chicken breast from Costco, about 8 cups (1110g) after I pick out any gross parts. It’s not good for everything. Don’t even think about putting it in your salad! I can barely do fresh rotisserie in a salad… I’d rather have my apple cider dijon grilled chicken. But it’s PERFECT for soup and makes your life SO much easier.
- Lemons: zest from 2 to 3 lemons and juice from 1 to 2, depending on how lemony you like it.
- Chicken bouillon: 1.5 tablespoons. I love Better Than Bouillon, but use whatever you have.
- Fresh rosemary and parsley: rosemary goes in twice, once with the garlic and again at the end. Dried works too (use about a third as much). Dill would be great if you’re a fan.
- Cauliflower (optional): 12 oz, steamed and blended, for a thicker and creamier broth. My family prefers it with! If you skip it, your protein goes up by about 2g per serving.
Before You Start Cooking
- Grab a big pot. Use a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven. This makes 10 servings.
- Plan on about 30 minutes. That’s 20 minutes of prep (mostly chopping) and 10 minutes of cooking.
- Steam the cauliflower first. If you’re using it, have it steamed and ready to blend before the soup goes on to simmer.
- Keep a carton of broth out. This soup is thick on purpose, since I’m not usually adding noodles to mine. If it’s too thick for the kids to add pasta, I pour extra broth into their bowls. It cools their bowls down just enough, and it doesn’t water down the whole pot, so the macros stay right. You don’t want to charge yourself for 100 grams of soup if it’s half broth!
- Tracking macros? Search “Lillie Eats and Tells Lemony Chicken Soup” in MyFitnessPal. New to logging recipes? Here’s how to create a recipe in MyFitnessPal. Want the whole week planned? My macro-friendly meal plans come out every Thursday with a categorized grocery list and complete macros on every recipe.
How to Make Healthy Lemon Chicken Soup
- Cook the veggies. Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Add the celery, onion, carrots, salt, and pepper and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.
- Add the aromatics. Stir in the rosemary, garlic, and crushed red pepper and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes.
- Add the chicken and broth. Turn the heat down to low and add the shredded chicken, lemon zest and juice, chicken broth, and bouillon. Put a lid on to simmer.
- Blend the cauliflower (optional). Blend the steamed cauliflower until smooth. If it’s too thick, scoop out a cup of broth from the soup to blend with it. Stir it back into the pot.
- Finish with herbs. Add more fresh rosemary and a handful of minced parsley, then simmer until dinner.
Can You Make Lemon Chicken Soup in the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker?
I haven’t made this one in a slow cooker or Instant Pot. When the chicken is already cooked, a pot on the stove is just as easy! For the Instant Pot, you could cook the first 8 ingredients for 10 minutes or so, release the pressure, then add the chicken, lemon zest and juice, and pureed cauliflower and finish with herbs. For the slow cooker, I’d cook the first 8 ingredients for a few hours until soft, then add the chicken and the rest and keep it warm until dinner.
Want a soup that starts with raw chicken? Try my Instant Pot creamy tomato chicken soup or lighter Instant Pot chicken tortilla soup.
What to Serve with Lemon Chicken Soup
Here’s what we do to make carb-eaters and carb-watchers equally happy: make a pot of pasta, brown rice, or orzo on the side. Anyone who wants some can throw it in. If I’ve got carbs to spare, I take part! If I don’t… I don’t even miss it. NOT A BIT. It’s hearty and chunky and filling, and it’s mostly knocking out your protein for you. Without having to eat cold deli meat out of your fridge. Don’t do that. (Unless you love that. Fine, do it.)
I’d rather use my carbs on fresh French bread. SOOO GOOD. I also love sautéed mushrooms in mine, but they’re a huge NO for my kids, so I keep them on the side. (Is anyone else creeped out when you cook a whole 8 oz container, which seems like a lot, and then they’re all gone and no one else even had one?)
For a veggie side, try my kale Caesar salad, simple arugula salad, Parmesan smashed broccoli, roasted delicata squash, or basil roasted veggies.
How to Freeze Lemon Chicken Soup
This soup freezes really well, and it’s one of my macro-friendly freezer meals.
- Freeze the soup without any pasta or rice. Cook those fresh on the side when you’re ready to eat, just like we do for dinner!
- Portion into containers or freezer bags and label with the date and grams (one serving is 400g).
- The veggies soak up some of the broth over time, so add a splash of chicken broth when you reheat to bring it back to the right texture.
- Thaw overnight in the fridge, or reheat from frozen on the stove over low heat.
- Keeps up to 3 months.
More soups for the freezer: my healthy white chicken chili, creamy chicken pot pie soup, easy lasagna soup, and low carb turkey cauliflower chili.
Lemon Chicken Soup Calories and Macros
One 400g serving of this healthy lemon chicken soup has 218 calories, 32.5g protein, 3.4g fat, and 10.8g carbs. That includes the cauliflower but not any pasta, bread, or Parmesan on top. The full nutrition is in the recipe card below.
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Lemony Chicken Soup
Ingredients
- 2 cups chopped celery 230 g
- 3 cups chopped onion 1.5 medium onions, 360 g
- 3 cups chopped carrots 350 g
- 1 Tbs kosher salt
- Several twists of fresh ground pepper about 1/4-½ tsp
- 2 tbs fresh rosemary minced or 2 tsp dried
- 6 cloves minced garlic or frozen dorot cubes
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes *optional
- About 8 cups 1110 g shredded rotisserie chicken breast (I buy the big vacuum packed one from Costco. Roll up your sleeves and pick it apart to remove anything gross and shred into bite sized pieces! I regret it when I leave them too big. I used the entire package so this is the weight after gross parts are trashed.)
- Zest from 2-3 lemons depending on how lemony you like it
- Juice from 1-2 lemons
- 8 cups chicken broth I use 2 of Costco’s or Trader Joe’s boxed
- 1.5 tbs chicken bullion I love the better than bullion but whatever you have!
- 12 oz cauliflower steamed *optional
- 2-3 more tbs fresh minced rosemary or 2-3 tsp dry
- Handful of fresh minced parsley
- Top with fresh grated parmesan if you love yourself not included in macros – but won’t cost much!
Instructions
- Heat a large heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray and add celery, onion, carrots, and salt/pepper stirring occasionally for about 5-10 until tender. Add rosemary, garlic, and crushed red pepper and cook for 1-2 more minutes.
- Turn down to low and add shredded rotisserie chicken breast, lemon zest/juice, chicken broth, and bullion. Put a lid on to simmer.
- If you like a thicker, “creamier” broth, blend steamed cauliflower. If it’s too thick, Scoop out a cup of broth from your soup to blend it with the cauliflower ’till nice and smooth. Add pureed cauliflower/broth back into soup. Finish with extra fresh rosemary and a handful of fresh minced parsley. Simmer ’till dinner!
Notes
- We always make a pot of pasta for anyone who wants to add some in! Orzo, wild rice, farro, or quinoa would also be great if you’d like the extra carbs. I prefer to use mine on the fresh french bread!! SOOO GOOD.
- I love sautéed mushrooms in this, but that’s a huge NO for my kids. So I keep them on the side and throw them into my own bowl.
- TIP: I like the soup pretty thick since I’m not doing noodles, but if it ends up too thick for the kids to add in noodles, or even for my mushroom addition (especially the leftovers as the veggies tend to soak up more liquid over time) … we keep a box of chicken broth out during dinner and I’ll add extra broth to their hot bowls of soup. The perfect way to cool it down just enough too! But that way the macros are still correct for the pot of soup. You don’t want to charge yourself for 100 grams of soup if it’s half broth!
- We’ve done it with and without the pureed cauliflower and my family preferred it with! It just makes it more thick and a little creamy. The macros hardly change with the addition.. I’ve included the cauliflower in the macros below but if you skip it, your protein goes up by 2 per serving but that’s about it! The other two are just a fraction of a gram. Insignificant.
- If you track your macros: you can log this directly from My Fitness Pal by searching Lillie Eats and Tells Lemony Chicken Soup.
- Instant Pot directions: I have not made this particular soup in a slow cooker or instant pot, I feel like when the chicken is already cooked, it’s just as easy to use a pot on the stove! But you could easily throw first 8 ingredients in the instant pot for 10 minutes or so, then release pressure and add rotisserie chicken breast, lemon zest/juice and stir in pureed cauliflower. Finish with herbs.
- For slow cooker: I’d cook first 8 ingredients for a few hours till soft, then throw in the chicken etc after, and keep warm ’till dinner!
- If you’d rather use raw chicken… reference this creamy tomato chicken soup recipe! Or this tortilla soup. And while you’re at it, put them on the menu!
Tried this recipe?
Tag @LillieEatsAndTells on Instagram with #LillieEatsandTells! We’d love to see your creations!
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I didn’t add the cauliflower because I liked it more brothy. I’ll make this again!
I really love this soup! I add a handful of farro and half a bag of frozen riced cauliflower, and I love the complex texture and lemony taste.
I do find it a bit salty to my liking. I made it the first time with 1T of kosher as directed, and it was very salty. The second time I cut it back to 2t and it’s still quite salty. Maybe if I used reduced sodium stock that amount of extra salt would be ok, but for me it’s too much! I’m going to try just a pinch next time when I’m sautéing the veggies. But still overall a repeatable recipe in my house!
Can I ask how big that enameled cast iron pot is? I need to get one for recipes like this! Thanks!!
I’m no expert, but I’ve used an 8qt Dutch oven. The rotisserie chicken and broth take up quite a lot of space!
Love this recipe! I just cooked chicken breasts and shredded them with my kitchen aid mixer. Easy recipe and delicious!
Ok I only picked this recipe bc I have rotisserie chicken that I needed to use. I didn’t really expect to like it that much. OMG IT IS SO GOOD. I halved the recipe, but still used a full 12 oz of steamed cauli. It’s delicious and you really can’t tell that there aren’t any noodles. It’s satisfying. I will be making this again! Thanks Lillie!
Is the cauliflower taste/smell overwhelming?
It is not overwhelming. But I *do * like cauliflower and the taste of cauliflower. You could always add half, taste it, and add more if you wanted 🙂
Love this recipe!! If I cook it and then put leftovers in the fridge can I measure out 400g when I pull it out of the refrigerator or does this change the macros?
Can we use an actual rotisserie chicken if we don’t have Costco near by?
Of course! the macros will be calculated using just breast meat with no skin, but of course use whatever you like!
This is amazing! I have made it a few times and my family really likes it.
Question. Can I freeze this soup?
Yes!
I haven’t made this yet, but it looks good enough that I will. I just wanted to say that on most blogs I don’t really look at the text much, but this! You gave so many good tips on how to manage the macros while keeping your family happy and yourself sane. Thank you!
Oh this comment was so great to read! thanks for taking the time. xo
This soup is absolutely amazing! The flavor is incredible. The serving size is large enough to be completely filling. Will definitely make again.
Thank you! So glad you loved it!
This is so so fresh tasting and delicious! Loved the fresh rosemary and lemon
So yummy
Thank you!