This creamy lemon dill orzo soup recipe has a surprising ingredient. When I see creamy soup recipes, I expect to see that some form of dairy makes it creamy. Milk, sour cream, cheese, or all of the above, for example.
Instead, this recipe uses eggs to achieve its velvety, creamy texture. For a long time I shied away from recipes that cook eggs by tempering them in hot liquid. It sounds scary if you’ve never done it.
Well, I have to say that tempering eggs could not be easier! And the creamy flavor is different in a subtle way, which makes it refreshing as well.
I couldn’t get enough of this soup when I first made it. I kept sneaking back to the pot after dinner for spoonfuls of delicious, creamy, bright soup! The flavors get pretty strong as leftovers, so I recommend devouring it while it’s fresh!
Tips and tricks for the Creamy Lemon Dill Orzo Soup recipe:
- Taste test your soup and increase salt as necessary for your tastes. If your vegetable broth is unsalted or low sodium, you will likely want to add more salt!
- Fresh lemon is a must for this recipe! It’s flavor is brighter than the bottled variety. You can even zest and freeze the lemon rind to use in other recipes!
- I love the color that carrots and spinach add to this dish, but you could sub in different vegetables as well. Celery and broccoli would be delicious!
- Gluten free swap: try using 3 cups cooked brown rice instead of the orzo, and decrease the water by about 1 cup.
- 1 medium onion, diced (~1½ cups)
- 4 small carrots, sliced (~1½ cups)
- 1 TBS olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ tsp red pepper flake
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 3 cups water
- 1 cup orzo pasta (preferably whole wheat)
- 1 large lemon, juiced (about ¼ cup fresh juice)
- 2 large eggs
- 3 oz spinach, chopped
- 4 large dill springs, minced
- ¼ tsp each: salt and pepper
- n a large dutch oven, combine onion, carrots, and olive oil. Saute about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Mix in garlic and red pepper flake. Saute 1 minute.
- Poor in vegetable broth and water. Bring to a boil. Mix in ozro, and simmer for 6 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together eggs and lemon juice until smooth.
- After the 6 minutes has expired, carefully remove 1 cup boiling liquid from the soup (trying to avoid large pieces of vegetables/pasta).
- Slowly whisk hot broth into egg mixture, over about 1 minute.
- Stir egg mixture into broth and mix in spinach, dill, salt and pepper. Stir until spinach is wilted and cooked, about 1 minute. Serve.
For some reason I’m afraid of eggs in soup! –Visually this looks really good.
I know what you mean, it’s a little intimidating! It took me years to try it. The method is not difficult, just make sure your broth is boiling hot to cook the eggs!