Soups
Vegan Avgolemono
Prep
15 minutes
Cook
40 minutes
Yield
4 -5
🍋 Transform the classic Greek egg-lemon soup into a creamy vegan delight with this authentic Vegan Avgolemono recipe. Featuring tangy lemon, hearty rice, and a silky tahini-miso base, this one-pot wonder delivers all the traditional flavors without any animal products.
My favorite Greek soup (avgolemono) has turned vegan, and it’s one of my absolute favorites. This vegan avgolemono is super creamy, authentic, easy, and can be whipped up in one pot. The creamy lemon-rice combination creates a comforting dish that brings me right back to my Greek roots.
I teamed up with Lundberg Family Farms to share this authentic and easy recipe because it’s seriously one of my favorites. It reminds me of home and growing up. The rice really makes it creamy, warming, and hearty—perfect for a satisfying meal any time of year.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Vegan Avgolemono
- Authentic: All the flavors of traditional Greek avgolemono soup are made completely plant-based.
- One-Pot Wonder: Everything comes together in a single pot for easy cleanup.
- Dairy-free: The combination of rice, tahini, and miso creates a luxurious texture.
🍲 Ingredients
Avgolemono Base – This soup is traditionally called avgolemono, but what really transforms it from a basic soup to this magical dish is the combination of tahini, miso paste, lemon juice, and stock. These ingredients replace the traditional egg-lemon mixture while maintaining the signature creamy, tangy profile that makes this Greek classic so beloved.
Nutritional Yeast – Also known as “nooch,” this deactivated yeast sold in the form of yellow flakes or powder brings a savory, almost cheesy flavor to the soup. It’s packed with B vitamins and protein, making it both delicious and nutritious – the perfect addition to this vegan avgolemono soup.
👩🍳 How to Make Vegan Avgolemono
1. Into a large stock pot add your olive oil, onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes, make sure to stir occasionally to avoid any browning or burning. You don’t want the vegetables to develop any color, just want them translucent and soft.
2. Once your veggies have cooked down for 10 minutes you can add your veg stock cubes, water, nutritional yeast and tamari or soy sauce.
3. Bring this mixture to a boil, lower heat and add your rice. Cook for around 20 minutes with lid on or until your rice is cooked.
4. While your soup is cooking prepare your Miso Tahini Lemon Sauce simply by adding all your ingredients into a blender and blending till smooth. NOTE: let your stock from soup cool for a few minutes before adding to the blender with other ingredients.
6. If your rice is ready you can remove the pot from the heat and begin stirring in your lemon sauce. Continue stirring till well combined. Add your fresh dill or parsley and stir just once more.
7. Give your soup a little taste test then add the necessary seasoning. Enjoy hot with more fresh parsley or dill!
🗒 Tips and Tricks
- Vegetables: For the best flavor, cook onions, carrots, and celery on low heat just until soft, not browned.
- Rice: Use a short-grain variety for the creamiest texture in your avgolemono.
- Blending: Let stock cool slightly before blending with tahini and miso to prevent separation.
🗒 Substitutions
- Rice: Brown rice can replace white for added nutrition (allow extra cooking time).
- Herbs: Fresh parsley works well if dill isn’t available.
- Protein: Add chickpeas or white beans for a heartier vegan avgolemono soup.
- Miso: If unavailable, use additional nutritional yeast and a touch more salt.
🗒 Best served with
- Twist Bread (with Pesto & Parmesan)
- Cauliflower Pizza Crust with Arugula Salad Topper
- Easy & Authentic Greek Salad Recipe
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
🤔 Common Questions
Traditional avgolemono gets its creaminess from an egg-lemon mixture. This vegan version uses tahini and miso to create the same silky texture and rich flavor while maintaining the signature tangy lemon profile.
While orzo is sometimes used in avgolemono, rice creates a creamier texture as it releases starch during cooking. This helps achieve that authentic velvety consistency in the vegan version.
Yes! The flavors actually improve after a day in the refrigerator. The rice may absorb more liquid, so you might need to add a splash of broth when reheating.
Yes, this vegan avgolemono is naturally gluten-free as long as you use gluten-free vegetable stock and tamari instead of soy sauce.
The key is to let your hot stock cool slightly before blending with the tahini and lemon. Then add the mixture back to the soup off the heat, stirring constantly.
Vegan Avgolemono
Your Greek mommy that is. 😍 Step into my kitchen to learn how to make yummy Greek food. 🍽️💃
Ingredients
For the Soup:
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups sweet white onion finely chopped
- 1 cup celery stalk finely chopped (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups carrot finely chopped or cut into 1/2 inch rounds (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 2 vegetable stock cubes (or 2 tbsp vegetable stock paste) organic, no added salt
- 6-7 cups hot water
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
- 3/4 -1 cup uncooked Brown Jasmine Rice – Lundberg Farms or other rice of your choice (i.e. basmati)
- season to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley or dill finely chopped
For the Avgolemono:
- 2 tbsp. tahini
- 2 tbsp white miso paste
- 3/4 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 cups stock from soup
Garnish:
Instructions
- Into a large stock pot add your olive oil, onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes, make sure to stir occasionally to avoid any browning or burning. You don’t want the vegetables to develop any colour, just want them translucent and soft.
- Once your veggies have cooked down for 10 minutes you can add your veg stock cubes, water, nutritional yeast and tamari or soy sauce.
- Bring this mixture to a boil, lower heat and add your rice. Cook for around 20 minutes with lid on or until your rice is cooked.
- While your soup is cooking prepare your Miso Tahini Lemon Sauce simply by adding all your ingredients into a blender (2 cups of stock from the soup – avoid scooping out rice, tahini, white miso & lemon juice) and blending till smooth. NOTE: let your stock from soup cool for a few minutes in the blender before blending with other ingredients.
- Remove pot from the heat once it's ready and begin stirring in your lemon sauce. Continue stirring till well combined. Add your fresh dill or parsley and stir just once more.
- Give your soup a little taste test then add necessary seasoning. Enjoy hot with more fresh parsley or dill!
Came across this by luck – SO DELICIOUS! I’ve missed this so much through the years, though had only ever enjoyed in restaurants. I’m so happy I can make a vegan version at home. Note: I used freekeh instead of rice. THANK YOU FOR THIS!
You are so welcome, Rachel! Thank you so much for your love and support. We love this recipe too.
Came across this by luck – SO DELICIOUS! I’ve missed this so much through the years, though had only ever enjoyed in restaurants. I’m so happy I can make a vegan version at home. Note: I used freakeh instead of rice. THANK YOU FOR THIS!
Perfection!
Thank you, Ashley!
This is so delicious! I didn’t have jasmine rice, so I used arborio and it turned out really creamy and delicious. Thank you for this recipe!
Thank you so much for the love, Sheri!!!
Warm and cozy! A new take on the soup I had to forgo long ago due to the ingredients. Omg I HAVE to put this in a bread bowl! Make this ASAP!
Thank you so much, Michelle!
I add in a half can of drained chickpeas or precooked marinated soy curls and then add the black salt (kala namak) for more egg flavor after everything has cooked. I’ve also done it all in the instant pot, sauteeing the veggies in the IPot first, then doing soup function for 15 minutes, natural release, using brown jasmine rice, and today I’m trying loto rice, which is like an arborio rice.
Getting some of the rice into the blender with the tahini sauce and stock makes the soup look creamy white and taste great. I also added in chopped crimini mushrooms. I meant to float in some precooked gnocchi too but ended up eating it all first. Oh well! Maybe it’s not all true to the original greek version but it all tastes yum!
This recipe was easy to make, included all vegan items that I already had at home, and was so lemony-delicious! Thanks, Maria, for the recipe!
Thank you so much for the support, Jen!
I was super nervous since this was my favorite soup forever and then I went plant based. I am amazed how accurate the taste is and I love how many more layers this actually contains. I love all the unique ingredients I have never gotten to use before, and I will definitely be making this again and again. Thanks for the amazing recipe it really cured my craving of about 3 years!
You’re so welcome hun!! This is one of my favourite soup recipes!!!
Go make this soup now…. like immediately!!! So simple with som much flavor! We love this soup anytime, and it’s especially amazing if you have a cold or just don’t feel well. When my little girl is sick this soup makes her so happy;) Thank you for an easy delicious soup!!! I used almost one cup of white basmati and it cooks fast and can soak up a lot of the liquid so you can just add a little extra water or broth at the end;) We make it often. 😉 @foodbymaria
Great recipe! Instead of taking two cups of the stock from the soup for the lemon sauce, I added two cups of vegetable stock instead!
That is awesome, thanks so much Ashley!!!