Lemony Chicken and Spinach Soup

Admit it, it was the “lemon” part of the recipe that made you stop the scroll, right? I’ve gotta say, one of the things I love the most about my monthly challenge groups is the recipe shares. It’s a great way to breathe life into your weekly meal routine and let’s be honest, it’s exhausting coming up with new things each week! Bonus? These groups are about clean eating so all the recipes are something that will make your belly AND your waistline happy campers. Hear! Hear! I will note that my kids were only “meh” on this one but I guess that means more for me?! It was totally the spinach in the soup that threw them off but you could easily omit or, if you are feeling wild and crazy and want to put in the extra few minutes, you could try blending into the soup?! Yeah, that’s too much work for me too.

You can see there are quite a few shortcuts in this recipe as well — buying chicken stock instead of making it from scratch, using a rotisserie chicken instead of roasting one — I’m all for easy!

This recipe makes quite a bit so be prepared to either feed an army or make room in your freezer!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, minced (I always use more…just saying)

3 medium carrots, chopped

1 large leek, chopped

10 cups low-sodium chicken stock

2/3 cup dry jasmine rice

Juice of 2-3 lemons

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons chopped dill

4 cups loosely packed spinach

1 rotisserie chicken picked and cut into bite-size pieces

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Instructions:

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat.
Add garlic, carrots, and leek to pan; cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft and aromatic.
Add chicken stock to vegetables and increase heat to medium-high; bring to a boil.
Add rice and reduce heat to medium-low; cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is nearly done, about 20 minutes.
Whisk together lemon juice and eggs in medium bowl.
Slowly pour 1 cup of hot broth into egg mixture, whisking constantly, then pour egg mixture back into pan, stirring.
Add dill, spinach, chicken, and salt; allow spinach to wilt and soup to heat back up, about 10 minutes. Serve.