Giouvarlakia - Greek Meatball Soup

Giouvarlakia is a Greek meatball soup that is finished off with avgolemono — a tangy lemon and egg sauce. It’s a simple, hearty recipe that is traditionally served in the colder months. 

Recipe Features

The beauty of giouvarlakia lies in using rice in the meatball mixture.

As the rice cooks it expands, causing the meatballs to swell and become plump.

The final part of this dish makes use of the “well-known” Greek avgolemono. Avgolemono is a sauce made by mixing eggs and lemon juice and tempering the mixture with a hot stock or broth.

It acts as a thickening agent and gives the giouvarlakia that little extra flavour.

What You’ll Need

• 500 grams beef mince/ground beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 60 grams rice, medium grain
• 2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 litres water
• 1 stock cube
• 2 eggs, preferably room temperature
• juice of 1 lemon

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Place the mince in a large bowl. Add the onions, parsley, egg, rice, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. 
2. Using your hands knead the mixture until everything is well combined.
3. Take one tablespoon of the mix, roll into a ball and place on a lined baking tray. Repeat with the remainder of the mixture until you end up with 20 meatballs. Place in the fridge to rest for 15 mins.
4. Heat the water until it comes to a boil. Add the meatballs, stock cube, stir and bring to the boil. Turn down to medium-low heat, season with salt and cook for approx. 45 mins. The rice should have swelled, and you will end up with a flavourful broth.
5. To make the avgolemono, beat the eggs with the lemon juice in a bowl. Slowly add one ladle of the stock mixture and whisk until well combined. Repeat this step 5 more times. Add the avgolemono to the giouvarlakia (off the heat), stir and allow the soup to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Variations and Tips

This recipe for Greek meatball soup is as simple as it gets. However, in my many years of trying it — everybody makes it a little different. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Here’s a list of variations and tips you can use to make your next batch of giouvarlakia even better.

Variations

Mince — I prefer to use beef when making giouvarlakia. However, don’t be afraid to mix it up a little. Substitute half of the beef mince for pork mince.

I’ve also made a version of giouvarlakia using chicken mince and experementing with Thai flavours! Try my Thai chicken meatball soup — it’s a winner!

Rice — Substitute with long grain rice instead. 

Herbs — add a tablespoon of freshly chopped dill for a little extra oomph!

Stock/broth/water — I often add a stock cube to enhance the flavour, but some people prefer to use a homemade stock. It adds a lot more depth to the giouvarlakia. If you find it’s a little rich use half stock and half water. (and if you are using stock be wary of how much you season the soup).

Tips

1. For an even thicker version of giouvarlakia — a good tip is to roll the meatballs in some flour before boiling them. 
2. The version of avgolemono I’m making for today’s recipe is a basic take on the very traditional one. Often avgolemono is made by separating the eggs, whisking the whites until they are “frothy”, mixing the yolks back to the frothy whites and then tempering with the hot soup. I find this method tedious, but many people prefer it. It also makes the giouvarlakia a lot thicker and less “soupier”.
3. Don’t overdo the lemon. If you add too much lemon, it can make the soup extra “tangy” — and not in the right way. Just add more lemon to your serving when the soup is ready.

Related Recipes

You might like to try my dolmades — the meat parcels wrapped in vine leaves. They are also finished off with an avgolemono sauce. They are a little time-consuming to put together but equally delicious!

Similarly, try my lahanodolmades (cabbage rolls). The meat is encased in cabbage leaves instead and is also dressed in an egg-lemon sauce.

For another traditional Greek recipe see my makaronia me kima (Greek spaghetti) recipe.

Video - how to make them

📖 Recipe

Giouvarlakia - Greek Meatball Soup

5 from 8 votes

Prep: 25 minutes mins

Cook: 45 minutes mins

Resting Time (in the fridge): 15 minutes mins

Total: 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins

Servings: 4 people

Cuisine: Greek

Author: Peter G

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Giouvarlakia is a Greek meatball soup that is finished off with avgolemono — a tangy lemon and egg sauce. It’s a simple, hearty recipe that is traditionally served in the colder months. 

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Conversions

Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 500 grams beef mince, (ground beef) (see note 1)
• ▢ 1 onion, finely chopped
• ▢ ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped (see note 2)
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ 60 grams rice, medium grain (see note 3)
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pepper
• ▢ 2 litres water
• ▢ 1 stock cube, (see note 4)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon salt

For the avgolemono

• ▢ 2 eggs, preferably room temperature
• ▢ juice of 1 lemon

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Instructions 

• Place the mince in a large bowl. Add the onions, parsley, egg, rice, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Using your hands knead the mixture until everything is well combined.
• Take one tablespoon of the mix, roll into a ball and place on a lined baking tray. Repeat with the remainder of the mixture until you end up with 20 meatballs. Place in the fridge to rest for 15 mins. (see note 5)
• Heat the water until it comes to a boil. Add the meatballs, stock cube, stir and bring to the boil. Turn down to medium-low heat, season with salt and cook for approx. 45 mins. The rice should have swelled, and you will end up with a flavourful broth.
• To make the avgolemono, beat the eggs with the lemon juice in a bowl. Slowly add one ladle of the stock mixture and whisk until well combined. Repeat this step 5 more times. Add the avgolemono to the giouvarlakia (off the heat), stir and allow the soup to rest for 10 minutes before serving. (see note 6)

Peter's Tips →

1. You can use a combination of beef and pork mice as well
2. You may like to add one tablespoon of finely chopped dill
3. Long grain rice works great as well
4. You can use stock powder instead if you prefer.  Or you can use chicken/beef/veal stock.  If you find it's a little rich use half water and half stock.
5. After shaping the meatballs you can roll them in flour, dust off the excess flour and rest them in the fridge.  This produces a thicker soup.
6. To make a  more "traditional" avgolemono you  need to separate the eggs.  With a hand mixer beat your whites until they are just frothy and thick (do not make meringues!).  With the hand mixer still running on low - add the yolks back to the mixture and very slowly add a ladle of the stock to the mix. (Add 5 more ladles of stock -one by one).  You will end up with a very thick avgolemono.  Add this to the soup (off the heat) stir, and allow the soup to rest for 10 mins before serving.

 

Nutrition

Serving: 1 serve (5 meatballs per serve) | Calories: 497 kcal | Carbohydrates: 16 g | Protein: 27 g | Fat: 35 g | Saturated Fat: 12 g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

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