Chef Dimitra
Aegean Islands Ladolemono (Λαδολέμονο)
Aegean ladolemono is the quick oil-and-lemon sauce for grilled fish, boiled greens, and potatoes: cloudy when beaten hard, sharp enough to wake everything it touches on the plate.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Epirote Avgolemono Sauce (Αυγολέμονο Ηπείρου)
Created by
Epirus avgolemono is egg, lemon and hot broth turned into a pale, silky sauce for dolmades, soups and fricassee. The whole dish depends on slow tempering.
Sauces & Condiments
Greek
Comfort Food
Special Occasion
10 min
Active Time
5 min cook•15 min total
YieldAbout 500ml sauce, enough for 6 servings
Avgolemono in Epirus is the pale egg-lemon sauce that finishes stuffed vine leaves, cabbage rolls, chicken soup, and pork with greens. It isn't a garnish. It is the last movement of the pot, turning good broth into something bright, thick, and tender on the tongue.
The method is simple, and it is the one thing you must respect. Hot broth goes into the beaten eggs and lemon a ladle at a time, whisking all the while. Warm the eggs slowly and they thicken like silk. Pour them straight into a boiling pot and they scramble on contact. That's the whole trick.
Use broth that already tastes like something. Avgolemono doesn't hide a weak pot. It carries it. In my Thessaloniki kitchen I use it the way Epirote cooks do, over lachanodolmades or spooned into a clean chicken broth, and I write the amounts down because a sauce this delicate should not be left to luck.
Avgolemono is a Greek egg-lemon liaison found across the country, but in Epirus it is especially tied to stuffed leaves, cabbage rolls, and meat-and-greens stews, where it turns the cooking liquor into sauce. Egg-and-acid sauces also appear in the wider Byzantine, Ottoman, and Sephardic kitchens, which helps explain why similar preparations survived around the eastern Mediterranean under different names. In Greek homes, the defining point remained practical: eggs, lemon, and the broth already in the pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large eggs
Quantity
2
at room temperature
fresh lemon juice
Quantity
60ml
strained
hot broth or cooking liquor
Quantity
360ml
from chicken, vegetables, dolmades, or fricassee
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
or to taste
freshly ground white pepper (optional)
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large eggsat room temperature | 2 |
| fresh lemon juicestrained | 60ml |
| hot broth or cooking liquorfrom chicken, vegetables, dolmades, or fricassee | 360ml |
| fine sea saltor to taste | 1/2 teaspoon |
| freshly ground white pepper (optional) | 1/4 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •medium saucepan, 1.5 to 2 litres
- •balloon whisk
- •ladle, 90ml
- •fine sieve
Instructions
- 1
Ready the broth
Bring the broth or cooking liquor just below a simmer, then take it off the heat. Taste it before you begin. If the broth is thin or flat, the avgolemono will be thin and flat too. Good olive oil, and patience, yes, but here the broth is the backbone.
- 2
Beat the eggs
Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until the yolks and whites are completely joined and a little pale. Add the strained lemon juice and whisk again until the mixture is smooth.
- 3
Temper slowly
Add one ladle of hot broth to the egg-lemon mixture in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Add two more ladles the same way. Hot broth into the eggs, not eggs into the pot. This slow warming is what keeps the sauce silky instead of scrambled.
If the bowl feels suddenly hot on the outside, pause for ten seconds and keep whisking before adding more broth. - 4
Thicken gently
Pour the tempered mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining broth. Set it over very low heat and stir constantly for 2 to 4 minutes, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil. The surface should look glossy and pale, with the lemon smell clean and bright.
- 5
Season and use
Take the pan off the heat, season with salt and white pepper if using, and spoon the avgolemono over dolmades, lachanodolmades, chicken, fish soup, or pork with celery. Serve at once. It holds its grace while warm, not after a long wait.
Chef Tips
- •Use lemons that smell sharp and floral when you cut them. Bottled juice gives you sourness without life, and avgolemono has nowhere to hide.
- •If the sauce thickens too much, loosen it off the heat with a spoonful or two of warm broth. If it curdles, strain it through a fine sieve and call it rescued, not perfect.
- •For a nistisimo table, leave avgolemono aside and finish the pot with lemon, olive oil, and a little of its own starchy broth. Lent has its own wisdom. It doesn't need eggs pretending to be absent.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the broth or cooking liquor up to 2 days ahead and chill it. Warm it before tempering the eggs.
- •Juice the lemons up to 4 hours ahead and keep the juice covered in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 75g)
Calories
40 calories
Total Fat
3 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
60 mg
Sodium
210 mg
Total Carbohydrates
1 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
3 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Greek Sauces: Avgolemono, Ladolemono & Besamel
Browse the full collection
Chef Dimitra
Athenian Besamel for Moussaka and Pastitsio (Μπεσαμέλ Αθηναϊκή)
Athens gave Greek baking this thick white crown: a cooked butter-flour sauce enriched with eggs and cheese for moussaka, pastitsio, and the Sunday pan.
Chef Dimitra
Athenian Saltsa Kima (Σάλτσα Κιμά)
Athenian saltsa kima is minced beef, tomato, cinnamon, and allspice, cooked slowly until the sauce tightens and the green-gold oil pools at the top.
Chef Dimitra
Attica Grill Ladorigani (Λαδορίγανη)
Attica's quick ladorigani is the oil, lemon, and oregano dressing that makes souvlaki taste like souvlaki. Bruise the rigani first, then let good olive oil do its work.