Greek Fish Soup Recipe (Psarosoupa) 🐟

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If you've ever struggled with watery, flavorless fish soup, this Greek fish soup recipe with potatoes is about to change everything. Psarosoupa isn’t just another fish soup—it’s comfort in a bowl. With white fish, silky avgolemono (Greek lemon-egg sauce), and the perfect balance of Mediterranean flavors, this might just be the best fish soup recipe in the world.

A bowl with Greek fish soup (psarosoupa) and a plate with fish and potatoes.

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📋 Greek Fish Soup Ingredients
🐟 Best Fish for Soup
🔪 Psarosoupa Instructions
🎥Psarosoupa Video
📖 Recipe

What makes this fish soup recipe special?

Psarosoupa (Ψαρόσουπα), pronounced as"psah-roh-soo-pah" is a rich and nourishing Greek fish soup recipe full of fresh ingredients. Imagine a texture like a chowder but without the cream—thickened naturally with fish stock, pureed vegetables and avgolemono.

It’s the kind of traditional Greek lemon fish soup that fishermen have been making for centuries, using whatever fresh fish they caught that day, but with a twist for an extra creamy result.

Everyone who has tasted my mom's fish soup says it’s the best fish soup in the world, and I definitely agree. That’s why I’ve kept the recipe exactly as she taught me. I learned from her to serve the creamy soup in large bowls, with the fish and potatoes on a separate plate next to it, drizzled with a lemon and olive oil dressing (ladolemono). But if you prefer, you can mix chunks of fish into the soup.

For more recipes with fish don't miss this oven baked swordfish recipe with a simple lemon vinaigrette, this easy salmon recipe with air fryer and oven instructions, and this easy Greek sea bream recipe (tsipoura).

📋 Greek Fish Soup Ingredients

For this Greek psarosoupa recipe you'll need the following ingredients:

White fish with the skin and bones. For the best tasting fish stock you need the skin and the bones, so please don't use fish fillets. My favorite fish is cod and red snapper.
Water
Vegetables (potatoes, carrot, tomato and red onion)
Cloves
Parsley
Bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Rice (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Egg

🐟 Best Fish for Soup

The secret to an incredible white fish soup is choosing the best fish. You want mild, firm fish that won’t fall apart while cooking. Fish soup with cod is an excellent choice, but sea bass, grouper, or snapper work beautifully, too. If you can find Mediterranean fish like red mullet or bream, even better!

Here are some of the best fish for soup:

Cod – Mild, firm, and holds together well in broth.
Sea Bass – Delicate yet sturdy, perfect for Mediterranean flavors.
Grouper – Rich, slightly sweet, and doesn't fall apart easily.
Snapper – Mild and slightly sweet, great for soups.
Halibut – Firm and flaky with a clean taste.
Monkfish – Meaty texture, almost like lobster.
Red Mullet – A traditional Mediterranean choice with a rich flavor.
Atlantic Redfish – Firm with slightly sweet taste.
Bream – Mild and sweet, often used in Greek soups.
Scorpionfish – Rich, slightly sweet flavor. It has a firm, meaty texture highly prized in Mediterranean cuisine for fish soups and stews, like bouillabaisse or kakavia.

✏️ For this recipe you can use fresh or frozen fish (thaw the frozen fish overnight in the refrigerator). I suggest asking your fish monger to clean and scale the fish since it can get messy. See how to scale a fish from takemefishing.org (external link) if you don't know how to do it.

🔪 Psarosoupa Instructions

Follow this easy step-by-step guide for how to make the best fish soup (psarosoupa) every time! For the detailed steps with photos, please see the recipe card ⬇️ at the end of this post.

Step 1: Boil the vegetables in a large pot.

Step 2: Add the fish to the pot and gently simmer over medium heat until tender and flaky.

✏️ Use whole fish (or fish fillets with skin and bones) to create a rich, flavorful broth. After cleaning the fish, rub it with lemon juice, then rinse with water and drain.

Step 3: Transfer all the fish and the vegetables from the pot to a serving plate.

Step 4: Pass the fish stock through a strainer to catch any bones or other residue.

Step 5: Add the onion, the tomato (without the skin) some of the carrots and about one cup of the potatoes to the strained fish stock and puree using an immersion blender.

👉 You can also puree the soup in a regular blender in batches. Be careful though because it will be hot.

Step 6: Add the rice to the pot and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is done and turn off the heat.

Step 7: Whisk eggs and lemon juice together, then slowly add warm broth to temper it. Stir it back into the soup for that signature creamy texture.

👉 Avgolemono

In this fish soup, except from pureeing some of the vegetables, another thickening technique is the use of avgolemono. An egg is beaten with freshly squeezed lemon juice and then it is gradually added into the soup. This mixture is called “avgolemono” from the words avgo (egg) and lemoni (lemon).

✏️ The hot soup cooks the egg so it is not raw any more. However, if you're concerned about consuming raw eggs, you can use pasteurized eggs.

👨‍🍳 Expert Tips

✅ For the best flavor, before adding the fish to the pot, rub it with lemon juice, then rinse with water and drain.

✅ Don't skip the cloves! They provide warmth and complement the aroma of the fish. My mom also says they cuts down on any excess fishiness that can be unpleasant to some people.

✅ For exta lemon flavor add half a teaspoon of lemon zest to the soup.

✅ Strain the fish stock to remove gunk and fishbones.

✅ Don't heat the soup after adding the avgolemono because it can curdle.

🍳 More Fish Recipes

If you tried this Greek Fish Soup Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you!

💭 FAQs

How to re-heat avgolemono fish soup

Reheating a soup with avgolemono (egg-lemon mixture) requires extra care to prevent the egg-lemon mixture from curdling. Here’s how to do it properly:
Stovetop Method:
Pour the soup into a pot.
Reheat it gently over low to medium heat.
Stir the soup constantly to help maintain its smooth texture.
If the soup has thickened too much during storage, add a little warm water to adjust the consistency.
Do not bring it to a boil—heating it too quickly or at too high of a temperature can cause the egg mixture to curdle.
Microwave Method:
Place the soup in a microwave-safe container.
Heat in 30-second intervals, stirring in between to ensure even heating.
If the soup is too thick, add a small amount of warm water to thin it out as needed.
Avoid overheating the soup, as this can cause the eggs to separate or curdle.
For both methods, reheating the soup slowly and gently is key to keeping the texture smooth and the flavors intact.

What is Kakavia Greek food?

Kakavia is another traditional Greek fish soup made by fishermen with whatever fish they had available. It’s less refined than psarosoupa but equally delicious!
This kakavia article in Greek from gastronomos.com (external link) mentions that Kakavia is the Greek fisherman's soup, traditionally prepared right on the beach or in a sheltered bay where fishermen would stop—either to rest or take cover from sudden weather changes. The name comes from "kakavi," the bronze cooking pot they used.

This soup is made using the fish that fishermen can’t sell (whatever they have left), with one-third of the water being seawater. It typically contains a large number of fish but yields only a small amount of intensely flavored liquid (fish stock).

Greek fisherman's kakavia shares similarities with the French bouillabaisse, as both soups are simmered for a long time to achieve a thick, rich consistency.

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Greek Fish Soup Recipe (Psarosoupa) 🐟

📋 Greek Fish Soup Ingredients

🐟 Best Fish for Soup