A classic Ajiaco recipe made with vegetables, spices, chicken, herbs and served with capers and cream. This Colombian chicken soup is thick, comforting and filling.
What is Ajiaco?
There are different versions of Ajiaco Bogotano o Santafereño, but it’s a soup usually made with chicken, three kinds of potatoes, corn and an herb called guascas. This herb gives the soup a wonderful flavor. It is very important to use guascas and papa criolla as they are the key ingredients in this dish.
For me, Ajiaco Santafereño is a feel-good comfort food and I like to serve it with avocado on the side. In Colombia Ajiaco is traditionally cooked in clay pots like the one I used in the pictures, but if you don't own one, just use a regular large pot to make this popular Colombian soup.
Each region of Colombia has it own specialties and characteristic dishes. For example, in the capital of the country Bogotá; Ajiaco is a very popular dish. Comforting, filling and absolutely delicious makes this Colombian chicken soup the perfect meal during the cold weather.
What you Need to Make this Recipe
Chicken: I like to use bone in chicken breast to add more flavor to the soup, but feel free to use boneless if you prefer.
Water: You can replace it for chicken or vegetable broth.
Herbs: you need guascas to make ajiaco. I find them dried in small bags online here in the United States, but in Colombia you will find them fresh. I also like to add fresh cilantro to my soup, but if you don't like the flavor just omit it.
Vegetables: You need three different kinds of potatoes to make this soup (red, white and small yellow potatoes (papa criolla) an Andean potato. If you don't have papa criolla, you can replace it with small yellow potatoes. Garlic, corn and Scallions give extra flavor to this dish.
To serve this soup you will need heavy cream and capers.
How to Make this Recipe
In a large pot, place the chicken, corn, chicken bouillon, cilantro, scallions, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for about 30 to 35 minutes, until chicken is cooked and tender. Remove the chicken and set aside.
Continue cooking the corn for about 15 more minutes. Discard green onions and add red potatoes, white potatoes, and the guascas. Cook for 15 more minutes.
Uncover and add the frozen papa criolla and simmer for 15 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
Shred the chicken breast and return to the pot. Serve the Ajiaco hot with capers and heavy cream on the side.
How to Serve this Soup?
Ajiaco can be eaten for lunch or dinner and will keep you full and satisfied. I like to served it with avocado and a green salad on the side. Some people like to serve it with white rice.
Cooking Tips
You can find dried guascas on Amazon.
In the USA yo can find frozen papa criolla in Latin markets.
You can shred the chicken breasts with two forks, but you can also add the cooked chicken breasts to a mixer with a paddle attachment and shred it on low speed.
More Chicken Soup Recipes
Cilantro-Lime Rice and Chicken Soup
Sancocho de Gallina (Chicken or Hen Sancocho)
Chicken Noodle Soup (Sopa de Pollo con Pasta)
Caldo de Pollo con Papas (Chicken Broth with Potato Soup)
Sopa de Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice Soup)
Colombian Ajiaco Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breast skin removed
- 12 cups water
- 3 ears fresh corn cut into 2 pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 3 scallions
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 2 cups papa criolla Andean Potato
- 3 medium white potatoes peeled and sliced
- 3 medium red potatoes peeled and sliced
- ⅓ cup guascas
- 1 cup heavy cream for serving
- 1 cup capers for serving
Instructions
- In a large pot, place the chicken, corn, chicken bouillon, cilantro, scallions, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook for about 30 to 35 minutes, until chicken is cooked and tender. Remove the chicken and set aside.
- Continue cooking the corn for about 15 more minutes. Discard green onion and add red potatoes, white potatoes, and the guascas. Cook for 15 more minutes.
- Uncover and add the frozen papa criolla and simmer for 15 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
- Shred the chicken breast and return to the pot. Serve the Ajiaco hot with capers and heavy cream on the side.
Notes
- You can find dried guascas on Amazon.
- In the USA yo can find frozen papa criolla in Latin markets.
- I like to serve Ajiaco with avocado and a light salad on the side.
Heli
Hi, this soup looks so good so i decided try to make it 🙂 I want to learn some more columbian food because i looking for new taste of the world 🙂
Jane
Good soup! Thank you for this recipe. I made it yesterday in our slow-cooker. We're staying in Panama for a couple of months and my husband found the fresh guascas in the grocery store and I saw the papas criollas so then I needed a recipe. Recommendation: Don't forget to serve with the cream or sour cream (I used a blend) and the capers — they elevate the soup from ordinary to memorable.
Ellie
i have had this before, love it..
Hilda C
Where can I get "Papa Criolla"?? I am in Maryland!!
J Bosque
At Trader Joe's
Ama
What do people in colombia eat for breakfast lunch and dinner? How big is each meal?
Patricia
Aguien sabe si puedo conseguir guascas en Inglaterra?
andrea
Las puedes conseguir si estas en London en seven sisters market
en la estacion que lleva el mismo nombre seven sisters arriba apenas salgas de la estacion veras un local que se llama el parador rojo entras al market a mano derecha encontarras el lugar de que te hablo
Sarah
Thank you for your wonderful recipes!! My husband is Colombian and I love surprising him with a traditional dish of his! He gets so excited 🙂 So many to choose from and all so delicious!
Anonymous
El verdadero ajiaco bogotano trae las papas completamente desechas. no se ven pero se siente el sabor
Carolina
I'm Colombian living in usa, yet I have no idea what guascas is, I eat ajiaco many times but never new what that guascas was, I thought it was the leave of the salary, we call it Apio, but I'm not sure, I'm also from Bogota so I don't know if the recipe change which probably it does.... I'm trying to make it in a totally different way trying to adapt the dish as much as I can. this page was very helpful tho.
😀 do you guys have a recipe for Colombian Tamales from tolima or Bogota?
TIA
So grateful
My biological parents were both from Colombia and I was lucky enough to be adopted when I was 6. Anyway, my adopted parents are German so I never got to eat this soup after I left Colombia but I never forgot it. I searched all over the internet for this recipe and finally I have found that this recipe is the closest to the soup I remember.
Thank you!
Sólo Yo
I am a vegetarian so my best friend's mother would make this for me without the chicken. I love this soup!!! It is true without the guascas and papa criolla it is not "proper" ajiaco.
Maria
Erica,
thanks so much for sharing this recipe! I LOOOOOVE ajiaco, in fact if it was up to me I'd make a huge pot of it every sunday and eat it 2 or 3 times a day for the whole week!! Sadly my husband likes variety so I end up only making it 4 or 5 times a year. I think this is one of those dishes that each family makes just a little differently so my mom's recipe is a little different than yours. I'm going to make it your way next time, that way I can have my favorite and hubby can have his variety!
BTW--For those who live somewhere that it is hard to find papa criolla sometimes I cheat a little bit and just add some mashed potato flakes close to the end of the cooking time to thicken up the soup.
And guascas definitely grow here as a weed I remember my grandmother coming for a visit to NYC and shouting with glee when she found a patch of guascas growing wild amongst the weeds. She'd send us out there every couple of weeks to pick them so she could make us some ajiaco 🙂
Anonymous
I made this ajiaco for my Colombian husband last weekend and He kissed me for a long time 🙂 He loved it. It was delicious.
Shotdsherrif
One thing I would add to this recipe is fresh avocado as a side in the serving. The wonderful thing about Ajiaco is how it is prepared to be personally garnished at the table by each guest. In our family, we would remove the chicken and corn after cooking and put in a serving dish along with the capers, cream and fresh avocado. What is left is a flavorful chicken/potato soup. Then each person adds ingredients according to taste.
I am born in the USA but my family is originally from Bogota and this is definitely our signature dish. Thanks Erica for a great website. I have already sent my mom the recipe to make homemade almojabanas!
Tim
This soup was wonderful! You are amazing. Thank you very much.
Kimberly
Hi, I prepared this soup last night. It turned out delicious with a couple of tweaks. First, 1/3 cup of guascas was too much for our taste. We put all the potatoes together to cook. This allowed the papa criolla to break down and give the ajiaco that cloudy, thick texture. I served it with white rice, but the rice gets combined with the soup. Finally, we added aguacate to the soup after it was served. Yummy and we have lunch today! Thank you for the recipe!