Today I have a tasty chicken and corn soup recipe for you; Ajiaco, a Colombian style soup with a nice, thick and creamy broth! This soup is amazingly fresh with the corn, cilantro, avocado and lime juice and it’s also nice and hearty with the chicken and potatoes! Typically papa criolla, a type of potato, are used to get the thick and creamy broth but since I do not have access to them I puree some of the corn and potatoes into the broth, which after simmering for a while both melt into the broth creating a very nice creamy texture! There is an amazing balance of tart, sweet, salty and spicy created in this soup with the lime juice, corn and capers with the spicy coming from the aji picante (a Colombian style hot sauce)! I like to kick up the saltiness and add a bit of umami with the addition of white miso paste. This Colombian chicken and corn soup (ajiaco) is pure comfort food that is perfect both for cold winter days and for hot summer days!
Serve with fresh arepa!!!
Colombian Chicken and Corn Soup (Ajiaco)
A tasty take on Ajiaco, a Colombian style chicken and corn soup with a thick and creamy broth and tons of flavour!
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth or chicken stock
- 1 1/2 pounds potatoes, diced
- 2 cups corn
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 cups chicken*
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (~1/2 lime)
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 2 tablespoon white miso paste (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoons aji picante (hot sauce)
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 tablespoon capers
- 4 tablespoons sour cream
directions
- Heat the oil in a large heavy bottom sauce pan over medium-high heat, add the onion and cook until tender, about 3-5 minutes, before adding the garlic and cooking until fragrant, about a minute.
- Puree 1/3 of the potatoes and 1/3 of the corn into 1 cup of the chicken broth in a food processor.
- Add the broth, pureed veggies, the remaining potatoes, corn, carrots, chicken, oregano, thyme and bay leaves, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaves, add the lime juice, cilantro, miso, salt and pepper and enjoy garnished with aji picante, avocado, capers and sour cream!
Option: * For the chicken feel free to use already cooked and shredded chicken or place chicken breasts, thighs or legs into the soup, cook with the soup, remove, shred and return to the soup. I like to poach a full chicken in the broth along with the cobs of corn after removing the kernels from them to infuse the broth with even more chicken and corn flavour!
Note: Miso paste is not traditional but I like the added umami/flavour! Feel free to omit it or to replace it with a few splashes of fish sauce! Yum!
Note: This is traditionally made with fresh guascas and papa criolla (andean potato) rather than with oregano, thyme and potatoes.
Option: Serve with fresh arepa!
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This looks so incredibly flavorful! I love that you added capers!
So many good flavors!
I want a large bowl of this soup right now!
Wow! Loving all the flavors!
do you cook the veggies before putting in the food processor?
Kathy: The corn and potatoes are pureed uncooked. Enjoy!
Delicious and coming from a colombian well my parents are. Thank you!!!
Sorry for my comment but I feel I need to point out this is not an authentic Colombian ajiaco. The soup looks good don't get me wrong but is not near the original recipe.
I agree with this. Colombian dishes never have picante or hot sauces. Colombian people don’t eat hot/spicy sauces or dishes except for the ahi that they eat empanadas with. This is not Colombian Ajiaco or Ajiaco Santafereño.
This looks so good but for me will have to delete the hot stuff, I’m alleregic to chilli, curry etc…. I also cilantro is that the same as Corriander if so, could I use Dill or flat leaf Parsley? I love the addition of Capers an extremely under used ingredient. I am from Australia and I’m think the Brit’s call corriander, cilantro too… Thankyou in advance….
Cilantro and coriander are the same and you can replace them with parsley! I have not tried dill but I think that would be good as well! Enjoy!
HOLY amazeballs, Kevin!
This was just fabulous.
My husband and i were scarfing it down while discussing when we should make it next and who for.
The toppings were just amazing choices for this dish and we really enjoyed adding more as we went – tailoring each bite. Could also be great with shrimp or black beans instead of chicken. . . .or maybe kielbasa? Can you tell i’m excited? 😉 It’s the middle of winter here in Pennsylvania but i can see where this will be amazing in warm weather, too.
I don’t have a food processor but had great luck with just pureeing about a third of the mixture right in the soup pot with my stick blender just after adding the potatoes and corn. Made cleanup pretty easy.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I’m adding it to my regular rotation then i’m off to explore your other creations.
I’m glad you like it! Those additions sound nice, especially adding shrimp! Yum!
My friend, if I were you I would change the name of your soup, because that is not ajiaco at all. Who told you the ajiaco has carrots, aji or garlic?? or that you serve it with arepa? OMG that is a sacrilege.
That could be your recipe for a delicious soup, but las cosas por su nombre y eso no es ajiaco.
P.S. I am from Bogotá, so I know what I am talking about.
Cheers
I’m not sure why people get so uptight on here, or what the point is. I made this soup last winter and it was absolutely delicious, we ate it all week! I plan to make it again soon. Great flavors, will not disappoint!
Looks good and thanks for making this traditional Colombian soup famous, however I need to point out that Guascas and papa criolla are key ingredients in the original recipe, it won’t taste the same without them. You can go to an international market and you will find both (we have Saraga in Indianapolis area) I don’t recommend to change the cilantro for parsley for the same reasons. Finally, the original “acompañamientos” for the ajiaco are white rice, avocado, cappers and heavy cream.
https://youtu.be/aOw1w-V3u_g?si=GZYSrFrb4LG3UVrg