Ajiaco – Colombian Chicken and Potato Soup
The real Ajiaco Santafereño from Bogotá: Colombian chicken soup with corn on the cob and three kinds of potato, thick and full of tradition. The broth thickens entirely on its own — the starch out of the potatoes does all of it, with no flour and no cream in the pot.
The one ingredient with no substitute is guascas, the dried herb that gives ajiaco its grassy, faintly artichoke-like aroma. Latin American grocers and online shops stock it dried; without it you have a good chicken and potato soup, but not an ajiaco. A generous, warming bowl for a cold day.
🔎 What is ajiaco? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken breasts or bone-in pieces (skin and bone give more flavour)
- 500 g papa criolla (small yellow potatoes, or the closest local equivalent)
- 500 g floury potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 500 g waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 2 fresh corn cobs, cut into three or four pieces each
- 1 whole scallion (spring onion)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 tbsp dried guascas (the key Colombian herb)
- 100 ml pouring cream, to serve
- 50 g capers, to serve
- 1 large ripe avocado, sliced, to serve
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method
- 1
Put the chicken pieces, the corn, the whole scallion and the crushed garlic into a large pot with plenty of water (about 3 litres). Add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Cook over medium heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and tender.
- 2
Lift the chicken out, let it cool a little, remove the skin and bones and pull the meat into medium pieces. Keep it covered so it does not dry out. Take the scallion out of the pot and discard it.
- 3
Add the waxy and the floury potatoes to the boiling broth and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes. Then add the small yellow potatoes and half of the guascas.
- 4
Turn the heat down to its lowest setting and cook covered for another 25 to 30 minutes, stirring from time to time with a wooden spoon. The yellow potatoes break down completely, binding the broth and turning it into a creamy, yellow soup.
- 5
Return the pulled chicken to the pot and add the second half of the guascas, so the volatile aromas are fresh again. Let everything sit together over the lowest heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Check the salt.
- 6
Serve the ajiaco very hot in deep bowls (earthenware ones ideally), making sure every portion gets pieces of corn and chicken. Put the cream, the capers and the sliced avocado on the table in separate dishes, so everyone builds the contrast on their own plate.