Here’s an easy way to spice up (literally!) classic chicken noodle soup. This warm, slightly spicy soup is one of the most beloved Colombian recipes. Called ajiaco, it’s a chicken and potato soup made with Latin American ingredients like corn, cilantro, avocado, jalapeno, and lime.
For this healthy ajiaco recipe, Colombe Jacobsen makes a broth from scratch. This is lets you control the salt content and adjust the flavors to your liking. Plus, it can be cheap: Get in the habit of saving vegetable scraps (like onion skins, potato peels, and carrot tops), which are perfect for making broth and reducing food waste. You can even store these items in the freezer until you’re ready to make the broth.
In addition to the typical ingredients used for broth — carrots, garlic, celery, and so on — Colombe also adds cilantro stems and jalapenos to give this soup its Latin flair. If you’re not a fan of the heat, use just one (or none) of the jalapeños for a more mild soup.
A few other ingredients make this Colombian Chicken Soup distinct from the chicken noodle version most Americans are familiar with. A few capers add a salty zing to the soup, and a squeeze of lime provides an undeniably Latin flavor. The ajiaco soup is garnished with more sliced jalapeno, avocado slices, cilantro leaves, a dollop of plain, unsweetened Greek yogurt. (This tastes like sour cream, but with way less saturated fat.)
Colombe turns up the nutrition in this ajiaco recipe by adding quinoa. This grain — or seed, technically — is a powerhouse carb that’s more filling than common grains like rice. That’s because it’s high in fiber and protein.
Why trust our experts?
