Ajo Blanco (White Gazpacho)

Ajo blanco, also written “ajoblanco,” is a cold soup from southern Spain made with almonds, garlic, stale bread, sherry vinegar, and a garnish of fresh green grapes. Hearty, refreshing, and luxuriously creamy yet completely vegan, it makes for an elegant appetizer or light lunch on a hot day. It takes just 15 minutes to make (plus chilling time) and there’s no cooking involved! 

Ajo Blanco translates literally to “white garlic.” It’s a refreshing and creamy cold soup from southern Spain, particularly Málaga and Cádiz. Unlike Gazpacho or Salmorejo, it contains no tomatoes, inspiring the nickname “white gazpacho.”

Ajo Blanco is a simple blended soup of almonds, stale bread, garlic, sherry vinegar, olive oil, and water. The almonds and bread make it rich and creamy, while the garlic and vinegar make it sharp and flavorful. It was originally a humble soup for farm laborers that kept them cool and nourished after working in the sun for hours. 

Table of Contents

1. Food Stories: How I Fell in Love with Ajo blanco
2. Ajo Blanco Ingredients
3. How to Make Ajo blanco
4. Tips for The Creamiest Ajo Blanco
5. What to Serve with Ajo blanco
6. More Cold Soup Recipes
7. Ajo Blanco (White Gazpacho) Recipe

Food Stories: How I Fell in Love with Ajo blanco

I first discovered the wonders of Ajo Blanco several years ago when my husband and I were living in Madrid. We took a train to Malaga, rented a car, and spent two weeks driving along the southern coast to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, spending each day in a new town. At each stop, we explored the city, taking breaks to eat countless tapas at restaurant terraces in town squares. We saw the entire coast of Cadiz, famous for its beautiful beaches, whitewashed buildings, sherry, and tapas. 

In the summer heat, we mainly stuck with cold tapas like Papas Aliñás (a Spanish Tuna and Potato Salad), and, of course, Andalusia’s famous cold soups. Salmorejo is one of my favorite tapas, and I knew about Gazpacho. But before this trip, we had never heard of Ajo Blanco.

Lacking the tomatoes of the other cold soups, the Ajo Blanco was as white as the famous pueblos blancos we’d been visiting, like Vejer de la Frontera in the hills and coastal Conil de la Frontera. It was full of garlic and sherry vinegar, just like Gazpacho and Salmorejo, much creamier and richer but just as refreshing. After the discovery, I started to alternate which cold soup I’d enjoy each day!

Ajo Blanco Ingredients

While less well-known than Gazpacho and Salmorejo, Ajo Blanco or ajoblanco predates both by centuries. It dates back to well before the arrival of tomatoes from the Americas, at least to Al-Andalus, possibly even Roman Hispania. Today, it’s still made with a short ingredient list of humble Mediterranean staples. You’ll need:

• Almonds: Blanched almonds without their skins make for a creamy white soup with a light almond flavor. Toasted almonds are added as a garnish just before serving for some crunch.
• Bread: Bread thickens the soup. You can use either fresh or stale bread. If it’s stale, let it soak in the water for a minute or two to hydrate before blending.
• Garlic: Ajo means garlic, so with garlic right in the name, it should have plenty of garlic flavor. The garlic is raw and packs more of a punch than cooked garlic. I like to add two to three cloves but for a milder flavor use just one.
• Sherry vinegar: Sherry vinegar is mild with a toasty, caramel flavor. It’s made from sherry wine, which is also from Andalusia.
• Olive oil: Extra virgin olive oil makes the soup rich and creamy. Use one with a pleasant flavor, as it will add a lot of nuance to the soup. Our Spanish Hojiblanca is a great pairing: It hails from the same region as Ajo Blanco and is pleasantly fruity, peppery, and robust.
• Green grapes: Ajo Blanco is traditionally garnished with local muscat grapes, but any seedless green grapes will add refreshing bursts of sweet-tart flavor.
• Salt and pepper: Enhances the flavor of the cold soup.

How to Make Ajo blanco

It takes just the push of a button and about three minutes to prepare AjoBlanco, but after that, you’ll want to wait at least an hour for it to chill thoroughly before serving.

• Purée the soup: In a blender, add 1 1/2 cups blanched almonds, 5 ounces of torn bread (crusts discarded), 2 chopped garlic cloves, 3 cups cold water, 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, and 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt. Blend on high speed until very smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. With the blender running, stream in 1/2 cup olive oil, blending just until combined. The soup should be thick and creamy, similar to the consistency of kefir or runny yogurt. Add more cold water to thin to the desired consistency.
• Chill: Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour. The flavors meld and improve with a longer chilling time. For the best flavor, chill the soup for 4 hours or overnight.
• Serve: Ladle the soup into bowls. Slice green grapes in half for garnish. Garnish the soup with a few grape halves and toasted almonds. Drizzle with olive oil and finish with freshly ground black pepper. Serve cold.

Tips for The Creamiest Ajo Blanco

This recipe is creamy and cooling as-is, but you can make it extra special with a little patience. Soaking the almonds before blending and allowing the blended soup to chill overnight makes it irresistibly creamy and flavorful. These extra steps add several hours of waiting, but no additional hands-on work.

• Soak the almonds overnight. Just like with making homemade almond milk, soaking the almonds overnight improves the texture of the finished soup. 
• Chill the soup overnight. You can chill the soup just until it’s cold, about 1 hour. But with a longer chill time the flavors have more time to meld. An overnight chill does wonders, but even with 4 hours, there’s a noticeable difference.
• Use almond milk instead of water. For an extra creamy Ajo Blanco with a more assertive almond flavor, substitute the water with unsweetened, unflavored almond milk.

What to Serve with Ajo blanco

Ajo blanco is traditionally garnished with almonds, grapes, and a drizzle of olive oil. Sometimes the grapes are substituted with honeydew melon or green apple. It’s not as common, but sometimes it’s topped with pieces of cured ham. I’ve even seen it with mojama, salt-cured tuna from Cádiz.

Ajoblanco is usually served as an appetizer or first course in a leisurely Spanish lunch or as one of many rounds of tapas. For a second course, try a roasted protein, like Lemon Garlic Salmon or Baked Chicken Breast in an Artichoke White Wine Sauce.

As for tapas, you can’t go wrong with Spanish Tortilla, Patatas Bravas, and Pan Con Tomate. With the nickname white gazpacho, a glass of white sangria would be a natural pairing!

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