What is salmorejo?
Salmorejo is a traditional soup originating from the southern Spanish region called Andalusia. This classic cold soup is made with just 4 essential ingredients: fresh tomato, bread, extra virgin olive oil, and garlic. It’s more common than not to add sherry vinegar too, and we highly recommend you try it with as it gives it a lovely sharp kick. Served cold, Salmorejo is often topped with diced hard-boiled egg white and yolk, plus some diced serrano ham.
What is the difference between gazpacho and salmorejo?
Salmorejo and gazpacho are both cold Spanish soups that originate from the Andalusia region in the south of Spain. But gazpacho is a mix of vegetables (tomatoes, onions, peppers, cucumber, and garlic) while salmorejo only includes tomato and garlic.
Both soups use tomatoes as a base for the flavor, however, Salmorejo is far richer and is thicker in texture due to the use of breadcrumbs. On the other hand, Gazpacho uses a mixture of vegetables (tomatoes, onions, peppers, cucumber, and garlic).
Salmorejo is also more intense in flavor and it really makes a difference when choosing the olive oil for Salmorejo. Be careful of using an extra virgin olive oil that is too bitter as it may flavor the Salmorejo accordingly. For a balanced and rich flavored Salmorejo, use a sweeter flavored extra virgin olive oil such as the Spanish Hojiblanca variety of olive oil.
Ingredient notes:
With just a few principle ingredients used to make Salmorejo, it’s important to choose the best ingredients available to ensure a rich and full-flavored Salmorejo.
Tomatoes
As the major component in Salmorejo, it’s really important to choose the right tomatoes. While you’ll get the desired color from your everyday tomatoes, your soup will lack the rich flavor compared to using a more full-flavored and sweet tomato variety that really makes this dish shine.
We always use ripe plum tomatoes (known as ‘Roma’ tomatoes in Europe) when making Salmorejo. When choosing your tomatoes, find the ripest ones as they’ll be the sweetest and add a great flavor to your Salmorejo without any additional bitterness.
Hojiblanca extra virgin olive oil
Hojiblanca olive oil is a great choice when making authentic Salmorejo recipes as the olive oil originates from Lucena, a small Spanish city within the Andalusia region.
Hojiblanca literally translates to “white leaf” in Spanish and accounts for around 16% of the olive oil produced in the Andalusia region. Hojiblanca olive oil often has a slightly sweet taste when harvested from mature olives. But any type of extra virgin olive oil is fine, as they’re all high-quality — so if you have your preferred brand and type, you can go ahead and use that.
Garlic
We used 2-3 medium-sized cloves for this recipe and that gave the soup a strong flavor that wasn’t too overpowering. We also halved the garlic cloves and removed the hearts to reduce the intensity. If you’re not a fan of garlic, one clove would be enough!
Bread
Salmorejo gets its thicker texture from the use of breadcrumbs that are added to the soup while it is being blended. Any stale bread will do, but the best results will be found using white bread like a baguette.
We always store any stale bread in the freezer, and the frozen baguette is easily made into breadcrumbs with an ordinary grater. For this recipe, we used around half of a baguette grated into fine breadcrumbs. It’s always a good idea to keep some extra bread on hand just in case you want to make a thicker texture.
Salmorejo garnishings
It’s typical to serve salmorejo cold that’s nearly always topped with some diced hard-boiled egg and some diced ham. Depending on where you find Salmorejo, the ham used is often serrano ham, or occasionally a nice Jamón ibérico is used.
Salmorejo takes very little time to make so if you’re planning to garnish it with hard-boiled egg white and yolk, boil your eggs ahead of time.
Salmorejo seasoning and ingredient substitutes
We recommend checking the soup just before serving if you are planning to season it. Use a little salt and only season with pepper if you’re looking to add a little spice. Salmorejo requires no additional spices or seasoning.
My Salmorejo is bitter, what should I do?
Some tomato varieties can have a slightly bitter aftertaste that may be too intense for Salmorejo. Extra virgin olive oil can also be quite bitter so be sure to choose your olive oil carefully (we recommend using Hojiblanca olive oil as it is quite sweet).
If your Salmorejo is a little bitter, try adding a small amount of sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar). Around 2-3 tablespoons should be enough to balance the flavors and remove the bitterness.
Vegan Salmorejo
Salmorejo soup on its own is completely vegan so there’s no need for any changes to the recipe. Of course, you’ll want to omit the hard-boiled egg and diced ham from the toppings to ensure the recipe is vegan.
Is Salmorejo healthy?
Salmorejo uses a lot of fresh ingredients that are great for your health. Tomatoes are high in nutrients and are also loaded with antioxidants.
Extra virgin olive oil is super nutritious and there are many studies illustrating several health benefits. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) contains healthy fats that are good for the heart and it’s high in antioxidants too.Olive oil is also anti-inflammatory and has been proven to reduce the risk of heart disease, breast cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Here are the best EVOOs to try in 2024.
Salmorejo Nutrition facts
A 100ml serving of Salmorejo contains the following nutritional facts;
- 434 Calories
- 37.1g Total Fat
- 5.4g Saturated Fats
- 4.9g Protein
- 24.8g Carbs
- 2.5g Dietary Fiber
- 6.6g Sugars
