Healthy Spanish Bread Soup Recipe

In this recipe, you will get to know more information about the famous Sopa de pan española also known as Spanish bread soup. One of the filling Spanish soup recipes we have.

This Andalusian soup is not only known for its delicious flavor, but its rich history plays an important role in the culture of all of Spain.

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Background of the dish

Spanish bread soup is made with inexpensive and easy-to-find ingredients, and this is due to the role soup has in Spanish history.

This dish was created hundreds of years ago, but it reached popularity during the economic crisis of 1920 that hit Spain that was in the middle of a civil war.

This is reflected in the main ingredients of the soup; garlic and bread. The bread used was old bread, which to avoid wasting food was put in the soup.

This prevented food waste and made the soup much more filling, something important in times of crisis.

Garlic also served to increase the defenses of the immune system of people, which made them not spend money on medicines. It’s one of garlic’s numerous benefits.

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Things You’ll Need for Spanish Bread Soup

Luckily, this recipe like other Spanish soups, such as the Spanish rice soup or the Spanish Garbanzo Soup requires very little equipment and the ingredients are really easy to find.

The equipment you need is present in any house, it is simply a pot or a large saucepan, and a knife that can cut bread and garlic.

This means that you can do it anywhere, even if you are on vacation and don’t have many kitchen appliances.

The ingredients are also very easy to find anywhere in the world, since the main ones are bread and garlic.

You may even have many of them in your home, this recipe is famous for its practicality since it allows you to use old bread and give it a new life.

Ingredients

• 5 cups (1.2L) chicken broth
• 8 garlic cloves
• 4 cups (240g) cubed bread
• ¼ cup (50ml) extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• Parsley leaves (optional)

How to make Spanish Bread Soup – Step by Step Guide

1. To start making this Andalusian food you need to make a garlic paste, but don’t worry! It is very easy to make. All you have to do is to grab the garlic cloves, peel and crush them until you form a garlic paste, it should be thick since it’ll lose that texture when mixed with the remaining ingredients.
2. Then in a large saucepan and heat olive oil at a medium to high heat. Pour the garlic paste and cook at a medium heat for 10 minutes. Be careful while doing this step and make sure that the garlic doesn’t get browned. The best thing you can do is to use a great quality extra virgin olive oil, and if it is Spanish then it’ll be even better!
3. After that chop the bread into bite-size cubes. Put them in the saucepan with the olive oil and garlic mixture to soak them completely for about one to two minutes. You can use any bread of you choice, I personally recommend using the most crunchy breads as they get a better texture within the soup, especially if they are from the previous day or older
4. Now is time to assemble all the ingredients! In the same saucepan add chicken broth, bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Put the heat on low and simmer for 10 minutes. If you use homemade chicken broth your soup will get a richer flavor, but the store bought one works just fine!
5. For the final step all you have to do is to discard the bay leaf, serve the Spanish bread soup in plates and add parsley leaves on top as a garnish.

Substitution of ingredients

This Spanish bread soup recipe offers a great possibility of changes in the ingredients, and anyways you will get a delicious soup to warm up your body.The easiest changes to make are those that depend on what you have at your home.

For example, if you want to make the soup but you don’t have chicken broth, you can use any type of broth, or even replace it with the same number of cups of water and one more teaspoon of salt.

You can even use beef broth and it will taste similar to the Spanish oxtail soup.

Other than that, another replacement you can do is bread. You can use sourdough bread, baget, country bread, or even gluten-free bread if you are on a gluten-free diet or have guests with gluten intolerance.

Finally, if you liked this recipe, I recommend you try other authentic Spanish soup recipes, which are not only delicious but are also simple to make, such as the Spanish Lentil Soup, the Spanish Shrimp Soup and the Spanish Chicken Soup Recipe.

Tips on Serving Spanish Bread Soup

There are different ways to serve this classic Spanish garlic bread soup, and each can be tailored to your personal needs.

For example, if you are looking for what to eat in Cordoba you’ll notice that this soup is served during lunch and dinner times, so you can do the exact same thing! Very frequently it’s even served in an empty bread loaf.

Apart from that, you can serve it as a starter or as a main course, obviously, if you serve it as a starter I recommend using smaller plates since the bread in the soup makes it very filling.

I personally recommend serving it with a little grated Parmesan cheese on top, since the flavor of the cheese goes very well with the garlic and the bread in the soup.

Remember that although it is optional, adding parsley leaves on top gives a great freshness to the dish, and serves to elevate the flavors, in addition to giving it a more attractive look.

Did you find this soup interesting? Try the Spanish bread recipe as well and with it, you can make the famous Spanish sandwich, serranito.

The Spanish rice and chicken soup or the Spanish mackerel soup recipe are both delicious soups from Spain you must try.

How to store Spanish Bread Soup

Fortunately, there are different ways you can store this soup without losing its freshness or its characteristic flavor.

You can either keep it in the fridge for a couple of days, or freeze it for up to a month, but both ways have their own tricks that I’ll show you next.

If you want to store it in the refrigerator, you simply have to leave it at room temperature to cool down, and then take it to a container with a lid and put it in the refrigerator.

If you don’t have a container with a lid, you can use any bowl and cover it with film or a clean plastic bag.

Now if what you want is to freeze it, there are some tricks and changes that you must do so that the Spanish bread soup doesn’t spoil.

What you have to do is to cook the soup without the bread, just like you would do it on a regular Spanish garlic soup. Then you freeze the soup and whenever you are ready to eat it, take it to the fridge to thaw overnight.

When it’s time to eat it, heat it up, and there add the bread cut into cubes. It is done this way because if you freeze the bread with the soup then it will take on a weird taste, and honestly it is very easy to avoid!

Recipe Card: Spanish Bread Soup

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