The Spanish soup made from bread, garlic, and olive oil, often served hot, is sopa de ajo.
Also called garlic soup, sopa de ajo is a traditional dish built from inexpensive pantry ingredients. Slices of stale bread are fried or toasted in olive oil with garlic, then simmered in water or stock. Paprika is commonly added for color and flavor, and many versions include eggs, which are poached directly in the hot soup.
The recipe varies across Spain, with especially strong associations in Castile and León and other central regions. It has long been regarded as humble, restorative cooking: yesterday’s bread becomes the body of a warm meal rather than going to waste. It is often eaten during cold weather and is also linked with Easter and Lent traditions.
Sopa de ajo is easy to confuse with gazpacho or salmorejo, but those Andalusian preparations are generally cold and tomato-based or otherwise thickened differently. Sopa de ajo is a hot garlic soup whose defining foundation is bread, garlic, and oil.