Milk and Egg Soup (Changua)
A gentle, warming breakfast soup from the cold highlands of Bogotá: milk and water simmered with scallions, poached eggs slipped in whole, and fresh cilantro, ladled over pieces of day-old bread.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Prepare the bowls
Tear or cut the day-old bread into rough pieces and divide them among four deep soup bowls. Using bread that is a day old (not fresh) matters: it is dry enough to soak up the hot soup without turning to mush.
- 4 slices day-old bread
Simmer milk and scallion
In a medium pot, combine the milk, water, chopped scallion whites and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so the milk does not catch on the bottom.
- 500 ml whole milk
- 500 ml water
- 2 scallion whites
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: small bubbles appear around the edge and the kitchen smells like warm milk and onion
Slip in the eggs
Lower the heat so the liquid barely simmers, with just a few lazy bubbles, not a hard boil. Crack each egg into a small cup first, then slide it gently into the pot; this way a broken yolk never ruins the whole pot. Add the cilantro sprigs and poach for 3–4 minutes, until the whites are fully set but the yolks are still soft.
- 4 eggs
- 4 sprigs cilantro
✅ Done when: the egg whites are completely opaque and firm, and the yolks still wobble slightly when the pot is nudged
Check the seasoning
Taste the broth and add a little more salt if needed; milk soups taste flatter than water-based ones, so they usually need a touch more salt than you expect. Remove the cilantro sprigs.
- to taste extra salt
Serve over the bread
Using a slotted spoon, lift one egg into each bowl on top of the bread, then ladle the hot milk broth over everything so the bread softens right at the table. Scatter chopped scallion greens and extra cilantro on top, and add a small knob of butter if you like.
- to taste scallion greens
- to taste chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp butter
Prepare the bowls
Tear or cut the day-old bread into rough pieces and divide them among four deep soup bowls. Using bread that is a day old (not fresh) matters: it is dry enough to soak up the hot soup without turning to mush.
- 4 slices day-old bread
Simmer milk and scallion
In a medium pot, combine the milk, water, chopped scallion whites and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally so the milk does not catch on the bottom.
- 500 ml whole milk
- 500 ml water
- 2 scallion whites
- 1 tsp salt
✅ Done when: small bubbles appear around the edge and the kitchen smells like warm milk and onion
Slip in the eggs
Lower the heat so the liquid barely simmers, with just a few lazy bubbles, not a hard boil. Crack each egg into a small cup first, then slide it gently into the pot; this way a broken yolk never ruins the whole pot. Add the cilantro sprigs and poach for 3–4 minutes, until the whites are fully set but the yolks are still soft.
- 4 eggs
- 4 sprigs cilantro
✅ Done when: the egg whites are completely opaque and firm, and the yolks still wobble slightly when the pot is nudged
Check the seasoning
Taste the broth and add a little more salt if needed; milk soups taste flatter than water-based ones, so they usually need a touch more salt than you expect. Remove the cilantro sprigs.
- to taste extra salt
Serve over the bread
Using a slotted spoon, lift one egg into each bowl on top of the bread, then ladle the hot milk broth over everything so the bread softens right at the table. Scatter chopped scallion greens and extra cilantro on top, and add a small knob of butter if you like.
- to taste scallion greens
- to taste chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp butter
The Story Behind the Dish
Changua takes its name from Chibcha, the language of the Muisca people who farmed the cold, high plains around what is now Bogotá long before the Spanish arrived.
Milk and eggs came later, brought by European settlers, and were folded into older local habits of warm, simple morning broths eaten to fight the Andean cold.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It is the classic Bogotá breakfast: cheap, warming, and endlessly comforting, often the first thing offered to a guest who has just come in from the cold streets of the capital.
💡 Fun Fact
Many bogotanos insist the egg must be slipped in whole and poached directly in the soup, never beaten in, so each bowl holds a soft, intact egg waiting under the broth.
Bogotá and the Colombian highlands (altiplano)
4.71°N, -74.07°W
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