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This easy gazpacho recipe is the perfect cold summer vegetable soup to refresh and hydrate! On a blazing hot summer day, the chill is completely irresistible.
You may also like my Easy Tomato Soup Recipe or Easy Zucchini Soup next.
Why you’ll love it
Gazpacho (or gaspacho) is a gorgeous chilled soup with a very long history, and it’s consumed widely in Spain and Portugal to beat the heat. It’s a tomato-based soup that’s loaded with fresh vegetables like cucumbers bell peppers, and it has a light broth.
This cold soup brings me back to my childhood. I don’t have Spanish roots, but it was ubiquitous throughout hot summers since my mom would always make it for me and my sister. Her special twist was adding in kalamata olives, which I highly recommend!
What you’ll need
- Cucumber – we’re using long English
- Onion – Spanish, sweet, or red all are great raw and not too sharp
- Bell pepper – green is standard here
- Tomatoes – Roma are typical, but use whatever looks tastiest, e.g. heirloom
- Tomato juice – for the base of the broth
- Olive oil – use a good-quality one!
- Lemon juice – for brightness and depth of flavor
- Garlic – lots of savory goodness
- Toppings – croutons are a necessity! I like kalamata olives and a drizzle of olive oil too.
Helpful tips
- There’s a lot of regional versions of this Spanish soup. I don’t deviate too much from the one I grew up on, but in true S&L fashion I’ve simplified mine.
- Gazpacho typically has a bread component, and we’re using croutons. The texture the croutons get as they absorb the broth is my sister’s favorite part!
- Of course, ingredient quality matters here. Aim for the freshest, most in-season produce you can find.
How to make gazpacho
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Mix the cucumbers, onions, and bell peppers in a prep bowl. Reserve a third of the mixture, and put the rest in a blender. Add the roughly chopped tomatoes as well as the tomato juice, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Blend until smooth, then transfer to a pot or bowl.
To the soup, stir in the remaining the chopped vegetables for a nice rustic texture. Taste, then season generously with salt & pepper. Refrigerate until very cold (even overnight to meld the flavors). Serve chilled and garnish with croutons etc. as described below.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- My Vitamix has been going strong for years, and here’s a similar, newer Vitamix model.
- Quickly chop the vegetables with a chef’s knife on a good-quality cutting board.
- Freshly ground sea salt and cracked black pepper make a difference. Here are my salt & pepper mills.
Substitutions and variations
- Add in 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin for more nuanced flavor.
- A chopped jalapeño pepper gives it a fantastic kick.
- You could also garnish with fresh basil or cilantro from the garden to make it more herb forward. This recipe is somewhat flexible!
What to serve with gazpacho soup
- I love topping it with my Homemade Croutons to give it more body. You could also fry up some small bites of rye bread (as pictured). When we were little, chopped kalamata olives were also a must but aren’t traditional.
- If you choose to blend it up entirely, it’s great in a glass with a straw and an ice cube! This is typical at street vendors in southern Europe.
- A nice pairing salad works. Try my Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad!
Leftovers and storage
- Store leftover gazpacho in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- You can freeze it for 3-6 months (try Souper Cubes), but keep in mind that it may separate when you thaw it and lose some of its fresh flavor.
More summer recipes
If you made this gazpacho soup, please leave a comment and star rating below! How hot is it where you are!? You can also tag me in your IG stories to be featured.
Easy Gazpacho
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber chopped
- 1/2 medium onion (Spanish, sweet, or red) chopped
- 1 medium green bell pepper chopped
- 6 medium tomatoes see note
- 2 cups tomato juice
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- Salt & pepper to taste (use cayenne pepper if desired)
- For serving: chopped Kalamata olives, croutons, olive oil, etc. optional, to taste
Instructions
- Add the chopped cucumber, onion, and green bell pepper to a bowl and toss together. Reserve about 1/3 of the mixture (I just put it into a smaller bowl), and add the rest to your blender.
- Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the blender along with the tomato juice, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Blend until smooth and then transfer to a pot or large bowl.
- Stir the remaining chopped veggies into the soup.
- Give the soup a taste and season with salt & pepper as needed (I'm generous with both), then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until it's very cold. This soup is even better the next day when the flavors have had some time to meld.
- Serve the gazpacho chilled. Garnish with, croutons, Kalamata olives, and a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Notes
- For the tomatoes, Roma tomatoes are commonly used, but I use whatever looks best at the store. Aim for about 1 lb. of tomatoes.
- If you don’t want any veggie pieces in your soup, feel free to just blitz all the soup ingredients together at once!
- Adapted from Robert Carrier’s Great Dishes of the World.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.
This recipe was originally published on July 8, 2016. It’s been tweaked to be even easier, tastier, and has new photos!
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