Cool and refreshing gazpacho tomato soup. Get ready to take the edge off of summer’s heat with this vibrantly chilled soup made with tomatoes, cucumber, and herbs. Serve it alone or garnished with cooked shrimp or hardboiled eggs for a little protein. Try it with avocado slices. A batch keeps in the fridge for 4-5 days.
Gazpacho Tomato Soup: Cool, Refreshing, Healthy
How could anyone not like gazpacho? It could only be because they have never tried it. Just yesterday a friend said to me, cold soup? Yes, cold soup! Refreshing and healthy, it’s fantastic for hot weather and the perfect use for fresh peak of the summer produce.
Serve gazpacho in bowls for lunch or a snack. Pair it with grilled chicken or shrimp for dinner. Team it up with a quesadilla. Pour it into shot glasses and serve gazpacho shooters as an appetizer. Gazpacho can be enjoyed many ways.
A Great Way Up Your Vegetable Game
Packed with vegetables (ok so tomatoes are technically afruit), gazpacho is truly summer in a bowl. Tomatoes, cucumber, herbs, it’s filled with nutrition.
Sweet summer tomatoes are a great source of vitamins A, B2, C, and K, important minerals like manganese, copper, chromium, and potassium. They are also an excellent source of phytonutrients betacarotene and lycopene. Lycopene is where tomatoes get their red color.
Lycopene is thought to help prevent heart disease as well as promote bone and eye health. It has been shown to reduce the risk for many cancers. All from pretty, tasty tomatoes. Food truly is medicine. Food from the “farmacy” not the pharmacy.
For more reading on the health benefits of tomatoes, read this great article from LiveScience.
No Cook (Raw) Gazpacho Ingredients Tips
For the star of the show, use either organic Roma, Heirloom, or the best tomatoes you can find. Be sure to wash your produce well. I use Eat Cleaner produce wash. When you core and cut your tomatoes, squeeze out some of the seeds. This will give you a thicker soup.
There are options to thicken the soup. I made the original recipe with hardboiled egg to give the soup body. You can skip the egg to keep the soup vegan or the breadcrumbs to keep it paleo. I gluten-free toasted breadcrumbs. If you are not gluten sensitive, use toasted whole wheat breadcrumbs. Homemade is best and super easy to make. Here is how to make them. Another option, 1/3 cup of almond meal works great as a replacement for the egg and breadcrumbs.
For the liquids, I use chicken broth or vegetable broth and canned organic tomato sauce. Many gazpacho recipes use canned tomato juice as the liquid base, but most brands are very high in sodium. To reduce the sodium, I use no salt added organic tomato sauce and homemade broth.
A note on broth – If you’ve never made homemade broth, it’s worth the effort. I make it in big batches and freeze it in small containers. Vegetable broth takes a short time and is really one you should make, as the store boxed and canned brands taste pretty terrible. There are links to my recipes below.
Bell peppers are also a traditional gazpacho ingredient. If you like sweet peppers, add a red or yellow pepper to your vegetable mix. I leave them out because my husband can’t stand them (I love them).
Puree in a Blender
Once the vegetables are mixed, smooth the gazpacho out in a blender or food processor to the texture you prefer. Puree it all for a smoother soup or puree half and mix with the chunkier part for more texture. Chill for a few hours and enjoy.
Other helpful links
Gazpacho - Chilled Tomato Cucumber Soup
This recipe makes a big batch of soup. It keeps in the fridge for 4-5 days so you can keep enjoying its cool refreshment in hot weather. See recipe notes for vegan and paleo options. Serve chunky or pureed, depending on your preference. If you like the flavors of chili and lime, Tajin is available on Amazon. You will find lots of uses for it.
Ingredients
Tomato Gazpacho Soup
- 1 hardboiled egg (see options for vegan below) peeled and chopped
- 2 ½-3 pounds tomatoes
- 3 small Persian cucumbers 1 large English seedless cucumber
- 2 large garlic cloves chopped or minced fine
- ¼ cup finely diced red onion
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon juiced
- 1 lime juiced
- 6 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
- 24 ounces low sodium chicken or vegetable broth 3 cups, preferably homemade
- 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
- ¾ cup plain gluten-free breadcrumbs preferably homemade, optional
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- ¼ teaspoon ground chipotle powder
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Optional Garnishes
- Avocado slices
- Lime wedges
- Cucumber slices
- Chopped cilantro
- Cooked shrimp
Instructions
- To prep tomatoes, cut them lengthwise into quarters and slice out the seedy centers, then chop. Do the same with the cucumbers. Core tomatoes, then cut them into long quarters and chop. You can squeeze out some of the seeds if you want to.
- Place tomatoes and cucumber in a blender or food processor and add add garlic, red onion, olive oil, citrus juices, vinegar, broth, tomato sauce, breadcrumbs, herbs and molasses. Add the hard-boiled egg, and chipotle powder if you like a little heat. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.
- Puree soup in a blender (see notes below) for about 1 minute to smooth it out. You may need to do it in two batches. Chill at least 4 hours or overnight for flavors to blend.
Note - For a chunkier soup, pulse, don’t blend, until you reach your preferred consistency, or puree half and leave half chunky to stir together. Soup will keep 4-5 days in the refrigerator. Make a batch Sunday and enjoy all week.
Recipe Notes
For paleo, skip the breadcrumbs and use almond meal. For vegan, skip the hardboiled egg and use the almond meal to thicken.
Shooters take about 2-3 ounces each if using as an appetizer. Bowls are 8-12 ounces each, so servings will vary depending on use.
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