Get ready to take the edge off of summer’s heat with this refreshing chilled soup made with tomatoes, cucumber, and herbs known as Gazpacho. Serve it alone or garnished with cooked shrimp or hard boiled eggs for a little protein. Try it with avocado slices. A batch keeps in the fridge for 4-5 days. While this may not be the traditional recipe, it’s delicious on a hot summer day.
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 a fruit), 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 beta carotene 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. 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 hard boiled 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 homemade 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.
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.
Gazpacho - Chilled Tomato Cucumber Soup
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 optional
- ¼ teaspoon ground chipotle powder optional
- 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.
Beautiful! Yes, cold soup does sound good and is something I rarely think to make or have much experience with. Love the shot glasses, cute!
Question on the ingredients being I am a novice at cooking… I love that you are specific with them, but wondering since I am growing fresh vegetables this time of year, would it matter if I use other tomatoes? (beef steak for one, the rest not sure, just know they are not Roma’s and I do wonder if they might be jucier?) For the cucumbers we are growing Japanese cucumbers – could I use those, what will change from not using Persian? THANK YOU!!!
If you have beautiful home grown tomatoes, absolutely use them! I’m sure the flavors of your home grown will shine. And yes on the cucumbers too! Roma tomatoes tend to be meatier which is why I like them and don’t have room to grow my own. You can play with the recipe Michelle. Taste it as you go and if you need to add more tomatoes or cucumbers, do. Next time I make it I will measure quantities and revise the recipe. That should help everyone.
Cute little shot glasses from Sur La Table.
As usual, Sally, everything you put out there sounds simply amazing.
I tried gazpacho once, in Spain, during my “picky-eater” days and didn’t like it. This recipe may have just changed my mind. Since it’s supposed to be 100˚ here this weekend, I think I’ve got dinner settled!
I just finished making the soup and it is amazing. I don’t have the tajin seasoning but I ordered some from amazon.com like you recommended so I’ll have it for next time. I tossed the shrimp in some lime zest so that will have to do for this go round but it tastes wonderful already. Can’t wait to serve it to my family tonight with our dinner. I used my stick immersion blender too instead of dragging out the food processor and it blended up great. Less dishes to wash is always a plus. I’m so excited to have found your blog and website. This is right up my alley! Thanks to Anne Krumm, I found you!
That’s great lisa! I love to hear what people do and if recipes are a success. You will love the Tajin when it comes. Thanks so much for commenting! The immersion blender is an excellent idea. I often forget about them and will update the directions.
Mmm, that looks delicious! I actually haven’t tried gazpacho yet but I can’t wait to!! I’m waiting for the produce in my garden to be ready.
I am right in the middle of making gazpacho as I write this! I will have to try your version, Sally, since it is slightly different and I get tired of my same ol’ recipe after I revisit it once in tomato season. Could eat gazpacho every day!
I was caught by your delicious photo on tastespotting and recognized the little skewers (I helped you at SLT in Newport)…what a fabulous post and beautiful site. Can’t wait to browse more and try some of your goods.
This is fabulous gazpacho! Amazing recipe! Thank you!
Interesting post and recipe. I’ve had gazpacho on the mind as a starter for a rosé tasting party. A nice little add for a really lush gazpacho is to really puree the soup then at end pour in couple Tbsp of good fruity EVO and blend a little longer. Makes for a silky luxurious soup. I also think in Spain they use almonds sometimes as alternate to bread to add some underlying body. I think I will be using your recipe with maybe a tweak or two. Thanks!
Hi Paul. Sounds like a fun party. Rose is so refreshing in the hot summer. I use EVOO at the start of the recipe and it does give it a nice richness, but do what works for you. Yes, in Spain they sometimes use almonds. They also do white gazpachos. All good! One of these days I will get to Spain and really taste the real thing. Happy cooking!
Sally,
I just wanted to tell you, I ran across this recipe in 2012, and printed it, and drink it EVERY DAY because I love it so much!!! It’s fabulous! I have to tweak your recipe a bit because I’m diabetic and try to keep my carbs low, so I omit the breadcrumbs and molasses, and add 1/4 c. of hot sauce for a bit of a bite! And I up the hard boiled eggs to 6 to up the protein since it’s my complete meal. 🙂 I was wondering if you have the nutrition information on this recipe? (calories, carbs, protein, etc.) I realize my version would be slightly different than yours, but was wondering nevertheless.
Thanks for an awesome recipe!!
Wow, Nancy, amazing! Thanks for telling me! Nice changes to fit your personal needs. On the nutrition info, you can run a report yourself with one of the online nutrition calculators to give you an idea. Type ‘recipe calculator’ into a search engine and you will see a variety of options. Hope that helps.
Just wondering if anyone knows if gazpacho still safe to eat after I accidentally left out over night in jar.. was still cool to touch..
Oh Patti, I hate it when I do things like that. From a food safety perspective, the unfortunate answer is no. After two hours foods must be refrigerated. Here is a good link to keep on hand about what is called “the temperature danger zone”. Interestingly enough, they still have 140°F as the top temp but it was revised years ago down to 135°F. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/safe-food-handling/danger-zone-40-f-140-f/ct_index
Hi! I have to make gazpacho for a project in Spanish class. We have to make about 30 small servings (about 4 ounces). How many times should I multiple the ingredients to make it to 30? Thank you!
Hi Theresa, wow your fellow students are in for a tasty and healthy treat! You will have plenty if you double the recipe. If you feel safer with extra, go 2 1/2 x. And with leftover, people can have another helping or you can enjoy it at home for a few days. I’d love to hear how it goes! Please report back. 😉