Favorite Gazpacho Recipe : Cold Summer Soup

Gazpacho soup – Ripe Roma tomatoes, fresh herbs, and robust garden vegetables explode in this cold soup with a bright, tangy flavor. Try gazpacho for lunch, dinner, or as an appetizer. Either way, it really hits the spot on a hot day!

Looking for some “cool” summer recipes for warm summer days? Here are some of our favorites: starting with an Aperol Spritz or my newest addiction, a Pineapple Jalapeno Margarita. While enjoying a refreshing beverage, grill some Corn On The Cob for a  Fresh Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salad or a Grilled Corn And Zucchini Salad to serve with a cold Spanish soup.

Ingredients For Summer Gazpacho Soup

It is an ideal cold soup recipe that blooms aromatically and intensifies in flavor as it matures over 2-3 days.

For specific amounts, please refer to the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• Ripe Roma Tomatoes – perfect for a gazpacho summer soup because of its thick, low water content flesh and fewer seeds. 
• Green Pepper – Feel free to substitute sweeter red, orange, or yellow bell pepper for the green.
• Celery
• Cucumber – Peel and seed waxed garden variety cucumbers. Soft-skinned and small-seeded cucumbers, Persin/mini or English/hothouse, do not need to be peeled or seeded. 
• Red Onion   
• Fresh Parsley & Chives
• Garlic Clove – minced. Dread peeling garlic cloves? A garlic peeler is your newfound super gadget! 
• Red Wine Vinegar – gives cold soup tartness, acidity, and zing. Use sherry vinegar for its complexity and a nod to authentic cold Spanish soup.  
• Fresh Lemon Juice
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil – of good quality, fruity, bitter, and pungent, makes or breaks a Spanish cold soup. 
• Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper 
• Worcestershire Sauce – adds umami and conveys a salty-sweet, savory flavor with a tangy finish.  
• Tomato Juice – for convenience and ease, I like to use V8 juice; or you can use homemade, even better!

Making Summer Gazpacho: A Liquid Salad

When you are making this recipe, you’ll want to use the full recipe at the bottom of the page.

This gazpacho recipe is painless, although the prep work can take a bit of time, but little enough that you’ll know it is well worth it at the first taste of this cold summer soup! 

Besides your prep tools and a quality veggie wash, all you need is a blender, food processor, or immersion blender.

1. Batch blend all the ingredients until reaching the desired consistency.
2. Taste and season gazpacho with salt and pepper to your taste.
3. Chill cold soup in a covered glass bowl or pitcher for four hours.
4. Stir well and serve in your chilled dinner or glassware and garnish.*

Where Did Cold Gazpacho Soup Come From?

If you’ve checked out a few cold Spanish soup recipes lately, you’ll have come across the standard info on the Andalusia region in Spain and authentic gazpacho soup. This region is also well known for one of the oldest horse breeds, the gorgeous pure Spanish Andalusian. 

Many historians argue that Spanish cold soup originates from Islamic Spain (711-1492 A.D.). Others, not so much. The same base mixture for gazpacho developed as far back as the Roman Empire. It far predates Islamic Spain’s claim to fame!

Gazpacho Soup FAQs

Wonder why gazpacho served cold? The cold soup is designed to help cool you down in hot weather. Gazpacho can be served warm or hot but the refreshing dish is meant to be enjoyed cold.

You can make gazpacho with canned (store-bought) tomatoes Stick with a brand you trust and are willing to eat uncooked and enjoy the flavor.

If you decide it is important to peel Roma tomatoes for gazpacho, the quickest way is to blanch them. Make a small “x” on the bottom of the tomato, lower it into boiling water for three minutes, then plunge it into an ice bath for three minutes, drain, and peel.

Why Do Recipes For Gazpacho Contain Bread?

Because authentic gazpacho recipes were initially made with bread soaked in water or vinegar. It’s purported that Roman soldiers made a gruel/soup/paste from their rations of bread, garlic, salt, olive oil, and vinegar.

The Islamic version also had the same ingredients but eventually included the addition of tomatoes and green pepper. Traditionally authentic cold Spanish soup is prepared in a large wooden bowl or trough called a dornillo. 

Gazpacho critics claim that bread provides creamy fullness to the gazpacho and rounds out the flavor. You have to admit it was an ingenious way to make stale bread palatable!

Fresh gazpacho, including tomatoes and peppers as we know it today, was thanks to none other than Chris Columbus. He brought the fruits to Seville, Spain, from the New World.