Spice up your summer with this easy cucumber gazpacho! Made with tomatillos, cucumber, jalapeño & cilantro, it's a cool, refreshing soup.
I love gazpacho. If it’s on a restaurant menu, I’m ordering it, and once summer rolls around, I make it at home as much as I can. To date, I’ve made gazpacho recipes out of watermelon, tomatoes (raw and roasted), corn, green apples, zucchini, and even carrots. I think it’s fun to experiment with different types of fruits and vegetables to find out if they can blend up into delicious cold soups. So why did it take me so long to think about tomatillos and cucumber?! I get giddy about tomatillo salsa, so the obvious next step was to throw a cucumber into the blender along with the otherwise-salsa ingredients and make this green cucumber gazpacho recipe.
How to Make Tomatillo Cucumber Gazpacho
To start, I grill the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and a jalapeño. If you don’t have a grill, you can roast these ingredients in the oven or char them in a cast iron pan on the stove. At this stage, the fire-roasted tomatillo/onion combination smells like the best salsa bar ever.
After grilling, let the hot vegetables cool completely before blending them with diced cucumber, lime juice, cilantro, and Arbequina Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Spain. Add a scoop of yogurt for balance, and blend until smooth. Then, chill the soup.
When it’s cold, drizzle it with a simple yogurt-lime sauce and top it with your favorite crisp garnishes. This soup is tangy, creamy, light, and refreshing, with a nice kick from the jalapeño. All in all, I can’t think of a better meal for hot summer days!
Cucumber Gazpacho Serving Suggestions
Load up your cucumber gazpacho with whatever toppings you enjoy. I added charred corn, finely chopped tomatoes, cucumber, mint, hemp seeds, a sprinkle of microgreens, and, of course, more olive oil! Another delicious combo would be cilantro, diced avocado, and croutons (or even crispy tortilla strips).
Serve the gazpacho on its own with good crusty bread or corn on the cob, or pair it with Mexican street corn salad, cilantro lime rice, and black beans or chips, mango salsa, and guac. I also like it as a starter with any of these taco recipes:
- Vegetarian Tacos with Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce
- Jamaican Jerk Vegan Tacos
- Avocado Sweet Potato Tacos
- Spicy Mango, Black Bean, and Avocado Tacos
And don’t forget the margaritas to drink!
More Favorite Soup Recipes
If you love this cucumber gazpacho recipe, try one of these favorite soups next:
Or check out this post for my 25 top soup recipes!
Cucumber Gazpacho
- 1 pound tomatillos (8 medium)
- ¼ white onion
- 2 whole unwrapped garlic cloves
- ¼ to ½ jalapeño pepper
- ¼ cup Arbequina extra-virgin olive oil from Spain, more for drizzling
- ½ English cucumber, chopped
- ½ cup packed cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- ½ to 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon honey or pure maple syrup
- ¼ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 2 teaspoons water
- pinch of sea salt
- extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- kernels from 1 ear of corn, lightly charred
- 1 cup finely diced cucumber
- ½ cup yellow cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
- fresh herbs (mint or cilantro)
- microgreens
- 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
- Preheat a grill to medium-high heat. On a plate or small baking sheet, toss the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and jalapeño with drizzles of olive oil and a few pinches of sea salt. Wrap the garlic cloves in a piece of foil and place all the vegetables directly on the grill. Grill 4 to 5 minutes per side, or until the tomatillos are soft, charred, and just starting to burst, and the onion and jalapeño are charred and soft. Remove from the grill and unwrap the garlic. Let cool, then chill completely. (This step can be done in advance.)
- In a blender, combine the chilled tomatillos, onion, garlic, ¼ of the jalapeño pepper, ¼ cup of olive oil, cucumber, cilantro, lime juice, ½ teaspoon salt, honey, and the yogurt. Blend until smooth. Season with more salt, if desired (I add ½ teaspoon). Taste and add the remaining jalapeño, if desired, for more spice. Chill the soup until ready to serve.
- Make the yogurt drizzle: In a small bowl, mix the yogurt, lime juice, water, and a pinch of sea salt.
- Serve the soup with the yogurt drizzle and any desired garnishes.
This post is in partnership with Olive Oils from Spain, thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep us cooking!
Can’t wait to make this. Is the cuke meant to be peeled?
I deviated from original recipe, but felt compelled to give my comments just in case the same thing happens to someone else….As per one of the previous reviews, I subbed tomatillo salsa for the fresh roasted tomatillos (didn’t have any/couldn’t find at local store) and it was WAAAY too spicy. Ended up adding a full cucumber, more sour cream (subbed for yogurt), a few pieces of honeydew melon and half avocado to mellow it out. It was good, but I look forward to making the original soon.
Made this today, turned out pretty well. Not a fan of the yogurt dressing but that’s just a personal preference.
Delicious! Love your website!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Hi Vanessa, it’ll keep well in the fridge for about 4 days.
This looks so good! What a great way to use a bunch of summer veggies at once!
Can this be made ahead of time and frozen? I have all these things right now in the garden, but I love being able to have extra for another time when I don’t!
Hi Kim, I haven’t tried freezing this one – I think the cucumber might have a funny texture once frozen and thawed. Usually I freeze warm soups, I’ve not tried freezing gazpacho.
I have frozen cucumber yogurt soup and it did well
Perhaps a slight bit more separated but not noticeable
Delicious!
Any suggestions for a cilantro replacement? Otherwise this looks great, but I have that thing where cilantro tastes like soap.
Parsley works great as a cilantro substitute.
I just made this yesterday and left in the fridge overnight to do its thing. This was delish. I had for mid morning snack(drink) and for dinner. I only had jar of jalepanos so just poured juice in. I will without doubt be making this again. I loved the burnt taste from grilling the veggies amongst the cucumber.
Hi Roz, I’m so happy you loved the recipe 🙂
That was a perfect recipe. Thanks for sharing I will definitely try this at my home.
This was the perfect recipe for a hot and humid summer day. I made it for dinner and it was a big hit with my family! So refreshing and I thought it was a nice change from tomato gazpacho. I only used 1/4 of the jalapeño pepper so it wasn’t too spicy.
Hi Susan, I’m so happy to hear that you and your family loved it!!
the perfect summer recipe, thank you, jalapenos enhanced too, much appreciated
Hi Sabrina, you’re welcome! I love jalapeños so much 🙂
I’m obsessed with the color—prettiest gazpacho!
Thanks Gaby!
It looks so yummy and tasty. I will try doing this tommorrow. Thanks for your nice recipe
I hope you love it!
This has been a great suggestion for today’s dinner. But since I didn’t have tomatillos and needed something now, I used tomatillo salsa and veggie stock that I made up a few days ago. I also don’t use yogurt so added a tablespoon of vegan which worked well. I really appreciate your creativity.
Hi Liese, what a great idea to improvise with the salsa! I’ll have to try that next time I don’t have tomatillos 🙂
vegan mayo
I have no grill. I think that roasting in the oven will work. Is that the best way to grill the vegetable? Or would a hit iron skillet be better?
I truly appreciate your delicious recipes for healthy food. Thanks.
Hi Roberta, either works! You can roast them in the oven at 450° for around 15-20 minutes. Or you could char them on a cast iron skillet until the onions are charred and fully tender, and the tomatillos are bursting. Hope that helps!
I immediately made a grocery list from these ingredients and will be serving after a long trail ride! Sounds delicious!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Is it customary for the Spaniards to use jalapeños in their dishes?
nope, but this isn’t a traditional gazpacho! The jalapaños are really delicious with the tomatillos 🙂
Oh boy, I’m having a bit of a fan girl moment lol! My family and I are huge gazpacho fans and are always searching for new, delicious recipes. One of our favorites if the watermelon gazpacho from the Fig and Olive recipe book. All the ingredients you’ve included in this recipe seem to go so well together. Cucumber seems like the perfect fruit (it is a fruit right?!) for the summer because it’s so refreshing, light, and watery. I’m going to make this for my parents this Saturday – that’s my day to do the cooking. Always a nice treat for them 🙂
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Hi Isabella, I hope you enjoy it! I’m obsessed with watermelon gazpacho too – so refreshing! 🙂