Beat the heat with this easy gazpacho recipe! Made with summer veggies, vinegar, and olive oil, this cool soup is rich, tangy, and refreshing.
It’s no secret that I love gazpacho. Over the years, I’ve shared a gazpacho recipe with watermelon, one with corn, another with carrots, and still another with tangy tomatillos. What can I say? On a hot summer day, there’s no better way to cool off than with cold soup.
If you’re not familiar with gazpacho, it’s a chilled soup that originated in Andalucía, Spain. Traditional recipes call for tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and bread, which thickens the soup.
This recipe isn’t entirely authentic, but it has a lot in common with Spanish gazpacho. Tomatoes, cucumber, and olive oil make up its vibrant red base, garlic adds bite, and red wine vinegar gives it a delicious tang. Even Jack, who normally passes on gazpacho, devoured a bowl for lunch last week. Complex, refreshing, and bursting with summer produce, it’s the perfect thing to make right now, when the days are hot and fresh tomatoes are at their peak.
Gazpacho Ingredients
As I mentioned above, bread is often used as a thickener in Andalusian gazpacho. I like the lightly creamy texture of the soup without it, so I make my gazpacho with these simple ingredients:
- Tomatoes – Any variety of tomatoes will work well here. Choose the best ones you can find at your farmers market or grocery store!
- Cucumber – Dice some cucumber and reserve it for garnish. Then, peel the rest and blend it into the soup!
- Fresno chiles – Traditional gazpacho is made with bell peppers. But earlier this summer, I was making gazpacho at home, and fresno chiles were the only peppers I had in the fridge. I tossed them in, and I fell in love with the heat they added to the soup. I highly recommend using them, but you could swap in half a red bell pepper if you prefer.
- Garlic – For bite!
- Red onion – Rinse it under cold water before you add it to the blender to tame its sharp flavor.
- Red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar – It adds delicious tang.
- Cilantro – It’s not traditional, but I love the herby fresh flavor.
- Extra-virgin olive oil – 1/2 cup might seem like a lot, but trust me, you’re going to want every drop in this cool summer soup. It’s essential for creating a rich, creamy, and balanced gazpacho.
- And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Best Gazpacho Recipe Tips
- Good tomatoes are gold. This gazpacho recipe calls for a whole lotta tomatoes: 2 1/2 pounds! Fresh tomato juice makes up the body of the soup, so the quality of your tomatoes will really affect the final dish. If you can, look for local tomatoes at your farmers market. But no matter what, make this recipe in summer, when any tomato is sweeter and juicier than it would be at other times of year.
- Work in batches if necessary. This recipe makes a lot of soup, so you might need to work in batches depending on the size of your blender or food processor. Of course, you could also halve the recipe, but I like having leftovers in the fridge. The soup becomes more complex and flavorful the longer it chills, so it tastes even better on days 2 and 3!
- Chill the soup for at least 2 hours before you eat. It might be tempting to cut the chilling time short, but trust me, the wait is worth it! After the flavors meld and develop in the fridge, the soup becomes more balanced, complex, and refreshing.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve this gazpacho recipe two ways: in a glass or in a bowl. Drink it for a light lunch or appetizer, or load up your bowl with toppings to make it a meal on its own! I like to garnish my bowl with diced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil. Roasted chickpeas, croutons, chopped hard boiled eggs, and avocado would be delicious toppings too.
Round out the meal with good crusty bread or socca. For a heartier meal, serve this easy gazpacho with grilled vegetables and romesco sauce, your favorite protein, or a veggie frittata. Enjoy!
More Favorite Tomato Recipes
If you love this gazpacho recipe, try one of these summer tomato recipes next:
- Pico de Gallo
- Homemade Salsa
- Classic Caprese Salad
- Panzanella
- Greek Salad
- Cherry Tomato Couscous Salad
- Tomato Soup
- Or any of these 50 Fresh Tomato Recipes!
Gazpacho
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber
- 2½ pounds ripe tomatoes, chopped
- 2 fresno chiles, or ½ red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded
- ¼ small red onion, rinsed
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
- 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1¼ teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Cherry tomatoes, for garnish
- Fresh herbs, for garnish
Instructions
- Finely chop ¼ of the cucumber and reserve for garnish.
- Peel the remaining cucumber, cut into chunks, and transfer to a blender. Add the tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, cilantro, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth. Season to taste and chill for at least 2 hours.
- Serve the soup garnished with the reserved diced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, drizzles of olive oil, and freshly ground black pepper.
Made the gazpacho for dinner yesterday, first time making it! So easy & it was absolutely delicious! Substituted jalapeño for the Fresno chilies. The addition of the fresh cucumbers, tomatoes& radish as garnish gave it a nice bite. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hi Arti, I’m so glad you loved it!
Hi there!
Thanks for trying to fit as much as possible to the original gazpacho recipe. I understand that sometimes it can turn out to be difficult to use right the original ingredients to make it look closer to the authentic recipe.
As a Spaniard, I recommend you to cut and mix up all the ingredients in a bowl, let them rest for a few hours in the refrigerator (much better overnight) marinating; actually, its flavour becomes much more intense. Trust me! But I’d avoid cilantro, since it’s never, never used in the authentic Andalusian gazpacho.
Thanks for sharing such lovely, delicious, nutritious, fresh and awesome recipe from the Spanish cuisine.
Best regards,
Yolanda
That’s a great tip, thank you!
Would it be terrible to use canned tomatoes for this?
I wouldn’t use canned tomatoes for this one – I only like to use them in tomato soups that are cooked.
Never, never use canned tomatoes, please.
I’m not sure that I’ve actually made this recipe because I adjusted it ever so slightly. Instead of the onion and garlic, I subbed 1 shallot. I wanted it to be a little milder so my 4.5-year-old daughter would eat it. Not only did she eat it, she asked me to make it again! I’m also eating it for lunch the next day and not overwhelmed by the garlic.
I served it with hard-boiled eggs and good bread to make it a meal.
This one is a keeper! Thanks again!
It’s perfectly okay if you don’t add onion. In fact, the authentic Analusian gazpacho admits both versions: with and without onion.
Delicious and easy – the perfect recipe! I left it slightly chunky and garnished with mango & avocado. Will definitely be a staple.
Summer on a spoon! I off-roaded and threw in a preserved lemon and since my cilantro collapsed into a gooey heap overnight, I substituted fresh mint. As a lemon lover, thought you might find this riff interesting.
ha :).
Wonderful pictures and recipes. Thank you!
Yum..this looks sooooo good!
This looks delicious. I’m such a soup person, but I’ve never actually had gazpacho. Definitely want to try it!
such a beautiful looking gazpacho…i absolutely love how it looks and will definitely be trying it this summer.
Wow..this looks yum… very inspiring place this one, gotta visit often.
xo
What a gorgeous soup! I love the garnishes on this one as well. I need my gazpacho to be a little chunky, this one looks perfect!
YUM! Looks insanely delicious. By the way, I’m the reader who commented on your pickled chard stems post and said I bought rainbow chard specifically for your recipe. I made it, and it was awesome. Thanks!
oh I’m so glad you liked them! So nice of you to report back 🙂
OMG this is just gorgeous!!! That color is to die for! I will for sure be trying this one.
thanks beth 🙂
This sounds so lovely! And I LOVE all that beautiful color!
What a delightfully refreshing soup – perfect for our just now ripening garden tomatoes. Heading over the to Kickstarter now… 🙂
yay!
I can’t wait to try this soon! Not quite tomato season yet here in Michigan. This looks so pretty and refreshing.
Gorgeous soup for the summertime! I think I’ll make some this week!
How freaking fun is this?! Such a pretty soup!
it was so fun!