June 3, 2014
(last updated August 26, 2025) 
This is an easy recipe for a silky smooth, creamy textured gazpacho. Use your best summer tomatoes and cucumbers — and a trusty blender — to create a truly refreshing and delicious chilled soup.
I’m not a big chilled soup person, but when I am, it’s this blended vegan gazpacho.
I’ve tried gazpacho recipes with texture and without. While I enjoy the textured varieties, I always feel a little as though I’m dipping my spoon into a bowl of salsa.
It wasn’t until my twenties that I tasted Andalusian style gazpacho. This type of soup is blended with olive oil. It’s a step that creates an emulsified texture that’s (somehow) both luxuriously creamy and light at the same time.
Andalusian-style gazpacho can include bread — blended right into the soup! — or not. The bread helps to thicken the gazpacho.
I personally like this addition, and my recipe includes it, though it’s possible to omit the bread.
Regardless, it’s amazing to me that blended gazpacho can be so refreshing while also being so silky and rich. It’s magical, really, and it’s one of my favorite things to eat in the summer months.
Pre-salting the tomatoes
The first thing I do when I make my vegan gazpacho is to salt the tomatoes, then toss them together with the bread and allow them to sit for a little while.
The tomatoes release their juices, which soaks and pre-softens the bread for blending. They become softer themselves, in addition to getting some necessary seasoning. I learned this step from J. Kenji López-Alt’s easy gazpacho recipe, and it’s so smart.
While the salted tomatoes rest and do their thing, you can gather up the other ingredients that you need for the gazpacho.
This is a simple gazpacho recipe, but you will put your chef’s knife to good use; the pre-salting window gives you time to chop away.
Vegan gazpacho ingredients
It may be a little redundant to title this “vegan gazpacho,” as many (most?) gazpacho recipes are vegan as is. In any case, though, the ingredients here are entirely plant-based — and mostly plants.
You’ll need
Easy Summer Gazpacho
Author –Yields: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 2 inch piece of baguette, sliced thinly, or 1 thick slice of white bread, torn into pieces (1 1/2 ounces / 45 g)
- 3 ripe, medium-large beefsteak or Jersey tomatoes, or 4-5 large, ripe plum/roma tomatoes (1 3/4 lb / 800 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 small seedless cucumber, peeled, or 2 mini cucumbers, peeled and cut crosswise into 1-inch / 2.5 cm rounds
- 1 large red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, trimmed, seeded, and cut into 2-inch / 5 cm pieces
- 1 cubanelle, or long Italian frying pepper, trimmed, seeded, and roughly chopped (substitute an Anaheim or poblano pepper)
- 1/4 medium or large white onion, peeled and roughly chopped (substitute 1/4 of a medium-large red onion, or 1 large or 2 smaller shallots)
- 1-2 cloves garlic (adjust to your liking)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (60 mL; reserve some extra for drizzling)
- Optional toppings: additional chopped, fresh tomatoes, onion, or cucumber; chopped fresh herbs; a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil; fresh bread
Instructions
- Place the bread slices into the bottom of a large mixing bowl. Trim and roughly chop the tomatoes (about 1 1/2-inch / 4 cm pieces), then place the chopped tomatoes over the bread. Sprinkle the salt over the tomatoes and use your hands to toss the tomatoes, salt, and bread together roughly. Set this mixture aside for 15 minutes, or while you prepare the remaining vegetables; this will soften the bread a little.
- Add the tomato and bread mixture, along with the cucumber, peppers, onion, garlic, and vinegar, to a high-speed blender. Blend the mixture for about 1 minute, or until it's blended but not yet smooth. Turn the blender to high, then drizzle the olive oil in slowly as the mixture becomes a smooth purée (about 90-120 seconds of blending). Taste the soup and adjust salt as needed.
- If you like, strain the gazpacho. Wipe down the mixing bowl you used for the tomatoes, then fit a large, fine-mesh strainer over the bowl. Pour your blended soup through this strainer and use a spatula or spoon to help move the soup around, forcing it through the strainer as much as is possible. Discard whatever pulp or residue is left behind.
- Pour the creamy soup into a storage container (you should have 4 cups / 1 quart if you strained it, 5 cups / 1.2 L if you did not), cover it tightly, and allow the soup to sit in the fridge to cool thoroughly and for the flavors to meld. Two hours is enough time, but the soup will taste even better if it sits overnight!
- Pour the soup into containers and top as desired. Enjoy.
The gazpacho is a perfect appetizer or starter to a summer gathering. Or, if you’d like to turn it into a satisfying lunch, you can do as I did, and serve it with some quinoa and chickpeas. Tasty and filling.
Other gazpachos I have my eye on this summer:
- yellow tomato gazpacho
- strawberry gazpacho
- avocado gazpacho
- cucumber mint gazpacho
Stay tuned. And have a lovely evening.
xo
Images courtesy of Lighter.
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Categories: Recipes,
Side Dishes,
Soups
Method: Blender
Ingredients: Tomatoes
Dietary Preferences: Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: 30 Minute or Less, Quick & Easy
Method: Blender
Ingredients: Tomatoes
Dietary Preferences: Soy Free, Tree Nut Free, Vegan
Recipe Features: 30 Minute or Less, Quick & Easy
Leave a Comment
Delicious! I tried this recipe but I was unsatisfied with the texture of the gazpacho. I tried another recipe instead that had me blanch the tomatoes in order to get the skins off an the texture turned out perfectly! here is the recipe i followed https://www.eco-wanderlust.com/blog/andalusian-gazpacho
Mmmm this sounds super refreshing – perfect for the hot weather we’ve been having here. Delicious!
I love gazpacho! The version i had in spain thickened with bread made it more hearty (along with their heavy hand with the oil!), but i love that you suggested a side to make this a meal.
White gazpacho (ajo blanco) is perfect for when tomatoes aren’t yet ripe, and with the almonds its much more filling too.
I can’t wait until i can find some good tomatoes to make yours!
Great looking soup and beautiful photos! New background/surface? 🙂
My parents are big on gazpacho but for some reason every time I have it at their house, my stomach gets really upset. Something about the acid in the tomato juice they are using. I love that your recipe uses fresh tomatoes, because I tend to be just fine with those so I’m excited at the possibility of being able to enjoy some gazpacho this summer! It’s so refreshing!
I literally just said to my other half, who’s got a horrible sore throat right now, “You know what would be a good food for you right now? Gazpacho.” And there you were! This looks amazing, especially because it’s getting all kinds of hot an humid where we live. I might make this today and I might have mine with a vegan grilled cheese… 🙂
I love gazpacho, but since we can get a great Spanish brand (el Alvalle) over here, I’ve never tried making it.
I know in a month or so we’ll be struggling to keep up with the tomatoes growing in the garden so it looks like the thing to make really!
Saving your recipe for then 🙂
This looks so delicious; I love all the colorful, contrasting toppings you used. I got a new magazine yesterday that had a recipe for white gazpacho that sounded quite intriguing. It was made of blanced almonds, bread, olive oil, vinegar, and water and topped with sliced green grapes. I’m definitely looking forward to trying your recipe and the white one soon!
Hi!
I think it´s important to keep the original recipes. In European cultures, in this case in Spain, gastronomy it´s ancestral and its a very important part of the culture and identity.
This recipe looks amazing, but I must say it has nothing to do with gazpacho at all. I think this should be called differently as it may confuse people.
(sorry for my english)
Greetings from Madrid 🙂
Carolina,
Thanks for your comment–and thanks for reading!
To me, chilled tomato and cucumber soup with some vinegar has always signified gazpacho (or at least the idea of it), but you’re right–I’m certainly taking quite a few liberties with the traditional dish. This is good feedback, and I’ll definitely think about it!
Gena
I agree, but it does sounds awesome with avocado in it! this is my recipe I learned after four years living in spain, its delicious and traditional haha https://theuprootedrose.com/blog/andalusian-gazpacho
This is one of the exciting article I have come across recently. I also have a similar blog about Hairdressers in Rockhampton
“Easy,” “summer,” and “gazpacho” — three magic words. I’m afraid if I wait for the right humid day here in the PNW, I’ll never get my gazpacho! I just need to wait long enough for some decent tomatoes. I had to laugh about your recipe measurements because I don’t think I’ve ever measured ingredients for gazpacho, but your soup looks worthy of changing my ways.