What Is Gazpacho? Get 7 Tips for Making Great Gazpacho

Fresh, cold gazpacho is an ideal way to taste the peak of summer without heating up your kitchen. All the intense flavors, aromas, and colors of the season's best produce are delivered to your senses in one light, simple, no-cook bowl of chilled soup. Read on to learn more about gazpacho, how to make it, and get top-rated recipes to try.

What is Gazpacho?

Originating from the Andalusia region of southern Spain, gazpacho is traditionally made from a mixture of puréed tomatoes and other ingredients such as cucumber, sweet bell peppers, onions, garlic, and olive oil. But you can also make fruit-based gazpacho with melons, or cucumber-based gazpacho. Like so many homegrown recipes, there's no one right way to make gazpacho, and there are as many variations as there are seeds in a tomato.

7 Tips to Make the Best Gazpacho

Try this recipe: Quick and Fresh Gazpacho

1. For tomato-based gazpacho, use the sweetest, ripest, tomatoes you can find even if it means waiting until July or August to make gazpacho.

2. Remove tomato skins and seeds before making gazpacho. An easy way to do this with large tomatoes is to cut an x in the stem end of the tomato and lower it into boiling water for about 30 seconds. Lift it out and plunge it immediately into a bowl of cold water. The extreme change in temperature will help the skin slip off easily. To remove the seeds, cut the tomato in half and gently squeeze out the seeds. Get step-by-step instructions for how to peel tomatoes.

3. Know your cucumbers. Gazpacho recipes often include English cucumbers as an ingredient. English cucumbers have thin peels that aren't as bitter as conventional cucumbers, so they don't have to be peeled. If you're using regular cucumber, peel them and remove the seeds before proceeding with your gazpacho recipe.

4. Gazpacho can be as smooth or as chunky as you like. For semi-smooth gazpacho, chop all the ingredients into a fine dice, then purée half of the mixture and return it to the soup.

5. Taste and adjust seasonings after chilling and before serving.

6. It might be tempting to eat your gorgeous gazpacho right after you make it, but do let it rest in the fridge for an hour or more to let the flavors develop. Be sure to serve it ice-cold.

7. Depending on your recipe, garnish gazpacho right before serving with fresh herbs, sour cream, crème fraîche, olive oil, toasted nuts, bits of reserved chopped vegetables or fruit, or even cold poached shrimp for extra flavor, texture, eye-appeal, or heartiness.

5 Kinds of Gazpacho to Try

1. Classic Gazpacho: Southern Spain-Style Gazpacho

In this traditional gazpacho recipe, vine-ripened tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers are blended with heady garlic and rich olive oil. Crusty bread sneaks in there as well to add body and texture to the mix. The prep takes only 20 minutes, but you'll let the soup rest in the fridge for at least an hour as the flavors meld into summer's best soup. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and more olive oil before serving.

2. Low-Carb Gazpacho: Quick and Fresh Gazpacho

There's no bread in this version, and the soup goes straight from blender to bowl without taking a rest in the fridge. Some reviewers blended only half the ingredients to give the gazpacho a chunkier texture, and some used lemon juice in the mix instead of vinegar. It's all good.

3. Seafood Lover's Gazpacho: Shrimp Gazpacho

Breaking from gazpacho tradition, this cold soup uses tomato and clam juice cocktail for its base. You'll add chopped avocado, cucumber, onion, fresh tomatoes, lemon juice, and cilantro for texture and flavor. What about the shrimp? You can add it to the gazpacho or serve it over the top.

4. Cucumber Gazpacho: Green Gazpacho

This gorgeous soup gets its color from cucumber, avocado, and honeydew melon. Onion, garlic, and jalapeño pepper add an unmistakable kick. And to balance things out, you've got lime juice and white balsamic vinegar.

5. Fresh & Fruity Gazpacho: Julia's Watermelon Gazpacho

No tomatoes in this version. Instead, you'll taste watermelon, cucumbers, sweet red bell peppers, mint, ginger, and pineapple juice. Onion and jalapeño pepper spice things up, while honey balances it out. Cool and refreshing, with a kick.

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