Easy Gazpacho Recipe (2024)

Why It Works

  • The key to this super fast gazpacho is layering and salting the vegetables above the bread so that their exuded juices get sopped up before blending.
  • For silky smooth gazpacho, blend it on high speed and then strain through a fine-mesh strainer.

A couple of years ago, I produced what was possiblythe most time consuming gazpacho recipe ever. It involved salting vegetables in advance to draw out flavorful internal liquids, freezing the vegetables to break down their cell structure, and puréeing them with bread soaked in vegetable juice and olive oil. It was damn delicious—the best gazpacho I know how to make!—but took in excess of two hours from start to finish. I admit it: It's not exactly the simple, rustic summer dish you want it to be.

That recipe follows what I call the 90/10 rule: When taking a dish from great to excellent, you have to put in 90% more work to make it 10% better. Sometimes, that extra effort is worth it; other times, I'll settle for great-not-perfect in order to save myself a couple hours in the kitchen.

Today, I'm going to share with you the version of gazpacho I make when I'm feeling lazy. Don't worry, it's still knock-your-socks-off tasty.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (1)

Great gazpacho relies on excellent ingredients, so this is one part you definitely don't want to skimp on. Find the freshest, ripest, softest, brightest tomatoes you can, along with some great peppers (I used green bell for their grassy bitterness), a red onion, a cucumber, some garlic, and some herbs. In this case I went with oregano, but you can use any herb you'd like.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (2)

Gazpacho, at its heart, is a bread- and olive oil-based soup, so those had better be good, too. The bread I used was San Francisco sourdough (throw out the crusts or save them for crumbs), and the olive oil was a Colavita's 100% California extra-virgin olive oil, which has a mild, buttery golden flavor.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (3)

The key here is to make sure that every bit of flavor gets extracted from your ingredients. I do this by building things up in layers, starting with the torn-up bread at the bottom of a bowl.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (4)

Next I add a layer of sliced tomatoes and season them generously with salt. The salt will draw out flavorful liquid from inside the tomatoes, which will then drip down and saturate the bread, making it easier to puréein the end.

Next up is a layer of cucumber (I used a seedless English cucumber so I wouldn't have to bother seeding it), sliced garlic, green peppers, onion, and oregano leaves, sprinkled with more salt.

Another layer of salted tomato slices goes on top, along with plenty of olive oil. To give the salt a bit of time to work its magic, I let everything sit for just 30 minutes. Juices drip, bread gets soaked, flavors meld, things get happy.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (6)

Stir it all up just to distribute everything evenly, then load it into the blender in batches.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (7)

If you don't mind a chunkier gazpacho, you can just blend until it comes together. I prefer mine to be silky smooth, so I let it blend on high speed for a full three minutes or so, adding in plenty of sherry vinegar and seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour it all through a fine-mesh strainer for ultimate smoothness.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (8)

The easiest way to get soups and purées through a fine-mesh strainer is to press down using the back of a ladle. Forget the spatula!

And lunch is served. Start to finish, about 45 minutes. Is it perfect gazpacho? Nope. Is it 90% perfect gazpacho? Sure is, and that's a pretty darn high percentile if you ask me.

September 2013

This recipe originally appeared as part of the column "The Food Lab Turbo."

Recipe Details

Easy Gazpacho Recipe

Active15 mins

Total45 mins

Serves6 servings

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces hearty bread, crusts removed, torn into 1- to 2-inch chunks

  • 3 pounds (about 4 large) very ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into rough 1-inch chunks

  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • 1/2 pound (about 1 small) cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into rough 1-inch chunks

  • 1/3 pound (about 1 small) red onion, peeled and cut into rough 1-inch chunks

  • 1/3 pound (about 1 medium) green or red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into rough 1-inch chunks

  • 1/4 cuproughly chopped fresh oregano leaves

  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

  • 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, plus more to taste

  • Chopped herbs such as parsley, chives, or oregano for serving

Directions

  1. Place bread in bottom of a large bowl. Add half of the tomatoes in an even layer on top and season generously with salt and pepper. Add cucumbers, onion, peppers, and garlic. Sprinkle with oregano and season generously with salt and pepper. Add remaining tomatoes and sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Drizzle oil and vinegar over the top. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

    Easy Gazpacho Recipe (9)

  2. Toss all ingredients with a wooden spoon or by hand until they are evenly incorporated. Transfer half of the contents, including liquid at bottom of bowl, to the jar of a blender. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, about 3 minutes. Press mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl. Repeat with remaining soup (you may need to work in more batches). Season soup with more salt, pepper, and vinegar as desired.

    Easy Gazpacho Recipe (10)

  3. Serve immediately, garnish with chopped herbs and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, or chill for up to 3 days before serving.

    Easy Gazpacho Recipe (11)

Special Equipment

Blender, fine-mesh strainer

Notes

You can save your bread crusts and turn them into fresh breadcrumbs for recipes here.

Easy Gazpacho Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you get the bitterness out of gazpacho? ›

— the acidity in gazpacho can sometimes give off a bitterness depending on the type of tomatoes used or the time of year. The quick fix? Simply add in a little bit of sugar to neutralize the acid.

Is it necessary to peel tomatoes for gazpacho? ›

Although it's often okay to leave on tomato skins when cooking them, they are too fibrous to slurp in soup form. To remove the skins, mark a small "X" on the bottom, gently lower them into boiling water for 30 seconds, then shock in ice water. The skins will slip right off, and you can proceed with the gazpacho recipe.

Why is my gazpacho not red? ›

While a gustatorily stultifying purée of tomatoes and tomato juice is lipstick-red, real gazpacho falls somewhere between pink and orange, thanks to the olive oil, bread, and nuts. But you can trick the eye by adding a nice green garnish. (Fresh herbs are fine, but avocado is better.)

What is used as a thickening agent in gazpacho? ›

The quick answer is raw tomatoes — along with uncooked peppers, onions, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and stale bread used as thickener — although the relatively newfangled addition didn't come about until the 19th century, after the discovery of the Americas.

How long does gazpacho keep in the fridge? ›

Gazpacho can be made in advance and will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Stir well before serving.

Can you eat too much gazpacho? ›

You can never have too much gazpacho. Or, translated for meaning, you can never have too much of a good thing. So, in that spirit, here is a very good gazpacho recipe. Pretty, too.

Does gazpacho taste better the next day? ›

Make It Ahead (But Not Too Far in Advance)

Making the chilled soup at least an hour before serving allows all of its flavors to meld together. Don't make it too far in advance than overnight, however, or the soup will start to sour.

How long does gazpacho stay fresh? ›

Gazpacho should stay fresh, refrigerated in an airtight non-reactive container, for 2 to 3 days. We don't recommend freezing this soup, as fresh tomatoes tend not to freeze well.

Is gazpacho good for you? ›

But the benefits of gazpacho go beyond the temperature. Made from tomatoes and vegetables, it carries numerous health benefits, too. It's a source of Vitamin vitamin A, Vitamin vitamin C, and Vitamin vitamin E, along with several other minerals and nutrients.

What is a substitute for tomato juice in gazpacho? ›

If you're making gazpacho and don't have tomato juice, you can use a combination of blended fresh tomatoes, red bell peppers, cucumber, and a splash of vinegar as a substitute. This mixture will still give your gazpacho the desired tomato-like base and refreshing flavor.

Can one freeze gazpacho? ›

Absolutely! You can make batches of gazpacho, place in airtight containers, freezer bags or even ice cube trays and freeze for 3 to 6 months. To thaw, place in the refrigerator the night before and let thaw slowly (do not try to speed up the process in any other way).

How do you know if gazpacho is bad? ›

Gazpacho likely loses its fresh taste long before it goes bad from spoilage. Either way, I'd just use a sniff test and a taste test to decide. A loss of sweetness and increased acidity (from lactic acid bacteria) or yeastiness are sure signs it has turned. If it actually looks bad, it likely will smell terrible.

What time of day should I eat gazpacho? ›

It is eaten at any time of the day and at any time during a meal. Nothing is more delicious than a piece of toast smeared with a little gazpacho or salmorejo for breakfast! Gazpacho goes well with almost everything but is difficult to pair with wine.

What do you eat with gazpacho? ›

It may not be a meal on its own, but it can be when paired with another dish or two. Continue with the Spanish theme and choose something vegetarian like tortilla española or patatas bravas, serve it with seafood such as fried calamari or paella or a selection of small plate dishes like empanadas and croquettas.

What is Spanish gazpacho made of? ›

Combine tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, vinegar, garlic, and salt in the bowl of a food processor; pulse until blended. Pour olive oil in slowly, with the processor running, until gazpacho is smooth. Add small amounts of cold water as needed to achieve desired consistency.

Where is gazpacho made from? ›

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.

What defines gazpacho? ›

noun. gaz·​pa·​cho gə-ˈspä-(ˌ)chō gəz-ˈpä- plural gazpachos. : a spicy soup that is usually made from chopped raw vegetables (such as tomato, onion, pepper, and cucumber) and that is served cold.

What is traditionally served with gazpacho? ›

It may not be a meal on its own, but it can be when paired with another dish or two. Continue with the Spanish theme and choose something vegetarian like tortilla española or patatas bravas, serve it with seafood such as fried calamari or paella or a selection of small plate dishes like empanadas and croquettas.

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