The Best Gazpacho Recipes

For years, the only gazpacho on restaurant menus was tomato based, but now you'll often find almond, grape, and melon versions. This perfect hot-weather soup is simply a salad in liquid form, which means it's one of the easiest dishes to make. All you need to get started is a blender and some super-tasty, juicy tomatoes, cut into large chunks. Here are some of our best tips from the test kitchen.

• The tomatoes that are sold bagged at the end of the day at farmers markets are ideal, but a mix of heirlooms would be perfect, too.
• An easy rule of thumb is three parts tomatoes to one part other ingredients, such as red, yellow, and green bell peppers, onions, garlic, scallions, peeled cucumbers, and seedless watermelon, all cut into chunks. I sometimes add parsley, cilantro, or any other leafy herbs that I have in the fridge.
• Pack the vegetables in the blender, starting with the tomatoes because they’re the juiciest. Add a good splash of red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar and a bigger splash of extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground pepper, then puree until chunky or smooth.
• If you want to make a really thick gazpacho, soak a few pieces of country bread in water, squeeze dry, and add them to the blender along with the vegetables.
• Pour the gazpacho into a bowl and season the soup to taste with salt and pepper and additional vinegar and olive oil. At this point, you can refrigerate it overnight. Serve it on its own or garnished with a drizzle of olive oil, finely diced vegetables, a dollop of tapenade or pesto, crisp croutons, crabmeat, poached shrimp, or lobster. — Tina Ujlaki, former F&W executive food editor

Classic Gazpacho Recipes

Gazpacho

Perfect for sweltering summer days, this refreshing chilled soup is bursting with sweet and juicy peak-season tomatoes. Bright sherry vinegar and shallots balance the silky-smooth vegetable puree while salsa fresca adds a crunchy bite and pops of fresh herbs.

Patricia's Gazpacho (Gazpacho al estilo de Patricia)

José Andrés' wife, Patricia, is from Andalucia, the cold-soup capital of the world, thanks to gazpacho. Every summer, when you open the refrigerator in his house, you'll see a big glass pitcher right in the middle with this rich, creamy red soup. Andrés' wife doesn't like to cook, but one thing she cooks like the gods is gazpacho. This is her recipe.

Andrew Zimmern's Gazpacho

Chef Andrew Zimmern adds Worcestershire sauce and herbs to his gazpacho, giving extra layers of flavor to the classic chilled soup.

Blender Gazpacho

The blender makes instant work of this cold Spanish soup. Since gazpacho improves with age, make it ahead of time whenever possible. Although the olive oil is optional in this recipe, it adds real dimension to the flavor and texture of the soup.

Gazpacho Variations

Spicy Tomato and Watermelon Gazpacho with Crab

Brothers Matt and Ted Lee created this gazpacho as a riff on a recipe from The Virginia Housewife, a seminal Southern cookbook first published in 1824 that is still in print. They sweeten the cold tomato soup with watermelon and make it fiery with habanero and poblano chiles.

Watermelon Gazpacho

This cool, sweet-tangy riff on the Spanish staple was inspired by an abundance of watermelons from a farm on Nantucket.

Cherry Gazpacho

This truly delicious gazpacho is inspired by Andalusian chef Dani García, who includes sweet cherries in the mix, then tops the summery soup with shaved goat cheese "snow."

Summertime Gazpacho

Chef Ludo Lefebvre's recipe for a summertime gazpacho is enriched with cream and bursting with a medley of flavors, including ripe tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber, strawberries, and more.

Tangy Green Zebra Gazpacho

Green Zebras are heirloom tomatoes with a striped pattern; they are sweet like red tomatoes but give this gazpacho a lovely jade hue. To make the chilled soup extra tangy, use tomatillos or unripe red tomatoes instead of Green Zebras.

Green Gazpacho with Shrimp

Before the Spanish arrived in Mexico in the 1500s, they had never even seen a tomato, much less cooked with one. The Old Country gazpacho got its color from cucumbers, and once you've tried it you'll understand why the green version is still preferred over the red in some quarters.

Golden Gazpacho with Avocado

This fresh, tangy, yellow-tomato gazpacho comes together quickly in the blender. A jalapeño adds subtle heat.

Yellow Tomato Gazpacho with Olivata Croutons

Yellow tomatoes give chef John Fleer's "summer in a cup" soup a refreshing tang; leftovers can be frozen in an ice cube tray and added to Bloody Marys.

Kachumber Gazpacho

Here, blogger Hetal Vasavada channeled her love for kachumber, a fresh, cucumber-based Indian salad, to inspire this exciting riff on the classic chilled summery soup. Warm spices and a hint of chile add flavor and heat without overwhelming the fresh tomatoes. 

Twists on Gazpacho

Gazpacho Salad

This side dish from 1995 F&W Best New Chef Anne Quatrano celebrates the best of summer with a combination of chilled gazpacho and chunky, fresh vegetables. “It’s a perfect way to highlight all that is right about summer vegetables at their peak,” Quatrano says.

Shells with Gazpacho Sauce and Avocado

The bounty of late summer — tomatoes, red peppers, cucumber, and dill — goes into this refreshing sauce. The gazpacho is pureed in a food processor or blender, so you don't need to spend a lot of time cutting the vegetables into neat dices the way you do for traditional gazpacho.