August 1, 2019

Mom’s Gazpacho Soup

Talk about refreshing… Mom’s Gazpacho Soup is the answer to those hot summer days. It’s cold, filled with crunchy veggies and has a nice zippiness to it from the lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and garlic. Since gazpacho is served chilled you don’t need to turn on the stove or oven…no cooking is required!

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Gazpacho Ingredients

The main ingredients for this amazingly refreshing soup are cucumbers, pepper (orange, yellow or green), sweet white onion, tomato juice, cilantro, garlic and lemon.

Cucumber Preparation

First, peel the cucumbers. Then slice off the ends and cut cucumbers vertically. Using a spoon, remove the seeds. Cut the cucumbers into even chunks (see above photo) and transfer to a food processor with the chopping blade inserted. Pulse cucumbers approximately 15x or until you get the desired sized pieces. You can also hand-dice the cucumbers if you don’t have a food processor. Use a spatula to transfer cucumbers to a large bowl. No need to clean the food processor yet.

Onion Preparation

Cut onion into large even pieces and then transfer to food processor and pulse to desired consistency. Use above photo as a guide. Using a spatula, transfer the onions to the large bowl with the cucumbers.

Chopped Cucumber, Onion and Pepper

Peppers need to be diced by hand. (Peppers turn to mush if put in the food processor.) Use the photo above as a guide for the size dice for the peppers. Once diced, transfer peppers to the same bowl with the cucumbers and onions. Fresh or stewed tomatoes can also be chopped and added to the soup if desired.

Gazpacho Soup Assembly

Add tomato juice to the bowl and mix. Then add lemon juice, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt, chopped cilantro and some hot sauce (optional). Mix all ingredients together with a large spoon. Taste soup and adjust seasoning as necessary. Let chill for at least one hour before serving.

Mom’s Gazpacho Soup

Serve in a cup, mug or bowl and garnish with additional cilantro if desired. Gazpacho hits the spot on warm summer days.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Mom’s Gazpacho Soup

Prep Time30

Total Time30

Course: lunch, Soup

Cuisine: American, Spanish

Keyword: Bell Red Peppers, cilantro, cold soup, cucumbers, garlic, gluten free, lemon, onion, soup, tomato juice, worcestershire sauce

Servings: 8 cups

Author: GFchow @ gfchow.com

Equipment

food processer

Ingredients

2-3 cucumbers medium-sized, peeled
1 small sweet, white onion or 1/2 a large onion
1 orange or yellow pepper diced (green peppers can also be used)
1 46 oz. bottle tomato juice Sacramento is the brand I prefer
1/2 lemon squeezed
1 teaspoon garlic finely minced
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 cup cilantro chopped (optional)
hot sauce (couple of dashes) optional

Instructions

Peel cucumbers, cut off the ends and cut in half vertically. (Read NOTE below about cucumbers.) Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut cucumbers into even, large size pieces and transfer to a food processor (or dice by hand). Pulse approximately 15x until you get the desired sized pieces. Use a spatula to transfer cucumbers to a large bowl. No need to clean the food processor yet.
Cut onion into large, even pieces and transfer to the food processor and pulse to desired consistency. Using a spatula, transfer onions to the large bowl with the cucumbers.
Peppers need to be diced by hand. (Peppers turn to mush if put in the food processor.) Once diced, transfer peppers to the same bowl with the cucumbers and onions. Fresh or stewed tomatoes can also be chopped and added to the soup if desired.
Add tomato juice to the bowl and mix.
Then add lemon juice, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt, chopped cilantro and a couple of dashes of hot sauce (optional). Mix all ingredients together with a large spoon. Taste the soup and adjust seasoning as necessary.
Let chill for at least one hour and up to 24 hours before serving.
Serve in a cup, mug or bowl and garnish with additional cilantro if desired.

Notes

Use this recipe as a guide. You can modify, add or delete ingredients and/or seasonings to your personal preferences. For example, I didn’t add tomatoes but you can. I love cilantro and think the herb gives the soup a wonderful flavor but if you’re a cilantro-phob, don’t add it, etc.

Corn, carrots, chilled shrimp or crab would all be delicious additions to the soup.

If using home-grown cucumbers, be sure to taste a sliver from each end of the cuc before proceeding to make sure neither end is bitter which can sometimes happen with home-grown cucumbers. If one end is bitter, don’t use the cucumber in the soup. Use it for a salad and only use the sweet, non-bitter portion.

I like my Gazpacho to be crunchy and for all of the vegetables to be approximately the same size but if you like a smoother consistency, feel free to do a finer dice or put in a blender.

It is best to make this soup one day ahead to let the flavors meld and to properly chill. Be sure to taste the soup before serving because seasonings may need to be adjusted again.

A drizzle of olive oil or dollop of sour cream, yogurt or creme fraiche can be added before serving, if desired.

This recipe was developed by my mother and slightly tweaked by me.

GLUTEN FREE DISCLAIMER

The recipes you find here are considered by me to be gluten free. However, it is up to you to make sure the ingredients you use are gluten free. Whenever possible, I will list specific brands of ingredients that I use, but always be sure to check the labels yourself to verify the item is gluten free.