Green Gazpacho Recipe

As the weather heats up and spring and summer are in the air, we're all about serving light and refreshing dishes — oven optional. Gazpacho is an absolute favorite, made with juicy tomatoes at the peak of their growing season. Plenty of variations on the traditional recipe exist, and this green gazpacho by Tasting Table recipe developer Michelle McGlinn comes out on top. 

"This recipe is inspired by a gazpacho I had during a vacation in Switzerland. I couldn't stop eating it!" she shares and describes it as "the perfect blend of refreshing, spicy, and garlicky — nothing like eating cold soup." If that sounds like the perfect antidote to a hot and sticky summer day, you'll want to read on for step-by-step instructions. Serve it as an appetizer, or follow McGlinn's advice when she says, "Gazpacho is meant to be its own entity; a refreshing palate cleansing experience."

For this green gazpacho, roughly dice two large cucumbers, which McGlinn notes is about 4 cups. "It's okay to have a little more or a little less, but this is where the body of the soup comes from, so I recommend using bigger cucumbers if you're not sure," she adds. Peel and dice an avocado and remove the seeds and stems from some Thai chiles. Roughly chop them up, making sure to avoid touching your eyes. Alternatively, McGlinn suggests using jalapeños, serranos, or fresno chiles and notes, "They'll all add a pleasant heat."

Dice a small yellow onion, and roughly chop four garlic cloves. Next, juice half a lemon and measure out the olive oil. As for herbs, you'll want to roughly chop some dill and parsley and pick a handful of mint leaves. There's no need to be too careful; McGlinn says to "leave the stems on the parsley and dill," since there's "lots of flavor in the stems and they blend seamlessly." Finally, get some yogurt and salt and pepper to season.

McGlinn points out, "This whole recipe is basically prep," and explains, "The better you chop the vegetables, the easier the blending will be." Add the cucumbers, avocado, Thai chiles, onion, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, dill, mint, parsley, and yogurt to a large pot or bowl. You'll want to hold off on adding the salt and pepper so that you can easily adjust the amount by taste.

"I know it seems like there's not enough liquid to make all of these veggies into a soup, but you have to trust the process here," McGlinn acknowledges. 

Use an immersion blender to puree all of the gazpacho ingredients until they form a smooth mixture. "Cucumbers are incredibly watery — as you blend, you'll notice how much liquid the cucumbers give to the soup," McGlinn points out. Still, she notes, "There's a chance that your cucumbers may be less watery than mine, your yogurt less fatty, or your avocado more ripe. These can all change the consistency!"

As McGlinn describes, "Gazpacho should be thick ... try not to think of it as 'cold soup.' It'll be the same consistency as a smoothie or milkshake." Depending on the result, add more yogurt or even avocado to thicken it, or slowly add water to thin it out.

While an immersion blender works well, our recipe developer notes, "If you have a standard blender that can fit the ingredients, that would also be a great way to throw this together."

Once the gazpacho reaches your desired consistency, season it to taste with salt and pepper. Portion it out into four servings, which McGlinn suggests serving as an appetizer. Drizzle olive oil over top and sprinkle each bowl with extra parsley.

"I'd recommend serving with crusty bread (or garlic bread), pasta like orzo (chicken and orzo would be a good pairing), blackened chicken (cucumber would be so cooling next to the bold spices), or any kind of grilled steak," she adds.