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Watermelon Gazpacho

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This watermelon gazpacho recipe is the perfect balance of savory and sweet, it’s full of feel-good fresh ingredients, and always tastes so light and refreshing.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Summertime = gazpacho time. 

And after sharing my favorite recipe for authentic (tomato) gazpacho with you years ago when we first moved to Spain, I thought that this summer we could turn to its irresistibly sweet and savory cousin — watermelon gazpacho.

This refreshing chilled soup is the perfect way to use up a leftover hunk of watermelon that you might have hanging out in the fridge after last weekend’s picnic. When blended together with lots and lots of summer veggies, a handful of fresh mint, a slice of bread and some simple seasonings, this gazpacho tastes like summertime sunshine in a bowl. And it is delicious!

Bonus? This watermelon gazpacho recipe only takes about 15 minutes to prep and can be made up to two days in advance. Plus it’s made with fresh and healthy ingredients that are also naturally vegan and gluten-free (if you use gf bread), which makes gazpacho an especially great option if you happen to be cooking for a crowd this summer. We often turn to gazpacho when we’re entertaining this time of year since it’s so easy to prep ahead of time — usually just serving it up with a light salad and a loaf of crusty bread — and it hits the spot every time!

So grab some fresh watermelon and summer veggies, and let’s blend up a quick batch together!

Watermelon

Watermelon Gazpacho Ingredients:

Head to the market (or out to your veggie garden!) to round up these simple ingredients for this watermelon gazpacho recipe:

  • Watermelon: Since we’re going to be blending this up, I highly recommend using seedless watermelon.
  • Veggies: We will also add in Roma tomatoes (or any ripe tomatoes you prefer), cucumber (I typically use English cucumber, or your can core/seed a regular cucumber), red bell pepper (or any color), red onion, garlic.
  • Fresh mint: Feel free to add as much or as little mint as you prefer to this soup. I usually love adding some extra chopped mint leaves on top as a garnish too.
  • Oil and vinegar: Olive oil and sherry vinegar (or you can sub red wine vinegar) are traditional for Spanish gazpacho.
  • Seasonings: Just cumin, salt and pepper.
  • Bread: This is the Spanish trick for thickening your gazpacho! Just take a slice of bread (any kind will do), remove the crusts, and then soak the bread before blending it into the soup. You can either soak it in the soup for a few minutes. Or do what my Spanish friends taught me and just run it under the sink for a sec to soak the bread, ring it out, then add it to the blender.
  • Toppings: Feel free to add some chopped fresh mint, a drizzle of olive oil, and/or any leftover chopped gazpacho ingredients as a garnish.

Watermelon Gazpacho Ingredients

How To Make Gazpacho:

No hot stove required for this recipe! To make homemade gazpacho, simply:

  1. Puree the soup: Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree for 1 minute or until the gazpacho reaches your desired consistency. (I prefer gazpacho super-smooth.)
  2. Chill: Transfer the soup to a sealed container and refrigerate for 4 hours or until completely chilled.
  3. Serve: Then serve the soup nice and cold, garnished with your favorite toppings.

How To Make Gazpacho with Watermelon

Possible Variations:

Gazpacho is meant to be a clean-out-the-fridge, mix-and-match, improvisational kind of soup. So don’t hesitate to raid your crisper drawer and toss in whatever extra ingredients sound good! For example, you could…

  • Add more fruit: Cantaloupe, strawberries and/or honeydew would also be great in gazpacho.
  • Add veggies: Beets, zucchini and/or corn would also be great additions
  • Add extra herbs: Feel free to add in some fresh basil in addition to (or in place of) the fresh mint.
  • Make it spicy: For some extra heat, feel free to add in a slice or two of your favorite chile peppers (jalapeño, serrano, Thai red bird chiles, etc).
  • Make it gluten-free: As noted above, just be sure to use gluten-free bread.

Watermelon Gazpacho Recipe

What To Serve With Gazpacho:

This watermelon gazpacho recipe works great as either an entree or as a side dish! When using it as an entree, I typically serve gazpacho with my favorite:

That said, if you are serving gazpacho as more of a side dish, it would go well with just about any proteins cooked on the grill or in the oven (such as chicken, steak, porkshrimp, fish, etc). Or it also pairs well with this Catalan Chickpeas and Spinach dish, if you would like to keep with a Spanish tapas theme. :)

Easy Watermelon Gazpacho

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Watermelon Gazpacho

Watermelon Gazpacho

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 20 reviews
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 -6 servings 1x

Description

This Watermelon Gazpacho recipe is the perfect balance of sweet and savory and so refreshing.  Feel free to blend in extra mint if you would like!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1.5 pounds cubed fresh watermelon
  • 3 large roma tomatoes, halved and cored*
  • 1 small (1/2 pound) cucumber, peeled and seeded
  • 1  medium red bell pepper, cored
  • 1/2 small red onion, peeled
  • 2 small garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1/3 cup packed fresh mint leaves
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/2  teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon  ground cumin
  • 1 thick slice of white bread, soaked**, crusts removed
  • optional garnishes: homemade croutons, chopped fresh mint, a drizzle of olive oil, and/or any leftover chopped gazpacho ingredients

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients together in a blender or food processor.  Puree for 1 minute, or until the soup reaches your desired consistency.  Taste and season with extra salt, pepper and/or cumin if needed.
  2. Refrigerate in a sealed container for 4 hours, or until completely chilled.
  3. Serve cold, topped with your desired garnishes.

Notes

*To core the tomatoes: Simply scoop out and discard the seeds and any tough white core.

**To soak your bread: Cut away the crusts.  Then run the bread under the sink for a second to soak it with water, ring it out completely, and add the bread to the blender or food processor.

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35 comments on “Watermelon Gazpacho”

  1. This has always been one of my favorite blogs but now that you’re sharing delicious Spanish recipes I am in HEAVEN!!

  2. Oh my gosh this looks amazing and easy!! I’m making this for dinner! I’m super excited you are sharing authentic Spanish recipes!!!

  3. Nice! Thanks for the inspiration!

  4. Last night I made this exactly as written. I added 3 stemmed and seeded Fresno chiles for a little heat. It tasted SO good at room temp. I can’t wait to have a chilled bowl this evening. Yet another solid recipe from you. Thank you.






  5. I cannot wait to try this recipe !

  6. Muy Saludable en mi pais se usa mucho algo llamado cholado y es casi parecida su receta






  7. I’m a huge fan of gazpacho and had seen this recipe and thought is sounded a little weird. I decided to try it today because I had plenty of watermelon, and only a few tomatoes. Oh my goodness, I was so wrong, this is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. Will be making this all summer! Thank you for the recipe!






  8. We had bowls of watermelon gazpacho out on the deck this warm summer evening. This gazpacho disappeared quickly! It tastes of summer and has just the right blend of sweet watermelon and cooling veggies. The recipe’s definitely a keeper, and I’m planning to wow my friends whenever I next get around to entertaining :)






  9. Just wanted to let you know – in the intro you say “Plus it’s made with fresh and healthy ingredients that are also naturally gluten-free and vegan” but there’s bread in the ingredients so it’s not gluten-free. I’m an editor so it jumped out at me :)

    Sounds like a great recipe though!

    • There IS Gluten Free bread out there.

    • I guess you didn’t bother to read the part that says, ” Plus it’s made with fresh and healthy ingredients that are also naturally vegan and gluten-free (if you use gf bread), which makes gazpacho an especially great option if you happen to be cooking for a crowd this summer,” before you had to jump in and point that out.
      It’s a lovely recipe, too bad you didn’t take the time to point that out. Focus on the positive instead of what you deem to be an omission or error. It takes a lot of work and now with a new baby….give the woman a break!

  10. Oh my gosh I cant wait to try this one, my mouth is watering just reading the recipe. I will let ya all know how wonderful it is when I make it. Thank you Gimme Some Oven.

  11. This gazpacho is a great twist on the regular tomato based recipes. I really enjoy the fresh flavours this brings to the table. It is hard to wait the 4 hour chilling process! Thank you for your recipe. It will definitely be created again and again this summer.

  12. Delicious!! The tiny bit of cumin is a wonderful, flavorful, addition. I put the empty bowls in the freezer for a couple hours before serving, as it keeps the gazpacho icy cold. Garnished with diced watermelon, cucumber, mint, and feta crumbles.






  13. Love this recipe! So yummy. I have shared with many friends who have also loved it. After making it a couple times I had to switch to regular gazpacho because I was out of watermelon. While it was very good, I missed the slight sweet from the watermelon and the mint, so I added them the next day. Great use for all the summer veggies from the garden.






  14. sounds wonderful! i purchase a watermelon gazpacho a local gourmet deli/grocery and bakery . i look so forard to trying this






  15. Incredibly easy and tasty recipe. We’ve made it in batches and have even frozen some in freezer bags. We can’t get enough of this wonderful gazpacho! Beats a smoothie anytime!






  16. I have a severe allergy to cumin, what spice would you recommend in place of?

  17. Is the 1 1/2 lbs. watermelon the amount weighed whole or cut up?

  18. This is the perfect summer soup! I served it as a first course and my main dish was Caribbean Jerk rubbed pork tenderloin with fresh peach salsa, black bean salad, and a rice dish. Yummy!!






  19. Delish! I was out of mint, so i used basil. So good.






  20. Watermelon is the best thing for summer and, this gazpacho looked really yummy! I Will surely try it out






  21. This is amazing! I’ve been eyeing this recipe up since I saw you post it on Instagram and I made a point of getting watermelon this week to try it. I feel like I could eat this all summer. I might try it topped with some feta or pepitas.






  22. just made this, delicious ! ?How many cups of cubed watermelon in 1 lb. also, how could I make it clearer.

  23. This is my first time ever having gazpacho and it is absolutely spectacular! I can’t wait to have a bowl later! Your recipes are some of my favorites!






  24. Yellow watermelon, two small serranos. Magnificent.






  25. This was so easy to make and tasted super delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe.






  26. Ali- Your are great. I’m a retired photojournalist and photo editor. Your high-key photographs of the food and the graphics of this site are very professional – First Class. What I really appreciate about this receipt is that options and variations are provided . I am going to follow this site and your writing .
    One photo tip. The light can never be too soft for photographing a woman’s face ( more so as they get older )
    The tomato gazpacho recipe has a shot of you hold ing a glass that would have been better with softer ,frontal light .
    Keep up the great work !






  27. This is hands down the best watermelon gazpacho recipe! So great on nights when it’s too hot to cook. Also excellent with a handful of cilantro thrown into the blender along with or instead of the mint. Thank you for the recipe!






  28. Could I use multigrain bread instead of white?

  29. Fabulous recipe! I made a batch and everyone at the dinner party raved about how the gazpacho made a wonderful side dish.
    Thank you for sharing.






  30. I made it and after tasting it for seasoning, it was so delicious I made a second batch. It is refreshing and so tasty. Thank you for the recipe.






  31. This is a beautiful recipe! Makes me lots of cash! :)