Gazpacho Recipe (Simple & Delicious!) - Simple Joy (2024)

This easy Gazpacho recipe is perfect! It is the exact right balance of flavors. If you are growing vegetables in your garden, this is exactly what you should make with them!

This Gazpacho recipe is one of my favorite summer recipes! Growing up, my parents had the BIGGEST vegetable garden. It was truly a labor of love, especially for my dad to grow all these fresh fruits and vegetables for us. We had strawberries, zucchini, raspberries, lettuce, cucumbers, the best tomatoes and so much more. Just about every ingredient for this amazing gazpacho soup could be found in that garden, and this was a delicious recipe that my mom made.

The original recipe comes from a vegetarian cookbook, Moosewood, that I highly recommend. The recipe has been tweaked a little. First it was tweaked by my mom and now it has been tweaked a little more by me. It is absolutely delicious, such a keeper.

HOW TO MAKE GAZPACHO

As I mentioned, this recipe is so simple. This gazpacho recipe is made of tomato juice, fresh vegetables, herbs, and seasonings.

I prefer my gazpacho completely pureed, so you can actually just combined all of the ingredients into a blender and blend to combine.

If you like some chunk to your gazpacho, make the soup in a large container and after combining, remove two cups of soup at a time to puree until you reach the desired consistency.

Either way, after pureeing, you want to put your gazpacho soup in the refrigerator and chill for at least four hours. Gazpacho is served cold, and so not only does refrigerating it chill the recipe, it allows the flavors to fully combine.

THE BASE OF THIS GAZPACHO RECIPE

The base of gazpacho soup is tomato juice. This is a great and inexpensive way to start this soup. However, over the years, my mom decided that she wanted to kick up the base of this soup a notch. So she started using Spicy V8. Guys, she was not wrong. It is a simple way to add a lot more flavor and kick to this soup.

If you don’t have access to Spicy V8 or don’t want to buy it, then taste your soup at the end and make sure it has enough flavor for you. You can add more tobacco sauce, salt, and pepper a little at a time to liven it up.

WHY ADD HONEY

The honey in this recipe may seem a little out of place, but it is a key to this recipe. When cooking with tomatoes, it can be easy for the recipe to become too acidic. This is especially true in this case because we are also adding lemon juice, lime juice, and vinegar.

Just as sugar is the answer to the acidic tomatoes in my Easy Spaghetti Sauce, honey is the answer to the acid in this gazpacho recipe. I encourage you to taste this recipe before adding the honey and again after. You will be able to see how the honey changes the recipe without making it overtly sweet. If you find that the recipe is still too acidic, you can add a little more, about a 1/2 teaspoon at a time.

FRESH vs DRIED HERBS

Though this recipe does call for fresh parsley, it also calls for a few dried herbs. Normally in a soup recipe we use dried herbs. If you are simmering a soup, the dried herbs have time to really infuse into the soup.

Given that we aren’t cooking this soup, the choice of using fresh or dried herbs is yours. I tend to use dried herbs in this soup because they are more convenient. Additionally, because we are letting this soup chill in the refrigerator, the basil and tarragon do add their flavor.

That said, if you decide to use fresh herbs, you will want to double the amount listed here as dry herbs add a stronger flavor than fresh.

CAN YOU FREEZE THIS GAZPACHO RECIPE

This is a great recipe to freeze! Pour it into an airtight container and then freeze for up to three months. You can have a little taste of summer into the fall months.

OTHER GREAT RECIPES TO MAKE WITH GARDEN VEGETABLES

If you are like my dad, pouring your heart and soul into your vegetable garden, here are some other great recipes to use those goodies.

• These ZUCCHINI MUFFINS are perfect if your zucchini crop is over flowing.
• My GREEK QUINOA SALAD is a great way to use up your tomato and cucumbers!
• This ZUCCHINI SALAD is so easy but so delicious. A great way to use your zucchini and basil.
• And of course this CUCUMBER TOMATO SALAD is perfection.

If you make this gazpacho, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

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