Classic Gazpacho Recipe with Diced Avocado (Cold Vegetable Soup)

This gazpacho recipe is pretty classic, but there’s room for variations. You’ll find it a yummy addition that requires no heating.

It’s taken me a very long time to come around to gazpacho. For quite a while, I couldn’t understand why people liked eating salsa with a spoon.

Maybe my taste buds have matured, or maybe it’s because my 18-year-old neighbor Will Witkop brought me some of his homemade gazpacho and shared his recipe with me, or maybe it’s my love affair with my Vitamix, which made the preparation so easy, but I am really starting to enjoy eating gazpacho.

This recipe has a pretty classic gazpacho flavor, but I have also seen delicious variations adding melon, cumin, fresh lime juice, or blending in stale bread to thicken the soup. Serve it with cheese quesadillas (it’s also great with grilled cheese sandwiches).

Prep (no cook) = 20 minutes + time to chill

6 servings, about 1 1/4 cups each

Ingredients:

  • 1 clove garlic, halved

  • 2 1/2 lbs. tomatoes (5 – 6 tomatoes), quartered

  • 1 cucumber, peeled, if desired, and halved

  • 1 green pepper, seeds and ribs removed and quartered

  • 1/4 red or yellow onion

  • 1/2 – 1 jalapeño pepper, to taste

  • 1/4  – 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, to taste, chopped

  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

  • 2 Tbsp. cider or sherry vinegar

  • 1 avocado, peeled and diced

Instructions:

Put the garlic, half of the tomatoes, half of the cucumber, half of the bell pepper, the onion, and the jalapeño into a food processor or powerful blender and puree.

Transfer it to a large bowl.  Add all the remaining ingredients, except the avocado, into the food processor or blender and pulse to desired consistency, either chunky or more finely chopped.

Transfer it to the serving bowl. Chill for at least an hour (Meanwhile, prepare the quesadillas, if you are serving them.) and up to 5 days. Serve with the diced avocado sprinkled on top of each bowl.

(For picky eaters, let them dip a corner of the quesadilla or some bread into the soup and grow accustomed to its taste that way.)

Do Ahead or Delegate:  

Peel the garlic, quarter the tomatoes, remove the seeds and ribs, and quarter the green pepper, halve the cucumber, quarter the onion, chop the parsley, or fully prepare and refrigerate the dish.

Tip: 

You can get the most nutritional benefit from tomatoes when they are combined with a little fat (like the olive oil in this recipe). The body better absorbs Lycopene, an antioxidant found in tomatoes, when there is some healthy fat present. This is a great excuse to drizzle tomatoes with olive oil or to toss them with chunks of avocado.

Scramble Flavor Booster: 

Add some fresh mint along with the parsley and serve it with hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco. 

Side Dish Suggestion: Cheese Quesadillas

Spray a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Spread about ¼ cup of Cheddar cheese in each tortilla (use 1 tortilla per person), fold them in half, and allow them to cook on each side for 3 to 4 minutes over medium heat, flipping once, until lightly browned. 

Nutritional Information per Serving (% based upon Daily Values):

Calories 147, Total Fat: 13g, 20%; Saturated Fat: 2g, 9%; Cholesterol: 0mg, 0%; Sodium: 591mg, 24.5%; Total Carbohydrate: 9g, 3%; Dietary Fiber: 3g, 13%; Sugar: 4g; Protein: 2g

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