Watermelon Gazpacho Recipe: How to Make Gazpacho Soup
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Jul 31, 2024 • 3 min read
Watermelon gazpacho is a chilled soup that’s appropriate for any summertime occasion. This refreshing dish offers a balance of sweet, tart, spicy, savory, and tangy flavors in every bite. Start with a blended base, and add diced fruits and veggies for texture. Serve this take on the classic Spanish tapas dish for your next summer weather party.
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What Is Gazpacho?
Gazpacho is a catch-all term for a variety of cold soups. The most well-known version is tomato gazpacho, a traditional tapas dish typically made with tomatoes, red bell peppers, garlic, sherry vinegar, and olive oil, served with crispy croutons for garnish. Other gazpacho variations include Chef Wolfgang Puck’s seafood gazpacho recipe featuring clams and lobster.
What Is Watermelon Gazpacho?
Watermelon gazpacho is a cold soup you can make in mere minutes using juicy watermelon, cucumber, citrus juice, jalapeños, olive oil, and herbs. Make this summer soup anytime watermelon is in season and serve it as a gluten-free appetizer or alternative to a salad course. Adding garnishes and toppings, like chopped fruits, herbs, cheese, and toasted nuts, is optional but will add dimension and texture to your dish.
4 Tips for Making Watermelon Gazpacho
Here’s how to make watermelon gazpacho and get the most out of your summer fruit.
- 1. Choose peak-season produce. In-season summer produce has the boldest flavor. Seasonality is especially important for fruits that contain natural sugars. Choose a watermelon that feels heavy for its size and sounds semi-hollow when tapped. (Here’s how to tell if a watermelon is ripe.) Check your local farmstand or farmers’ market for the freshest fruits and vegetables, armed with Chef Alice Waters’s tips for how to pick ripe fruit.
- 2. Start with chilled ingredients. Avoid additional chilling time after making your gazpacho by refrigerating the components before blending. Since cold foods can numb your tastebuds, working with chilled ingredients ensures your dish is adequately seasoned and won’t taste bland after refrigerating.
- 3. Balance with acid and salt. When incorporating fruit into savory dishes, you can easily balance sweetness with an acid like red wine vinegar or lemon juice and a generous pinch of salt. Salted watermelon is a popular flavor combination because of its ability to quench your thirst quickly; give it a try if you haven’t yet experienced this unique combination.
- 4. Make pickles with the rind. Use the rind of the watermelon to make watermelon pickles, a bright garnish for gazpacho, smoked BBQ, or other grilled summer fare. Learn how to make pickled watermelon rind.
Refreshing Watermelon Gazpacho Recipe
makes
prep time
10 mintotal time
10 minIngredients
- 1
Dice about a ½ cup of the watermelon into small pieces and set it aside for garnish.
- 2
Roughly cube the remaining watermelon and transfer it to a blender or food processor.
- 3
Dice or thinly shave a ¼ of the cucumber and set it aside for garnish
- 4
Roughly chop the rest of the cucumber and add it to the cubed watermelon.
- 5
Thinly slice a ¼ of the jalapeño and set it aside for garnish.
- 6
Roughly chop the rest of the jalapeño and add it to the watermelon mixture.
- 7
Roughly chop the tomato, shallot, and garlic and add them to the watermelon mixture.
- 8
Add the lime juice, mint leaves, and a few pinches of salt.
- 9
Blend the ingredients together on medium speed to purée, about 1 minute.
- 10
Reduce the blender speed to low, and slowly stream the olive oil to emulsify the oil into the soup as it blends.
- 11
Blend the soup until smooth and silky, about 1 minute more.
- 12
Taste and season the soup to your liking, adding salt, citrus juice or vinegar, and pepper to taste.
- 13
Transfer the puréed soup to the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- 14
To serve the soup, evenly distribute the garnishes between six small bowls, then pour the soup over the top.
- 15
Garnish each bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, a few mint sprigs, green onion, and cubed feta (if using), and serve immediately.
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