Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Gazpacho Soup

Did you know you can make cucumber and avocado gazpacho instead of the regular traditional tomato-based gazpacho and it tastes delicious?

The best thing about any gazpacho, whether it be a traditional Andalusian tomato gazpacho recipe or any one of many alternatives like this cucumber and avocado gazpacho, a creamy mango gazpacho, melon gazpacho or water-melon gazpacho, they all share one thing in common.

They’re all gazpachos?

Yeah, well as well as that, I mean!

The answer is – they can all be made and ready to eat in under 10 minutes if you use ice in the recipe – in the food processor to cool down the gazpacho instantly.

And they all taste absolutely awesome.

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Basic Ingredients of Cucumber and Avocado Gazpacho

As with any gazpacho, you can make it, then taste it and tweak the flavour until it hits the spot.

I mean it won’t always be necessary to tweak it, but when it is, I recommend you do.

Never think that your gazpacho isn’t very good and just accept it.

Because the secret to creating an incredible gazpacho vs one that’s just ok lies in getting the balance of ingredients right to bring out all the flavour.

And as all vegetables vary by nature, you can’t just follow a recipe and get the same results each time.

Because sometimes your veggies will have a stronger flavour than others.

So the moral of the story is to tweak, tweak and tweak again.

Cucumbers for Cucumber Gazpacho

You can use any cucumbers you have as long as they aren’t bitter. The flavour of the soup will vary because different types of cucumber do vary in their natural flavour with some being much more bland than others.

The long typical cucumber we get in the UK for example, or the cucumbers from Holland that we can buy in Spain have a much milder flavour than the typical Spanish cucumber.

If you have the choice, I would go for the shorter Spanish variety with its stronger flavour, but don’t let that stop you from making this gazpacho – any cucumber will do the job nicely.

Should I Peel the Cucumbers?

Personally, I prefer not to peel my cucumbers unless the skin is particularly tough, and even then sometimes I’ll leave on the skin.

But many people prefer to remove the skin of the Spanish variety because of their toughness. If you have this type of cucumber, one solution is to partially remove the skin but not all of it.

If you remove all the skin, you also miss out on the vibrant green colour in the final soup.

And if you have a super-duper food processor like a Vitamix for example, then there’s absolutely no need to remove any of the skin at all because it will be blended into smoothness by your machine.

My blender can crush large lumps of ice no problem. It does sometimes leave the gazpacho slightly bitty, but I put up with that (for now!).

Ingredients for This Cucumber and Avocado Gazpacho

• 3-4 Spanish cucumbers (200g) – any cucumber will do, it’s just for size that I mention the type
• 1 avocado (or more if very small)
• 1 cup plant milk or vegan yoghurt
• 1/2 green pepper
• piece of sweet fresh onion
• 1 small clove garlic (remove the centre if you like it less pungent)
• white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
• salt and pepper
• 40ml extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large ice cubes
• optional lemon juice
• optional fresh herb

Blend together all the ingredients until silky smooth.

Taste and add more of what’s needed. Usually, it will be vinegar, salt or plant milk.

Occasionally you may want to add more of the actual ingredients, such as more pepper, cucumber, avocado etc – but not normally.

Make sure you don’t forget to add the toppings to the gazpacho – that’s as much a part of the recipe as the actual soup is.

Serving Cucumber and Avocado Gazpacho

Of course, gazpacho must be served super cold.

It isn’t enough to have it a tiny bit cool, no, it should be absolutely chilled.

You can achieve this by making it and leaving it in the fridge for a few hours, or (my preferred method) you can blend it together with ice and add more ice if necessary.

Traditionally, gazpacho can be served as a drink in a glass or eaten with a spoon from a bowl.

Either way, sprinkling raw toppings onto the soup is an essential vibe of the gazpacho and if you drink it from a glass, I recommend you don’t miss out on the toppings because they make the experience and the taste 100% perfect.

And that’s partly why I much prefer a bowl to a glass – you can pile on so many more of those deliciously crunchy toppings!

The specific toppings are of course entirely personal, but my favourite ones for this cucumber gazpacho are finely chopped green pepper, celery, cucumber and tofu.

Other traditional gazpacho toppings include raisins, red pepper, tomato and apple.

Variations on the Basic Gazpacho Theme

You can do so many variations with gazpacho:

• switch out the type of vinegar
• use or omit the lemon juice
• add some fresh celery for a slant on the flavour
• switch out the green pepper for red pepper or omit it entirely
• use fresh onion, spring onion, sweet white onion, or red onion – or omit it entirely
• add some vegan yoghurt or plant milk or add cashews directly to the blend
• serve with a swirl of vegan cream on top or use homemade cashew nut cream
• add some nutritional yeast if you’re a fan (I am)
• chill in the fridge or use ice in the recipe
• add some fresh parsley, basil or mint to the mix

Whatever you do, make sure you add enough salt as it plays a crucial part in the final flavour. Another point to watch is the vinegar, without enough, the gazpacho can taste bland.

Garlic is crucial too, but unlike salt and vinegar, I find that you can easily add too much garlic and not only ruin the flavour but create indigestion as the garlic flavour can repeat on you.

So instead of checking that you’ve added enough garlic, be careful not to add too much (unless you’re fine with it).

Feel free to play with the balance of the gazpacho until you get the precise flavour and consistency you love.

Instant delicious cold soup for a sizzling hot summer’s day; wonderful.

Other Spanish Vegan Recipes You Might Like

• Authentic Gazpacho Recipe from Spain
• How to make vegan paella
• Spanish roasted pepper salad
• Pisto recipe from Spain
• Spanish zucchini soup recipe – Crema de calabacín
• Spanish vegan lentil stew recipe
• Spanish omelette vegan style