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Spicy Cucumber Gazpacho

A spicy, chilled soup with vibrant color and over-the-top flavor. It doesn’t get any fresher tasting than this.

Spicy Cucumber GazpachoI LOVE gazpacho! Am I alone in this? I’m always amazed that so few restaurants offer it, especially when the temperature soars unmercifully in the summer. If LunaCafe were a brick-and-mortar, versus virtual café, I would serve a different gazpacho every week all summer long. How fun would that be?

It would be easy to do too. I have at least six favorite gazpacho recipes I could share with you right now, for instance. And I plan to make this a gazpacho summer, so will have even more by September.

Cucumber, Parsley, Mint, Lemon & Garlic for Spicy Cucumber Gazpacho

You’ve probably guessed that one of the reasons I love gazpacho is because it’s NOT fattening. Eat, drink all you want. It’s also sensationally satisfying with BIG flavor. And even though I would never add a quart of tequila (or was it vodka?) to my gazpacho, Carmen Maura did it in the movie, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and it worked for her.

So here you go. Whip up this  Spicy Cucumber Gazpacho to celebrate spring, and let me know if you want me to keep the gazpacho recipes coming. Roasted Red Bell Pepper and Fennel Gazpacho anyone?

Diced Cucumber, Red Bell Pepper, Green Onions & Lemon Zest for Spicy Cucumber Gazpacho

Spicy Cucumber Gazpacho

Here’s a spicy, chilled soup with vibrant color and over-the-top flavor. It just doesn’t get any fresher tasting than this. I love serving this soup in small glasses as a prelude to a casual summer meal or simply as an afternoon pick-me-up. It really sparks the appetite.

2 English cucumbers, peeled and chopped (4 cups chopped)
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, deribbed, and chopped
3 green onions, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 jalapeno chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise, seeded and deribbed (use disposable gloves)
small handful Italian parsley, large stems removed
small handful spearmint or lemon verbena leaves
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced or pressed
½ cup chicken stock, or water, plus additional
¼ cup cold pressed olive oil
2 tablespoons natural-process red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
several drops of Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce, to taste
1 teaspoon fine sea salt

Garnish
¼ cup diced English cucumber (with peel)
¼ cup diced green bell pepper
coarsely grated zest of 1 lemon
6 small tips of fresh spearmint or lemon verbena

  1. Put the cucumber, bell pepper, green onions, jalapeno chiles, parsley, spearmint or lemon verbena, and garlic into a blender and liquefy.
  2. Add the stock, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, Tabasco, and salt. Pulse to combine.
  3. Taste and adjust the balance of salt and lemon juice if needed.
  4. Adjust the thickness of the soup by adding a little more chicken stock if needed.
  5. Chill for at least two hours.
  6. Just before serving, pour the soup into individual cups, and then sprinkle each with a bit of diced cucumber, red bell pepper, and lemon zest. Top each serving with a tiny sprig of spearmint or lemon verbena.

Makes 2 quarts; serves 6.

More Fabulous Cold Soups from LunaCafe

Happy Cooking!

Copyright 2013 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.

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  2. Hi! This is Kelli from Yum Goggle. We appreciate your submission and love your photography. We will be featuring your post at many of the 12 social media platforms available to us at different times and possibly on different days. We are following you on all your available social media and hope you will do the same. If you have trouble with future submissions, please let us know and we will help you out as soon as possible. We are new owners and have redesigned the entire site while building on old platforms and opening up many new ones – we are small but not for long! Thank you for your trust in us. Kelli and Holli from YG

  3. I regularly make gazpacho in the summertime, too, Susan, though I usually stick to tomatoes. I\\\’ll have to try your recipe with cucumber–and I look forward to your other variations!

  8. I love gazpacho during the summer heat under one condition, I have to use fresh picked tomatoes and cucumbers !

  9. I love gazpacho too! the only one I have ever made is a watermelon gazpacho, and I look forward to making it each summer. this spicy one sounds fantastic, and I love the bright lemon verbena too!

  11. I love this recipe. I have made it several times. A short cut I have taken is to NOT peel the cucumbers. It seems to work just as well. I am using a Vitamix blender, though, which might puree things more than other blenders.

    This time around, I also kind of made up my own Tobasco since I had none on hand. I looked up the ingredients and tried to mimic them. I blended a serrano pepper with some salt and apple cider vinegar. To get more of the green taste, I added some nasturtium leaves (I would have added , say, spinach, if I had had that on hand). It worked really well. Thanks for your great recipes across the board!

    • Thanks EFP! Love the idea of not peeling the cucumbers. I think I do it more out of habit than anything else. And you made your own tabasco sauce, with nasturtium leaves no less; how awesome. 🙂

  12. I love this stuff. My cucumbers in my garden are freaking out right now (in a good way). Does this stuff freeze well?

    • Thanks Emily! 🙂 I haven’t tried freezing it but don’t see any issue. Give it a try.

  14. Found you only yesterday. Hope to see more gazpacho recipes. This looks yummy!
    I cook while using a walker so am judicious about choosing a recipe to cook. Your site is full of intriguing recipes and “how to’s”. I’m looking forward cooking lots of tasty new recipes. Mommamack

  15. This recipe yielded 1 quart. I followed it to a tee and even added 1/2 cup more of chicken stock. I found this to be unbelievably tasty and a heck of a way to keep up with my overactive garden. Thanks!

  17. I cannot wait to try this recipe! I just had a spicy cold cucumber soup at a french restaurant this weekend and loved it. Been trying to find a recipe on the internet that had no yogurt, milk, buttermilk, etc…. finally found yours! SO looking forward to trying it!

  18. This quite possibly might be the one of the best things I’ve ever tasted… Incredible!!!!! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing!

  19. I’m so glad I found this…going to make it tomorrow… it’s still hot in Las Vegas anyway! I had to find something to do with the 3 large english cukes that were chopped up all at once by an enthusiastic housekeeper 🙂 I am SO with you on LOVING gazpacho…it’s one of my favorite foods.
    By the way, I just found you so I have not read your blog much. Ever used a Blendtec? I am about to buy one. I’m trying desperately to get my kids to eat more greens, so I’m going to try strawberry smoothies with spinach leaves mixed in. Your thoughts?

    • Thank you Jennie! I haven’t used a Blendec. I’m assuming it’s a juicer? A book you might find interesting (I LOVE it) is The Flavor Bible. You can look up strawberries and see if spinach is a match.

      Now I can well imagine fresh strawberries in a spinach salad with a fruity vinaigrette. Yum! But blended together sounds problematic. For one thing, red and green are perfect color complements, meaning that when they are mixed they make gray. Not a very appetizing color. That fine art degree comes in handy for the weirdest things sometimes. 🙂

  21. I love cucumbers and made this soup for my family tonight…EVERYONE LOVED IT and my kids had 3 bowls each of it! Thanks so very much for sharing. I did do something a tad different though; I used vegetable stock instead of the chicken stock to preserve the fresh veggie taste. And I am a beef bacon fiend so I crisped some up and crumbled it on top and added a couple of drops of organic 1st cold press EVOO, truly wonderful and we will have it again soon! I also put the finished soup into a ziplock freezer bag and placed in the fridge for quicker chilling. Thanks again, I look forward to trying your next recipe!

    • Wow, kids loved it too? I wasn’t sure it would appeal to kids, so this is great news. Thanks so much! 🙂

    • Thanks Kevin! Do give it a try if you get a chance. It’s almost addictive. 🙂

  25. Looks forward to the roasted red pepper one because I love everything roasted.

    Love this time of year because of the amazing fresh produce and cooling flavors.

    Jeff´s last blog post..Grilled salmon with dill caper vinaigrette and challenge 2 of BBA

    • Oh me too! Too early for bell peppers here but soon they will be flooding the farmers markets. The Red Bell Pepper Gazpacho will be one of the first dishes on my list when bell pepper season begins. Stay tuned… 🙂

  26. Not a big fan of cold soups but my husband loves it. He’s been bugging me for awhile to make it. THanks for the recipe!

    pigpigscorner´s last blog post..Restaurant Review – L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, London

    • I don’t know what it is about cold soups, but after I first tasted Vishyssoise so many moons ago, I never looked back. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by! 🙂

    • It’s not super hot in Seattle yet, but I’m enjoying this refreshing soup regardless. I love cucumbers as well! 🙂

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