The BEST Gazpacho Soup Recipe That You Can’t Mess Up! (Plus Raw vs. Cooked Foods?)

The BEST Gazpacho Soup Recipe…

Do you have a bunch of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other produce in your garden to use up right now too?

My friend Sonia brought this over the other day for us to try and I wasn't surprised that Kent and I loved it, but I was shocked at how much the kids loved it, too.  Our kids are sooooooo different than I was growing up.  I never wanted to try anything new and certainly wouldn't have liked anything that was so good for me!  At first they didn't want any so I said casually, “Cool, more for us.”  Then I heard, “Well, maybe I'll try a little.”  Next thing I knew, we were fighting over who got the last of it and from now on I'll always make a double batch.  🙂

I love this time of year when the produce is coming in and fresh foods are abundant, they just taste so good, especially if you buy from a farmer who knows about the importance of healthy soil and the difference it makes in the amount of nutrients.  Or even better is pulling produce right from your own garden and tasting the freshness, there's nothing like it!

Living Food

You probably know there are some “raw foodies” out there who strongly believe that we shouldn't eat anything cooked, and I certainly don't agree with that because in traditional cultures they always cooked some of their food, and besides, did you know that certain foods are better for you when cooked?  Greens like spinach, chard and others shouldn’t be eaten raw, such as in a green smoothie, because they contain oxalic acid, which blocks mineral absorption.  (Check out this superfood smoothie though.)  Oxalic acid is reduced by cooking, though, so just give it a light steam before you toss it into your smoothies, it's easy.  Cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and a few others, should also be gently cooked before eating them to reduce the goitrogens, which are substances that suppress the function of the thyroid gland.  (Source and more info on the above.)  Not that we never eat raw cauliflower or broccoli, but it's not something you should do every day.

• Weston Price never endorsed a diet high in raw foods (he specifically counseled that vegetables should be cooked) and never once mentioned juicing and detoxification in his writings.  (Source)

However, the Weston Price Foundation has always said that we should definitely have some raw foods in our daily diets for the wonderful nutritional enzyme boost.

• In all traditional cultures, some animal products are eaten raw.
• Primitive and traditional diets have a high food-enzyme content from raw dairy products, raw meat and fish; raw honey; tropical fruits; cold-pressed oils; wine and unpasteurized beer; and naturally preserved, lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages, meats and condiments.  (Source: Characteristics of Healthy Diets.)

Our favorites around here are raw milk, raw cheese, raw honey, certain raw fruits and veggies, fermented vegetables, and egg yolks (all from a safe source of course), occasional raw seafood at a local sushi bar (the kids LOVE this too!)… and now also the recipe below!

Make sure to read all the way to the bottom of the post for my tips on making this the best Gazpacho recipe!

Print Recipe

The BEST Gazpacho Soup Recipe

Note in the recipe below that you'll want to use as many organic ingredients as you're able, and *check the “Dirty Dozen” list for those that are most important to buy organic.

Author: Sonia via Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Ingredients

• 1 pound tomatoes I seeded about half and left the seeds in half, or seed them all if you'd like
• 4 pickling cucumbers or 1 regular cucumber peeled and seeded
• 1 medium Vidalia or a sweet onion
• 1 large red pepper seeded (I add a green pepper too if I have one)
• 3 cups tomato or vegetable juice leave this out if your tomatoes are really juicy and you have enough soup without it
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro You could also add fresh parsley!
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar rice vinegar, or I'll often use fresh lemon or lime juice
• 1/4 cup oil of choice I used half avocado oil and half olive oil -- make sure your olive oil is is REAL — click that link for more info.
• Sea salt and pepper to taste
• Avocados for the top -- so yummy and adds in more good fats
• And sour cream to serve on top too — we like a lot!
• Optional: sriracha sauce on top — this one is my favorite because it tastes SO good and has no preservatives!

Instructions

• Add half the tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and pepper into a food processor. Add about 1/2 cup of the tomato or vegetable juice and puree the vegetables. While the food processor is on and is pureeing, slowly pour your oil into the food processor.
  
• Toss in the cilantro and pulse chop until it's the size you prefer. Dump this puree into a large bowl. Stir in the rest of the tomato/vegetable juice and the red wine vinegar.
• Put the remaining vegetables in the food processor and pulse chop until they are the size you like. Combine all these ingredients in the large bowl and give it 24 hours before you dig in, if you can, because the tastes come together even more.
• Chop up avocado and add pieces when serving along with sour cream if desired.  Don't forget some siracha if  you like a little kick.  Not too much because you'll still want to taste all the fresh flavors from the vegetables.

Notes

Important: This tastes so much better after 24 hours. Making it in advance is important for best flavor.

How you process it in the food processor depends on how smooth or chunky you want it. I like mine with some texture and small pieces, so I pureed half the ingredients and pulse chopped the rest until they were the size I wanted.

Food processor bowls vary in size. You might need to chop and puree in batches. Just don't skip the step where you slowly add the oil while it processes, that thickens it up.

Some people prefer to strain the puree to get out any seeds or pieces of skin from the tomatoes. If you want to do this, be sure you do it before you add the cilantro.

This is a great base recipe. You can add more or less of anything, leave something out, add something new. It's really hard to mess up!  When I have a TON of tomatoes to use, I just throw them all in and if they're really juicy, you may not even need the tomato juice the recipe calls for.

Once you make it, let me know if you think this is the best Gazpacho soup recipe too?  🙂

More you might like:

• This yummy tomato pie recipe also has links to more ways to use your abundance of tomatoes in the summer!

• We also LOVE these kale chips!

• Read more from Sarah about other veggies that should be lightly cooked before eating.
• Also here’s Dr. Kaayla Daniel:  Plants Bite Back.
• Scroll down at this post to read about why dirt matters!

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