I know what you are thinking, cold soup? Yeah, I get it. I was not into cold soups either until our recent teacher training at beautiful Mar De Jade in Mexico. The chef there was amazing and served some incredible cold soups including a watermelon gazpacho.
I returned home to Seattle to record breaking heat and after two weeks of weather in the 90‘s its been challenging to eat enough sweet cooling foods to keep my pitta nature in check. Then, I remembered the watermelon gazpacho and how light, refreshing and delicious it was. This recipe is a summer twist on traditional gazpacho, switching the main ingredient from tomatoes to watermelon instead. Watermelon is a quintessential hot weather food, is instantly cooling and its sweet juicy qualities make it a Pitta reducing favorite. This is the perfect soup for Summer, it’s easy to digest and simple to make.
Watermelon Gazpacho Recipe
(adapted from Martha Stewart Living)
Ingredients
- 5 cups peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped watermelon, plus 1 cup finely chopped – I bought the precut kind from Whole Foods. Its been on sale!
- 1/2 cup cranberry juice – unsweetened
- 1 cup peeled, seeded, and diced cucumber
- 2 stalks diced celery
- 1 diced red bell pepper
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
- Juice of 1 lime (about 3 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Avocado slices
Directions
- Combine 5 cups watermelon and the cranberry juice in a blender, and puree until mixture is smooth. Filtering out the pulp is optional. I left mine as unfiltered but for a smoother soup your can pass through a fine sieve into a large bowl and discard pulp.
- Add cucumber, celery, bell pepper, onion, garlic, herbs, lime juice, vinegar, jalapeno, and remaining cup chopped melon to watermelon liquid, and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator until soup is well chilled, at least 1 hour.
- Top with avocado slices and serve.
- Store in refrigerator up to 1 day.
- Enjoy!
Wishing you Vibrant Living
Kate