This watermelon soup is a cold, refreshing, and sweet-savory summer soup that is prepared in gazpacho style. It means blended raw without straining and serve chilled. This soup will surely cool you down on a hot summer day.
In the summertime when the weather is hot… by Mungo Jerry is the first song that pops up in my head every time I think of summer. You know when it is too hot and being a bit lazy is awesome. Like I don’t want to warm the kitchen any longer than necessary. At those times, I crave fresh lemonade, no-fuss breakfast, no-cook lunch, and no-bake dessert and I am happy as a clam. 🙂
For breakfast, all I need is a green smoothie, overnight oats or fresh, raw veggie-loaded sandwiches with Vegan Egg Salad or spreads like Vegan Cream Cheese or Hummus. For lunch, I choose something easy from our Everything is done in 15 minutes Quick Vegan Meals collection. And for dessert, maybe Overnight Chia Pudding, or nice cream or no-bake cookies.
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Is this soup actually a watermelon gazpacho?
The original gazpacho soup is a traditional Spanish dish. It is a no-cook cold soup focusing on the fresh sweet taste of ripe tomatoes. The traditional way to make this is to soak a stale bread, some garlic and olive oil, and smash it in a mortar into a paste. Then add fresh veggies like tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, and garlic and smash them some more. So no, not all raw tomato-based soups are considered gazpacho. However, we do believe that the taste and texture of gazpacho are coming through in this recipe as well.
This soup recipe is not quite an authentic gazpacho recipe, as we wanted it to be gluten-free and oil-free.
- No bread of any kind is in this recipe.
- No olive oil was added. You can drizzle some when serving it, your choice.
- We also chose to use chives instead of onion and garlic as we prefer to have a milder taste.
- However, we did use lots of tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, and of course fresh watermelon.
It is heavenly with fresh herbs. Like a refreshing smoothie, the raw fruit and the raw veggies can vitalize you with so many nutrients. See for yourself!
Ingredients of our chilled watermelon soup
The star of this cold summer soup is watermelon, but the combination of veggies and herbs are equally important. This recipe has 7 main ingredients:
- ripe watermelon
- fresh ripe Roma tomatoes
- cucumber
- bell pepper
- fresh mint leaves
- fresh basil leaves
- chives
In one corner, you have sweet watermelon and tomato. In the other corner, you have savory cucumber and bell pepper. However, the fresh herbs elevate it to next-level delicious. Nothing screams summer vibes like mint and watermelon. Am I right? Or maybe strawberry, hmmm. I have to tell my husband to come up with something with strawberry here. Stay tuned!
Top tips to make this soup delicious
- You need fresh ingredients! -> It is a raw vegetable soup, so freshness is crucial. You will get the best-tasting soup if you look for the sweetest watermelon, the ripest tomatoes, and fresh herbs.
- What if I don’t have fresh tomatoes? -> If you have tomatoes, but not ripe enough, you can enhance the tomato flavor by adding 1-2 Tbsp tomato paste. If you don’t have any fresh tomatoes at all, you can use canned chopped tomatoes.
- Serve after chilled! -> The flavors will mature if you chill the soup in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours. The soup will change color a bit (it gets darker) as the veggies and the fruit starts to break down and come together. We recommend to eat it within 2 days though. It is raw food, so it can get spoiled fast.
- Fresh or dried herbs? -> Well, it will not be quite the same if you use dried herbs. Sadly, it just doesn’t add that much flavor to it as fresh leaves would.
- Enhance the flavors even more? -> We love it with a 1/2 tsp ginger added before blending. Alternatively, we often serve it with a splash of sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar) or balsamic vinegar on top.
- For some extra heat? -> Add some chili flakes or jalapeno peppers to your taste before blending or on top.
How to make a stunning red soup?
If you have tried making any type of red gazpacho, you may have ended up with a rather brownish soup instead of the vibrant red you can see on pictures. So coloring question 1-0-1: What happens if you mix red and green? Yes, it will be brown. That’s right!
So here are some of our tips to make the soup as crimson as possible:
- Use the sweetest, ripest watermelon you can find. The one that you can buy at the end of the season. You know that sickeningly sweet and vibrant red one that gets slushy around the seeds because we can almost consider it as over-ripe.
- Core the tomatoes (aka discard the seeds and the white part in the middle), so you end up with purely red tomatoes flesh. I also like to add a bit of tomato paste for an even redder color.
- Peel the cucumber, as the dark green outer skin will not help your case.
- Use red bell pepper instead of yellow or green ones.
- Substitute scallion whites for chives. So you have something white instead of green.
- You might think that well I can do nothing about the fresh herbs. On the contrary, have you heard about shiso or purple perilla? It is also known as purple mint.
What to serve with a minty watermelon soup?
This watermelon soup can be a perfect appetizer served in small glasses with straw, or as a refreshing lunch entree topped with lots of diced fresh veggies and watermelon of course.
Here is a list of toppings we love to pair this gazpacho-inspired chilled soup with:
- Freshly chopped herbs
- Fresh diced vegetables (tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper) and of course some watermelon cubes
- Chili flakes or jalapeno slices for some extra heat
- Croutons
- Vegan bacon bits
We also liked to eat a bit of bread on the side:
- Savory french toast (our Chickpea Flour French Toast recipe)
- Grilled cheese toast
- Garlic bread
Tell us in the comments, what kind of garnish you would eat this simple summer soup with.
This Refreshing Watermelon Soup recipe is raw vegan, so dairy-free and egg-free. It is also suitable for WFPB, vegetarian, paleo, gluten-free, and whole30 diets.
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More soup recipes
You can browse through our Vegan and Gluten-free Soup Recipe Gallery or check out
- Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Simple Creamy Spinach Soup
- Vegan Cauliflower Creamed Soup
- Vegan Minestrone Soup
- 30-min Red Lentil Soup (not the lemony kind!)
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Cold Watermelon Soup in Gazpacho Style
Ingredients
- 3 cup Watermelon (diced)
- 1/2 Bell pepper (medium)
- 1/2 Cucumber (medium)
- 2 Roma tomatoes (medium)
- 2 tsp Tomato paste optional
- 6-8 Fresh basil leaves
- 6-8 Fresh mint leaves
- 1 Tbsp Chives (chopped)
- 1/2 tsp Ginger optional
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Veggie topping (diced to at most 1 * 1 inch pieces)
- 1 cup Watermelon (diced)
- 4 stripes Bell pepper (medium)
- 1/4 cup Cucumber (diced)
- 1 Roma tomato (diced)
Other topping ideas
- Freshly chopped basil
- Freshly chopped mint
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
- Hot chili powder or flakes
- Jalapeño pepper
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
- Peel, remove seeds and dice watermelon. Wash and dice cucumber, tomato and bell pepper. Chop chives.
Blend together
- Add watermelon first to a blender, then add all other diced vegetables, finally add herbs, spices and chives. Blend well until you get a smooth texture.
- Chill soup in fridge for at least 3-4 hours in order to get a rich, matured taste. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
Notes
Top tips to make a delicious soup
- You need fresh ingredients! -> It is a raw vegetable soup, so freshness is crucial.
- What if I don’t have fresh tomatoes? -> If you don’t have any fresh tomatoes at all, you can use canned chopped tomatoes.
- Serve after chilled! -> The flavors will mature if you chill the soup in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours. The soup will change color a bit (it gets darker) as the veggies and the fruit starts to break down and come together. We recommend to eat it within 2 days though. It is raw food, so it can get spoiled fast.
- Fresh or dried herbs? -> Well, it will not be quite the same if you use dried herbs.
How to make a stunning red soup?
So what happens if you mix red and green? Yes, it will be brown. That’s right! Here are some of our tips to make the soup as crimson as possible:- Use end of season almost over-ripe watermelon. You know that sickeningly sweet and vibrant red one that gets slushy around the seeds.
- Core the tomatoes, aka discard the seeds and the white part in the middle.
- Peel the cucumber and discard dark green outer peel.
- Use red bell pepper.
- Substitute scallion whites for chives.
- Have you heard about shiso or purple perilla? It is also known as purple mint.
Video
Nutrition
UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Aug 2018, but was rewritten and republished with new photos, video, and even more tips in July 2020.
Stella
This is my first time seeing a recipe on cold soup.. sounds interesting ,I have to try it
My Pure Plants
Be sure to let us know how you liked it.