Refresh your palate and enjoy spoonful after spoonful of this nutritious and delicious gazpacho. If you are not familiar with gazpacho, it is a cold soup that originated in the Andalusia region of southern Spain. Typically, it consists of a mixture of tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, onions, garlic, and olive oil. There are fruit-based gazpachos, like this recipe, that use melons as the base.

For this recipe, blend together several ingredients, including watermelon, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, shallot, and more. The sweetness from the watermelon helps balance the intensity of the other ingredients. One of the great things about this gazpacho is that it helps enhance your hydration efforts. Most of the ingredients in this recipe contain a high water percentage. For instance, the water content of watermelon, cucumber, and tomato exceeds 90%. This also helps with the water consistency of the soup. The soup has some body, but it is meant to be thin and light. That’s why gazpacho is a classic summer dish. The weather is warm, however, and we thought a refreshing raw vegan soup would hit the spot!

One final note for the gazpacho beginner: chop the garlic and shallot prior to blending. The primary reason to do this is to tame their flavor and avoid large chunks that don’t blend during the blending process. You may also have to tinker with the measurements to shape the flavor to your liking. You may want to exclude the serrano pepper, or use less shallot. The choice is up to you! Lastly, the soup comes together with freshly chopped cucumber, tomato, and avocado on top. It’s nice to have a little more texture in your bites!