Last summer, I lived off of gazpacho. I spent a semester in Spain and lived with a Spanish host mother. She would make me my lunch and dinner everyday for the entire semester. One thing she would always make me was gazpacho! I flippin’ loved her gazpacho. It was flat out heavenly! Once I tried it, I begged her to make it for me all the time! And she did, it was amazing! I couldn’t even find restaurants in Spain that made it as well as my host “madre.”
One of the things that probably draws me to gazpacho is the savory and vinegary taste of it. I love pickles, bloody mary’s, and lemony spinach with sea salt-pretty much anything that has a lot of acidity in it. Savory and vinegary flavors are my favorite. This gazpacho adds a healthy vinegary taste from the apple cider vinegar and uses the fresh produce to add that savory flavor. Absolutely delicious!
What separates this gazpacho from traditional gazpacho is the addition of a little heat. In Spain, and most parts of Europe, they do not really eat spicy foods. To find hot sauce in the restaurants is an anomaly. That was one of the major things I missed while living in Spain. Every time my host mother made me dinner, I found myself wanting to reach into the pantry for some Sriracha…something she never had. Now that I am back home, and have full access to hot sauce, I can make my own version of gazpacho and it was great! This gazpacho uses hot peppers in place of bell peppers because yuck, I do not like bell peppers. Strange, isn’t it? Who knew someone could love hot peppers so much while positively despising bell peppers? I don’t know why I hate bell peppers but I do. Feel free to add some bell peppers though if you like them!
The most amazing thing about gazpacho is it is perfect for summer and it is super easy to make a huge batch of it! All you have to do is get the ingredients, place them in a blender, blend until smooth, strain out the skins and seeds (if you want to), and voila, the gazpacho is ready to eat! So simple and so good.
Spicy Spanish Gazpacho
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ripe Tomatoes chopped
- 1 Cucumber medium-sized, chopped
- 1 Small Hot Pepper of your choice chopped (I used jalapeno)
- 1/2 small White Onion chopped
- 2 cloves of Garlic
- 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
- 3/4 cup Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Extra chopped cucumbers and onions for topping
Instructions
- Chop the tomatoes, cucumber, hot peppers, and onion
- Place all ingredients into a blender- make sure to add in the chopped hot pepper in little amounts, tasting after each amount to check if the level of heat is okay and not too spicy
- Blend until smooth
- Taste and add more salt, pepper, hot pepper or vinegar if needed
- Use a strainer to pour the soup through and to catch the seeds and skins of the produce in the strainer (optional)
- Place in the fridge to chill
- Once cold, take out of the fridge
- Serve and enjoy!
Tobias
You don’t add white bread, as they say in most Spanish recipes?
leangreennutritionfiend
Hi Tobias. No, traditional Spanish gazpacho does not have white bread in it. The gazpacho that does have white bread in it is called “salmorejo” and that is also delicious 🙂