Summer’s calling and we are answering with a refreshing, cooling, and utterly delicious soup! This beautifully fresh and vibrant Oil Free Gazpacho features a cold tomatoey soup filled with garden veggie nourishing goodness. Fresh red bell peppers, sweet Campari tomatoes, cooling cucumbers, crisp corn, zesty green onions, and topped with roasted chickpea croutons making it perfect for a tasty summertime soup or appetizer. It is totally delicious and satisfying.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, and no highly processed ingredients.
Hi there, Ameera here!
Every now and then, we get requests from our readers asking if we can convert their favorite dishes to Whole Food Plant Based. We always carefully examine every request to see if we can find a way to convert it.
Some recipes can be easily converted, while others just don’t translate well over to WFPB. However, when reader, Julie, asked us if we could make a Whole Food Plant Based gazpacho, we were all about it.
Mom and I sat down to see how we could approach conversion. Initially, we didn’t think it would be too hard, it’s already a vegan soup after all, but making it oil-free and finding that perfect balance of flavors was a little more challenging than we initially thought.
Gazpacho
Gazpacho originates from Spain (or Portugal). It is considered an Andalusian cold tomato soup. Typically, most gazpacho recipes include stale bread, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and salt.
The soup itself is typically blended and left somewhat chunky, but we actually preferred pureeing the veggies a little, then adding in some additional veggies and pulsing them. We just preferred the texture that resulted from this method.
Although there are regions in Spain that puree the tomato broth by pounding the veggies into a puree in a mortar and pestle, thereby avoiding the foaming texture that sometimes results from using a high-speed blender or food processor.
However, we found that the foam usually settles down and using the high-speed blender is much less labor intensive.
Campari Tomatoes
One of the challenges of converting this dish is balancing and reducing the acidity of the tomatoes without sacrificing flavor. Since we don’t use oil, finding a good sweet tomato was key!
After numerous tests, we found that Campari tomatoes (also known as sweet cocktail tomatoes) work perfectly with this gazpacho. They have a consistently sweet flavor and a wonderfully fresh taste to them. Hands down, they were thee winning tomato.
They are on the smaller side, large than grape and cherry tomatoes, but typically smaller than a regular garden tomato. Campari tomatoes are about the size of a golf ball which makes seeding them a little more work, simply because you need more of them. Additionally, you can leave the skins on the tomatoes. We know that some gazpacho recipes will require the skins removed from the tomatoes, but we were fine with the texture, so thought it was an unnecessary step.
We typically cut the Campari tomatoes in 4ths, then using a small spoon scoop out the seeds which generally leaves you with some flesh to work with, but they are totally worth it. This gazpacho is absolutely fantastic!
I’ll let Mom tell you more!
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Hi! Robin here.
I was all about Julie’s gazpacho Whole Food Plant Based conversion request simply because I had never had gazpacho before and it sounded delicious. Monkey has had gazpacho and assure me it was a great cold soup, especially in the heat of the summer as it is very refreshing.
We were concerned about balancing the flavors without using oil. The combination of the Campari tomatoes, sherry vinegar, and additional veggies worked perfectly. I absolutely LOVED it! This gazpacho has wonderful flavor and is sooo tasty!
We hope you give this refreshing soup a try! We just know you are going to love it! If you try this yumminess, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
Products Used:
- High-speed blender or food processor
Oil Free Gazpacho
- Prep Time: 30 Minutes
- Total Time: 30 Minutes (+Refrigeration Time)
- Yield: 2 servings (about 3 cups) 1x
- Category: Soup
- Cuisine: Spanish
Description
Summer’s calling and we are answering with a refreshing, cooling, and utterly delicious soup! This beautifully fresh and vibrant Oil Free Gazpacho features a cold tomatoey soup filled with garden veggie nourishing goodness. Fresh red bell peppers, sweet Campari tomatoes, cooling cucumbers, crisp corn, zesty green onions, and topped with roasted chickpea croutons making it perfect for a tasty summertime soup or appetizer. It is totally delicious and satisfying.
Whole Food Plant Based, vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, gluten free, and no highly processed ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs. Campari tomatoes, seeded and chopped *
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped *
- 1 mini cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped *
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar (+/-)
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce *
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
Spice/Herb Ingredients:
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
- Pinch cayenne pepper (+/-)
- Pinch teaspoon black pepper (+/-)
Pulsed Add-In Ingredients:
- ¼ cup corn
- ¼ cup mini cucumbers, seeded, small dice
- ¼ cup Campari tomatoes, seeded, small dice
- ¼ cup red or yellow bell pepper, small dice
- 1 heaping Tablespoons green onions, small slice
Optional Toppings (Sprinkle of each on individual servings):
- Chopped cilantro (or parsley or basil)
- Roasted chickpeas croutons *
- Corn
- Mini cucumbers, unpeeled, small dice
- Red bell pepper (or yellow), small dice
- Green onions, small slice
- Avocadoes, small dice
Instructions
- Cut and seed the tomatoes and place them in a high-speed blender or food processor, then add all the remaining ingredients (except the Pulsed Add-In Ingredients), blend until the soup is fairly smooth. The gazpacho will appear pink and a little foamy. The foam will calm down later. Taste test and add additional seasoning to achieve the desired flavor. Then add in the Pulsed Add-In Ingredients, and then do two quick pulses. You don’t want to break up the pulsed add-in ingredients too much. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes and serve cold.
- Add a sprinkle of each of the Optional Topping Ingredients to individual servings.
Notes
*Campari Tomatoes: We love the flavor of Campari tomatoes. They are perfect for this recipe as they have a full, rich, consistently sweet tomatoey flavor and are less acidic due to their natural sweetness. You can typically find them at most grocery stores marketed as “Campari” tomatoes or small sweet cocktail tomatoes. They are typically sold in 1 lb. and 2 lb. plastic see-through containers and are shown “on the vine.” Feel free to use your favorite garden tomato. The key to a great gazpacho is the rich, sweet flavor of the tomato. The best way to test a tomato for a gazpacho is to eat a small piece. The tomato should be slightly sweet, not overly acidic, and very flavorful.
*Amount of Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Red Bell Peppers: Please note that the Pulsed Add-In Ingredient amounts are in addition to the regular ingredient amounts. For example, you will use 1 mini cucumber, peeled and seeded in the gazpacho soup plus ¼ cup unpeeled, small diced mini cucumbers.
*Hot Sauce: We used Frank’s RedHot Original Hot Sauce.
*High-Speed Blender vs Food Processor: A high-speed blender will produce a smoother soup texture. A food processor will work as well; however, there will be more texture to the soup. We used a high-speed blender.
*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
*Roasted Chickpea Croutons: Preheat oven to 400 F. Drain and rinse a 15 oz. can of chickpeas, place in a bowl, sprinkle with them with the following: Sprinkle of each – sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and sweet paprika. Stir the chickpeas around the bowl until well coated, then dump them onto a parchment lined baking sheet, spread them out. Bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to slightly cool. Serve as a fun and delicious crouton (or snack).
*Serving: 2 (about 3 cups)
*Storage: Refrigerate and use within 3 days.
This post contains affiliate links, and we may receive a very small commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures! For more information, see our disclosures here.