White Gazpacho

Cool, refreshing, and filling, this classic Spanish white gazpacho is made with bread, almonds, cucumbers, grapes, olive oil, and garlic.

White Gazpacho
Elise Bauer

With all the hot weather much of the country has been experiencing, we thought we'd suggest a gazpacho, a chilled soup, one that you can make quickly, with minimal use of the stove.

Not all gazpachos are made with tomatoes. White gazpacho is a classic dish from Spain, earlier versions dating back to when the Moors controlled Andalucia.

This version is made with bread, blanched almonds, green grapes, cucumbers, olive oil, and garlic. Odd combination you might think, but let me assure you, it truly is delicious.

There's no dairy. The soup gets body and protein from the blanched almonds. The bread acts as a thickener. The cucumbers are wonderfully cooling.

White Gazpacho
Elise Bauer

White Gazpacho

Prep Time 20 mins
Total Time 20 mins
Servings 6 to 8 servings

The recipe calls for stale bread because this soup is an excellent use of old bread that is too hard to eat. Sometimes when we buy freshly baked bread we don't eat it all, and the leftovers get dry and hard within days. We keep the bread to make breadcrumbs. So, this is what you would typically use.

If you don't have any old bread lying around, you can use white bread, with the crusts removed. Use a good quality white bread, such as a French or Italian loaf.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (use vegetable stock for vegan or vegetarian version)

  • 2 cups crustless stale bread, broken into pieces

  • 1 cup slivered blanched almonds (must be blanched, the skins are bitter)

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

  • 1 to 3 chopped garlic cloves (depending on how garlicky you want the result to be)

  • 2 cups green seedless grapes, sliced in half

  • 2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped

  • 2 to 3 tablespoons sherry vinegar or cider vinegar

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

  • Chives for garnish

Special Equipment

  • Food processor

Method

  1. Heat the stock, add bread:

    Heat the stock until it's steamy. Turn off the heat and add to the stock the broken up pieces of stale bread. Let cool.

  2. Grind the almonds with salt and garlic:

    Put the almonds, salt and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the almonds are pulverized.

  3. Add the bread, stock, grapes, and cucumbers, purée:

    Add the soaked bread and any stock that was not absorbed by the bread into the food processor, then add the grapes and cucumbers. Pulse until the mixture is a rough purée.

  4. Add the vinegar:

    Add 2 tablespoons of the vinegar and pulse a few seconds to combine. Taste and add the other tablespoon if it needs it – grapes can sometimes be acidic enough to leave out the final tablespoon of vinegar.

  5. Drizzle in the olive oil while food processor is running:

    With the motor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Turn off the motor and taste the gazpacho. Add more salt if needed.

    Chill before serving, garnish with chopped chives.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
247 Calories
17g Fat
20g Carbs
7g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6 to 8
Amount per serving
Calories 247
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g 22%
Saturated Fat 2g 10%
Cholesterol 2mg 1%
Sodium 620mg 27%
Total Carbohydrate 20g 7%
Dietary Fiber 3g 10%
Total Sugars 9g
Protein 7g
Vitamin C 3mg 17%
Calcium 77mg 6%
Iron 1mg 8%
Potassium 353mg 8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.