Watermelon Rind Soup (Gazpacho)

We love the Spanish Gazpacho and how nutritious, and fresh it is. This Watermelon Rind Soup is a twist that will blow your mind.

Surely, after trying this recipe you will never throw your watermelon rinds again! You won't even want to make compost out of them!

This is by far our favorite from the watermelon rind recipes out there! So, after you finish using the pulp for your watermelon and ginger smoothie, you know how to put the rinds to work!

Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe

Watermelon Gazpacho is a popular beverage, soup consumed during Summer Season.

We love serving it with fresh Mediterranean dishes like the Catalonian Escalivada and next to small platers of dips like the roasted bell pepper dip, Eggplant Babaganoush Spread, and a nice Pagnotta Bread Loaf.

This was inspired by my Andalusian Gazpacho recipe on this site. It is the perfect way to make the best out of watermelon rind and hard bread. Nothing goes to waste!

Check out how to make the best out of your leftovers!

Ingredients

This watermelon rind recipe used very simple ingredients. The whole idea is to make good use of ingredients that otherwise would be going to the bin.

• Watermelon rind
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Onion
• Garlic
• Basil
• Almonds

Optional: hard bread, olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Avoid if WFPB.

See the recipe card for quantities.

Since you won't be using much of the watermelon pulp, make sure you try our watermelon and passion fruit juice, or the watermelon smoothie, both are home favorites!

Instructions

Soak bread in water for 5 minutes.

Wash. Thoroughly wash all your vegetables, and rinds. Roughly cut your watermelon rinds into small pieces.

• 

• 

Roughly chop the onion and cucumbers.

• 

• 

Blend. Add the water, watermelon rind, cucumber, and basil leaves to the blender.

• 

• 

Blend the rest. Continue adding all the tomatoes, garlic, onion, almonds, olive oil, salt, and vinegar to a blender (except for bread), blend for 2 minutes (let the blender rest for a minute if it tends to overheat).

Add the soaked bread little by little until you reached the desired consistency. You don't need to use all of it.

• 

• 

Garnish. Use freshly cubed watermelon, whole basil leaves, sliced almonds, and black pepper to garnish.

• 

• 

Hint: In case your blender does not grind produce until it is creamy and chunk-less, or you want a silkier texture, we recommend passing the gazpacho through a colander.

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.

Substitutions

If you are following a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet, you can exclude olive oil and salt from the recipe. We have tried it and can say that it will be delicious as well.

• Almonds - if you have a nuts allergy you can replace the almonds with sunflower seeds. You can also exclude the almonds from the recipe, altogether.
• Breadcrumbs - use gluten free breadcrumbs instead of regular breadcrumbs to make this gluten-free.
• Tomatoes - you can use any kind of tomatoes, just aim for the same volume. Use 3 plum tomatos, or 8 cherry tomatoes or 4 Roma tomatoes.

Variations

• Spicy - garnish with freshly ground black pepper.
• Milder - to obtain a more delicate flavor, remove the garlic's germ (the internal part, as the flavor is perceived as more pungent). In regards to the onion, you can leave it soaking in water and vinegar for a couple of hours, so it loosed its intensity. This way the onion will become sweeter and more digestible.
• Kid friendly (sweeter) - you can make this gazpacho sweeter, simply leaving more pink flesh on the watermelon rinds. You can also use red onions instead, which have a sweeter less intense flavor.

Equipment

You can choose to use either a food processor or a high-speed blender. Our recommendation is to use the most powerful one, as it will be able to deliver a smoother and silkier watermelon rind soup.

Look at the Watts. Let's say your food processor operates at 700 watts and your blender at 1500 Watts, go with your blender.

We used here our high-speed blender and worked very well.

Storage

Store your gazpacho in a bottle with a lid. It stays well for 2-3 days.

These ingredients don't stand up well to freezing.

Top tip

Gazpacho is generally served as a cold beverage. After blending it, allow for it to cool in the fridge for one to two hours prior to serving.

In fact, during this time the flavors will consolidate better and your gazpacho will be richer.

More Spanish dishes

• Gazpacho Andaluz
• Escalivada
• Tortilla Española (Spanish Omelette)

If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag a photo #ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!

Food safety

We sometimes take for granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience, that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.