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 of 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!
Watermelon Gazpacho is a popular beverage and soup consumed during Summer Season.
We love serving it with fresh Mediterranean dishes like the Catalonian Escalivada and next to small plates of dips like the roasted bell pepper dip, sautéed chickpeas with spinach, 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!
Read on: recipes with almond pulp leftovers from making almond milk »
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🧾 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.
Pour water over the stale bread
coarsely chop the watermelon rinds
Roughly chop the onion and cucumbers.
Coarsely chop cucumbers
and onions
Blend. Add the water, watermelon rind, cucumber, and basil leaves to the blender.
add the liquids to the blender; before the rest of the ingredients
then add the watermelon rinds, cucumber, and basil 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), and 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 reach the desired consistency. You don't need to use all of it.
Add tomatoes, almonds, and garlic
and soaked bread
Garnish. Use freshly cubed watermelon, whole basil leaves, sliced almonds, and black pepper to garnish.
Garnishing with basil leave
and watermelon cubes
Hint: If 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
Following a Whole Foods Plant-Based diet can exclude olive oil and salt from the recipe. We have tried it and can say that it will also be delicious.
- 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 tomatoes, 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). You can leave the onion soaking in water and vinegar for a couple of hours so it loses 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 it 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 before serving.
In fact, during this time, the flavors will consolidate better, and your gazpacho will be richer.
🇪🇸 More Spanish recipes
❓FAQ
Yes, you can eat watermelon rind! In fact, some people actually prefer the taste of watermelon rind to the flesh of the fruit. While the flesh of the watermelon is partially composed of water, the rind is made up mostly of fiber. This gives it a chewy texture and a slightly bitter taste.
If you're interested in trying watermelon rind, there are a few different ways to prepare it. You can pickle it, which will result in a sweet and sour flavor, or you can fry it, giving it a crunchy texture, another of the watermelon rind uses.
In addition to the gazpacho recipe above, we have also used it on smoothies.
You can also just eat it raw, although some people find the taste too strong. Whichever way you choose to eat it
⭐ If you try this recipe, let us know! 💬 Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag us @ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!
📋 Recipe
Watermelon Rind Soup (Gazpacho)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 cherry tomatoes or 2 plum tomatoes
- 35 oz watermelon rind chopped in cubes (about half medium watermelon's rind)
- 2 cucumbers roughly chopped
- 1 garlic roughly chopped
- ¼ onion coarsely chopped
- 1 oz almonds
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar red wine vinegar works as well
- 3 oz hard bread loaf whole bran bread
- 5 basil leaves
- 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil optional, Avoid if you are following a WFPB diet.
- 16 oz water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt optional, Avoid if you are following a WFPB diet.
Optional (to garnish):
- watermelon cubes
Directions
- Soak bread in water for 5 minutes.
- Wash. All your veggies and watermelon rinds.
- Roughly chop the watermelon rind, onion and cucumbers.
- Blend. Add the water, watermelon rind, cucumber and basil leaves to the blender.
- Blend the rest. Add 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.
- Serve. Gazpacho is better when served cold. We recommend reserving it in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour before consuming it.
- Garnish. Use freshly cubed watermelon, whole basil leaves, sliced almonds, and black pepper to garnish.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Facts
🌡️ Food safety
- 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 a high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more guidelines at USDA.gov.
Nutritional Disclaimer
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.
Affiliate Disclaimer
Please note that some of the links here are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. I recommend all of the products listed because they are companies I have found helpful and trustworthy.
Dana says
This is such a unique recipe! It's so refreshing, which is great because I'm in NC and the summers here are no joke. What a great lunch to have when it's too hot to cook!
Gus says
Thanks for your review, Dana. We are thrilled you found our watermelon rind gazpacho recipe exciting and delicious! Cheers!
kushigalu says
Never tried making soup with watermelon rind. Interesting recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Dannii says
This was so refreshing, and really delicious. Such a great way to use watermelon too.
Hannah says
This is so perfect for my family - my 3 year old is watermelon obsessed so this is a great way to use up some watermelon rind! I'm in love with it. Thanks for sharing!
Gus says
I fully understand your toddler! I am obsessed with watermelon too! So, I just figured I needed to do something with all those rinds apart from composting! 🙂 I am glad you found it helpful!
Emily says
I love this unique twist on Spanish Gazpacho. This Watermelon Rind Soup is so fresh and delicious. Brilliant use of watermelon rind!
Gus says
Thank you Emily! Yep! Gaspacho is a wonderful beverage/soup, I am thrilled you enjoyed it as much as we do!
Julia says
Wow! I'd never have thought of using watermelon rinds like this. What an amazing idea, chilled soups are so nice when the weather is hot outside. I love that it's full of really healthy things. I can't wait to try it... just need to go find a watermelon. Thank you for sharing.
Gus says
Crazy! isn't it? I was sooo happy to try this and nos is a staple summer cold soup at home! Other rinds are going to be part of my compost, not watermelon's! ? Get the watermelon and have another great idea for you: watermelon and ginger smoothie!
Natalie says
Watermelon rind in gazpacho? Oh wow, that sounds so interesting. I have to give your recipe a try. It sure looks delicious 🙂
Gus says
I am glad you found it interesting! Recycling 2.0! ??
Kayla DiMaggio says
Wow! I had no idea you could do something with the watermelon rind! What a great way to use every part of the fruit!
Gus says
I know!Eye-opener! Until now I had only been composting it, not anymore!
Anaiah says
I've fallen in love with gazpacho and all the different ways to make it. This watermelon rind soup is definitely unique and sits at the top of my list. Loved this so much! Thanks for sharing.
Gus says
It is so cool you liked it! It is truly a unique way to use what would be a discard in everyones' kitchen.
Freya says
This was such an unusual way to use up watermelon rind and so refreshing!
Gus says
I know! I love making the best out of my veggies, using things such as broccoli stems for stews. When I learned about this way to use the watermelon rinds, I couldn't help but try it, and it arrived at our kitchen to stay!