Tomato gazpacho is so 1999. But that doesn’t mean the genre’s gone: We’re spotting chilled soups by chefs and bloggers made with everything from strawberry and avocado to carrots with cashew cream. (Sorry, tomatoes.)
So, we tapped top food bloggers who are making summer soup hot again. Their chilled blends are colorful, full of fresh summer produce, and easy to make.
Go ahead, we give you permission to slurp at the table. —Molly Gallagher
(Photo: Cold Avocado Soup by Green Kitchen Stories)
“My mom always made a chilled carrot soup that I loved—I remember using kitchen scissors to chop dill for it as a kid,” says Lily Kunin, of the amazing blog and Instagram, Clean Food Dirty City. She eliminates dairy with her pureed version and uses cashew crema instead.
“Cool soups are great during the summer because they are light and easy for your body to digest,” Kunun says, “I especially love this one because the turmeric and carrots are both anti-inflammatory.”
Visit Clean Food Dirty City for the recipe.
(Photo: Clean Food Dirty City)
Chilled Cucumber Soup with Farm Fresh Herbs
To say that Andrea Bemis, the blogger behind Dishing Up the Dirt, is a pro at the farm-to-table experience would be an understatement. For starters, she runs a farm in Oregon with her husband and fills her blog with recipes made from her just-picked produce. Bemis loves chilled soups for summer because they usually don’t require any cooking, like her refreshing cucumber blend, which has Greek yogurt in it—giving it the perfect amount of protein. “This would be wonderful on a hot summer day with a simple salad and a glass of rose,” she says.
Visit Dishing Up the Dirt for the recipe.
(Photo: Dishing Up the Dirt)
Gabrielle Arnold, who whips up yummy recipes for Honest Fare and co-owns La Empanada Food Truck in Orlando, Florida, calls watermelon “nature’s cotton candy.” (Cute!) But don’t expect this soup to be super sweet. Ingredients like lemon and avocado balance it out, she says.
Visit Honest Fare for the recipe.
(Photo: Honest Fare)
We swooned ofter this avocado soup by David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl, the duo behind the blog Green Kitchen Stories when we first saw it. Avocado and cashew milk make this recipe a little more satisfying than traditional summer soups, the duo says.
“Since the soup is very creamy, it’s nice to pair it with something crunchy and textured, like a sourdough bread or quinoa salad,” Frenkiel says. The couple’s blog-turned-book, The Green Kitchen, just launched in April, so you can sample even more of their pretty-to-look-at and yummy recipes.
Visit Green Kitchen Stories for the recipe.
(Photo: Green Kitchen Stories)
Strawberry soup? Yep, you read it right. Gina Matsoukas, the blogger behind Running to the Kitchen, wasn’t really sure what to call this part-smoothie, part-puree, part-soup, but she eventually landed on a “slightly sweet gazpacho.”
Matsoukas recommends making it when buying strawberries is equivalent to shopping in a bargain bin (can you say 2 pints for $3?) “I usually—as in never—take the time to simmer my strawberries with orange zest and mint before blending them up. That’s the part of this soup that makes it stand out,” says Matsoukas. “It’s not just a fruit puree though, it’s got a nice kick of tang from kefir, which makes it creamy and more like a light meal.”
Visit Running to the Kitchen for the recipe.
Snap Pea Soup with Mint and Lemon
This ain’t your grandma’s pea soup, says California blogger, Kimberley Hasselbrink of The Year in Food. What makes her’s different? She uses the whole pea pod and ingredients like lemon and mint to balance the sweet peas. “The small quantities of cream and Parmesan do what they do best: add a little creaminess and a little tang,” writes Hasselbrink, who’s book, Vibrant Food, is also filled with delicious and creative concoctions like coconut milk ice pops.
Visit The Year in Food for the recipe.
Although we promised a gazpacho-free selection of chilled soups, we couldn’t resist this out-of-the-box one, inspired by a trip Love and Lemons blogger, Jeanine Donofrio, took to Barcelona. Instead of simple chopped up tomatoes, her blend mixes in sherry vinegar and piquillo peppers, with cooked tomatoes. “I love the subtle smoky flavor that happens when you char the ingredients on a dry skillet,” writes Donofrio.
Visit Love and Lemons for the recipe.
(Photo: Love and Lemons)
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(Photo: Scaling Back)
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