Easy Watermelon Gazpacho Without Tomatoes

This Easy Watermelon Gazpacho with cucumber and mint is a summery take on the traditional cold soup: gazpacho. You'll love this cold watermelon soup because it's packed with hydrating cucumber, sweet watermelon,  refreshing mint - and no tomatoes!

The sun is beating down on you. You're sweating. You're hot.

It's like, thighs-sticking-to-the-leather-couch-hot.

It must be summer, baby😎

And what better way to counter all that heat than a cooling watermelon gazpacho recipe?

Jump to:

• 📝Ingredients for watermelon gazpacho
• 🔪How to make watermelon gazpacho without tomatoes
• 🏅Top Tips
• 🍽️What to serve with watermelon gazpacho
• ❓Is watermelon high in sugar?
• 📈What is the glycemic index?
• 🙋‍♀️To account for serving size, the Glycemic Load calculation was created
• 😄Bottom line on this glycemic index in watermelon?
• Watermelon Feta Salad with Balsamic Glaze🍉
• More gluten-free summer recipes to check out
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

This watermelon mint gazpacho was adapted from one I saw a few years ago from the Marilyn Denis show.

I think you're gonna absolutely love a bowl of this cooling, sweet and healthy recipe.

📝Ingredients for watermelon gazpacho

Here's what you'll need to make this updated gazpacho:

• Watermelon
• Red onion - gives a strong balance of flavour to balance the sweetness
• Cucumber - another reason why this recipe is so freakin' hydrating
• Garlic
• Lemon and white vinegar - gives a "tang" and again, balances naturally sweet watermelon
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Mint or basil for garnish on top

See recipe card below for quantities.

I tried this watermelon soup with basil as a garnish on top the first time. Because the soup is so sweet on it's own from the watermelon, I prefer the mint on top of the soup when serving for the cooling contrast.

If you have both mint and basil, try each and see what you like best.

And note: there are no tomatoes in this gazpacho!🚫🍅

🔪How to make watermelon gazpacho without tomatoes

Making this watermelon cucumber gazpacho is so simple.

Here's the steps:

🏅Top Tips

• You don't have to peel the cucumber! No need to peel all that nutrition away. The watermelon? Yes, you'll want to remove the tough outer rind of the watermelon before blending.

• When you're ready to blend everything up, I'll either use my hand blender or the Ninja blender. Either works fine as long as your hand blender is powerful enough to handle the cucumber.

• The recipe uses about ½ of a large watermelon. So if you want, cut the leftovers into triangles, stick a popsicle stick through the rind by making a little hole with a knife (be careful!) and freeze. In a couple hours, you'll have the coolest treat around.

You can also grill triangles of watermelon you have leftover:

• Pre-heat your grill to about 350 degrees F.
• Place watermelon wedges (with the rind still on) on a clean grill and cook for about 3-4 minutes.
• Flip and grill for another 2-3 on the other side. Serve.

🍽️What to serve with watermelon gazpacho

Here's some recipes that go well with a sweet and refreshingly cold watermelon soup:

• The BEST Cast Iron Skillet Burgers {EASY RECIPE}
• Grilled Halloumi Salad with Tomato and Parsley
• Easy Quinoa Salad with Feta
• Easy Baked Salmon with Mayo
• Simple Haddock Quesadillas
• Easy Sweet and Spicy Shrimp

❓Is watermelon high in sugar?

Watermelon gets a bad rep for being labeled incorrectly as being "high in sugar."

There are only 11 grams of carbohydrates (in the form of fruit sugar or "fructose") in 1 cup of watermelon.

So where does the bad reputation come from?

I think it has to do with a mis-interpretation of the glycemic index.

📈What is the glycemic index?

The glycemic index of a food is a way to measure the impact on blood sugars.

It's measured on a scale of 1-100.

Watermelon is an interesting fruit because it has a Glycemic Index of 72, which is relatively high.

However, a typical serving size only has 5 grams of carbohydrate.

So the potential impact on blood sugars is low, when a reasonable serving size is eaten.

🙋‍♀️To account for serving size, the Glycemic Load calculation was created

Here's how you calculate glycemic load:

• Glycemic Index/100*grams of carbohydrate per serving

So in our watermelon case:

72 Glycemic Index/100*5 grams of carbohydrates = 3.6

Although the Glycemic Index is higher, the Glycemic Load is low.

So if you care about the glycemic index of foods, then you should also care about the glycemic load. 

Because, it takes into account the serving size of any particular food.

Not only that, at meals, we eat a combination of foods that further lowers the glycemic load of the meal.

Think: basmati rice, green beans and chicken breast, for example.

😄Bottom line on this glycemic index in watermelon?

When eating a few slices of watermelon on a hot day, you don't have to worry about the sugar content.

Be more interested in your whole diet vs. one food or one single dish.

If you want to see a healthy, gluten-free meal plan, check out this post: Gluten Free Diet Plan for Beginners (PDF download).

Hope you love this watermelon gazpacho like we do♥️

Now go peel those beautiful thighs off the couch and make this recipe!

~April

Then check these out:

More gluten-free summer recipes to check out

This post was originally published on August 8th, 2022. Post and recipe updated and re-published on May 15th, 2023.

📖 Recipe