But have you ever had white gazpacho? Now don't get me wrong, I will take a tomato gazpacho any day and this is another traditional gazpacho that is smooth, creamy and incredibly refreshing. Gazpacho blanco is made with almonds, sweet grapes, cool cucumbers and a bit of spice to balance it all together. The bright simple colors are beautiful and the flavors are perfectly layered.
White Gazpacho AKA Ajo Blanco
"Ajo Blano" is also what this white gazpacho is called meaning "white garlic" and is filled with delicious flavors of almonds, sweet grapes and traditional vinegar and bread. Both the bread and almonds help "thicken" the soup, but because I was craving something smooth, I moved the puree through a fine sieve, which holds all the nut pieces and grape skins. To garnish, I added bright lemon zest, thin slivers of green grape , fresh mint and a pinch of cayenne. The balance of the sweet, bright and spicy is out of this world.
A Few Gazpacho Making Tips
A few tips when making this white gazpacho, or any gazpacho really. Chill, chill chill. The colder the soup, the better and more refreshing it is! if you have the time, pour some of the soup in ice cube trays to freeze and add those to the soup before serving. You can also freeze grapes which are absolutely delicious and if you don't snack on them before they run out, add that to the soup mixture or as garnish to keep it cool.
More Gazpacho Recipes to Try:
White Gazpacho with Almonds and Grapes
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ small loaf of day old Italian or French bread roughly torn
- 1 cup almonds (blanched prefered but not necessary)
- 2 cups green grapes
- ¼ sweet onion roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 yellow chile seeds removed and chopped
- 3 Persian cucumbers peeled and chopped
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Olive oil
- 1 cup Water to help thin soup (amount may vary)
Garnish
- Mint leaves
- Pinch of cayenne
- Lemon zest
- Green grapes sliced thin
Instructions
- First, tear up the pieces of bread and soak them in a bowl with water for about 10 minutes.
- In a food processor, blend almonds until they as are as fine as possible. You can also chose to blanch the almonds before hand and remove the skins, but it's not necessary.
- Squeeze out the water from the bread and add that to the almonds in the food processor as well as the grapes, onion, garlic, chile, cucumbers, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper, vinegar and a good drizzle of olive oil.
- Start with ½ cup of water and blend until everything is incorporated. Add more water as necessary (I used about 1 cup) and adjust seasoning. More salt? More vinegar, etc.
- When done, pour a ladle of soup through a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl and use a spatula or large spoon to push the soup through. Then take the solids and blend in the food processor again and continue to strain through a sieve, extracting as much liquid as possible.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours. Garnish with lemon zest, cayenne and grapes and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published July, 2014 and updated July 2021 with added nutritional info.
Manu says
I love Ajo Blanco, such a classic and delicious summer recipe! And I love to eat it with grapes too! YUM!
Hezzi-D says
I would never think to put grapes into a gazpacho but the pairing of flavors sounds delicious!
Alaiyo Kiasi-Barnes says
This is quite a beautiful dish. Just looking at it makes me feel cooler. This is a wonderful addition to the Summer Chillin' lineup today!
Alaiyo
Shannon @VillageGirlBlog says
This combination has to be the most refreshing thing ever! Sounds fabulous!!
Liz says
Someone raved about this white gazpacho...and I remember looking up the recipe! Your gorgeous photos have piqued my interest again!!!
Lea Ann (Cooking On The Ranch) says
Absolutely beautiful soup. Pinned, tweeted and lusted after. 🙂
Sarah says
Never heard of white gazpacho but this is awesome!
Marion@Life Tastes Good says
Beautiful photos! I love the mix of flavors in this! I've been craving gazpacho recently, so this would be perfect!!
Betsy @ Desserts Required says
I LOVE your brilliant tip about freezing some of the soup in ice cube trays! WOOHOO!!
Marlene @Nosh My Way says
All the colors of the rainbow in a bowl of gazpacho. Yum. I love your white version. I wonder if a purple cabbage puree would fair well as a gazpacho
Tara says
Gorgeous photos, stunning soup!!
Laura Dembowski says
I never thought I'd like gazpacho because I'm not a big fan of tomatoes, but this sounds heavenly. I love all the flavors and how simple it is to make!
Simply Gourmet says
The soup looks amazing. I will have to give this a try.
Julie @ Texan New Yorker says
Beautiful! I've only had red gazpachos so far, I'm going to have to try yours, it looks wonderful!
Cheryl says
I've never had Gazpacho, but your pictures are so pretty it makes me want to give it a try right away! HUGS
Serena | Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch says
I love that this is white! Such a gorgeous Gazpacho and the grapes are a great surprise!
Shaina says
Oh this sounds SO yummy! I've never had a white gazpacho before. What a great recipe for summer!
susan @ the wimpy vegetarian says
I love the flavors in this soup!! Particularly the use of the grapes. I imagine this would really brighten the soup.
Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen says
That soup is stunning and sounds amazing!!
Alice says
talk about amazing!! this looks fantastic! Can't wait to give it a try, although I'm weary on adding bread... also can't wait to see your other gazpachos! how are you going to do a rainbow one??
Samantha says
Hi Alice...don't be weary of adding the bread. Its a traditional ingredients to help thicken the soup...but you dont have to if you really don't want to! I'm still thinking about the rainbow gazpacho..maybe layering it???
Amy Kim (@kimchi_mom) says
I love garlic and this soup sounds so good! Gorgeous photos...love the touches of green!