Gazpacho when you don’t have fresh tomatoes
Fresh, ripe tomato is gazpacho’s key ingredient number 1.
So, what if you don’t have good ones at hand?
In this post I’ll show you how to make a gazpacho drink that will satisfy your craving for gazpacho when don’t have fresh tomatoes.
Refreshing, with a perfect combination of savory taste and tanginess, packed with veggie goodness…
No wonder gazpacho is one of the most popular cold soups in the world!
And as you can drink it from a glass, it might also be considered as a beverage, like a sort of savory smoothie (at least, I do).
But what if you don’t have good tomatoes at hand?
In this article I’ll show you some tricks on how to make gazpacho drinks even without fresh tomatoes.
Can you make gazpacho from canned tomatoes or from tomato juice?
Bad news first: gazpacho’s taste comes from the freshness of its ingredients, so, unfortunately, if you use canned tomatoes or tomato juice, it won’t taste like real gazpacho.
That’s why any kitchen lover (and any person in Spain) will tell you to please never ever use anything other than fresh tomatoes to make gazpacho.
Even as a person who tends to prefer the easiest recipe versions, I agree there’s a HUGE difference between the taste of gazpacho made with fresh tomatoes and if done with tomato juice.
My theory is that this difference in taste and texture comes because juice and canned tomatoes are pasteurized to make them last longer on store shelves.
You can even experience this difference when buying already-made-gazpacho: the non-pasteurized versions taste much better than the pasteurized ones.
That said, as someone who was raised in South Spain but now lives in a Central European country, I know firsthand how difficult (and expensive) it is to gather enough good tomatoes to make gazpacho.
And what’s more, it’s near impossible to get the adequate ones for gazpacho like these juicy heirloom tomatoes:
So, for those of us who can’t afford big amounts of fresh tomatoes but still want to make a homemade gazpacho, let me tell you a little secret: I’ve done some experimenting with tomato juice…
Is it as good as real gazpacho?
Not by far.
But the good news is, if you are okay with “gazpacho-like tomato juice” (which I am okay with, because it’s delicious!), there are recipes that will allow you to enjoy something like this tasty veggie drink in a couple of minutes.
How to make gazpacho with canned tomato
I can’t (yet) speak from personal experience, but it looks like some people substitute tomato for diced canned tomato.
In my opinion, this recipe looks good enough to give it a try: no fuss “gazpacho” recipe.
How to make gazpacho with tomato juice
Let’s make it clear one more time: this is NOT an authentic gazpacho (and please don’t tell my Spanish friends and family I shared this recipe).
But if you want a juice that tastes similar to gazpacho when you don’t have access to fresh tomatoes, you can get a decent alternative to your gazpacho cravings by substituting tomato with tomato juice.
Vegetable juice (like V8) also works.
Time needed: 10 minutes
How to make a delicious gazpacho drink from tomato juice
- Gather ingredients
You’ll need tomato juice (vegetable juice also works), cucumber, green pepper, a peeled garlic clover, white vinegar and olive oil.
*Tip: if you happen to have some fresh tomato, adding it will enhance the taste of this juice (even if it’s very little or not the ripest one)
- Blend
Blend the chopped vegetables together with the juice until smooth.
Optional – if you find your gazpacho-juice too runny, you can add some bread.
I also like adding chickpeas instead of bread: adding chickpeas to gazpacho is in no way traditional in Spain, but since this is already a very free variation, I include it here as a further secret suggestion.
- Chill before serving
Taste and add some seasoning if needed (salt, celery salt…).
Serve cold, but don’t add ice to avoid the “gazpacho juice” getting too watery.
Other substitutions for this recipe
While the taste and texture won’t be the same as for a gazpacho made with raw veggies, you will get a taste similar to gazpacho with this alternatives:
- Tomato:
The closest alternative for real tomato are tomato juice, vegetable juice (like V8) and canned diced tomato.
Check below for the exact equivalents when switching fresh tomato for juice or canned tomato. - Garlic:
You can swap raw garlic for some garlic powder – 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder equals 1 garlic clove. - Green pepper:
Original gazpacho calls for green pepper, but red bell pepper also works for this recipe. If you don’t have any pepper, you can also skip the pepper altogether. - Bread (optional ingredient):
Using tomato juice makes the ”gazpacho” very runny, so while gazpacho usually doesn’t contain bread, you may want to add some when making gazpacho-like-juice.
I like adding some cooked chickpeas instead of bread to make this drink thicker: it also tastes good and in my opinion, it makes the drink more satiating. - White wine vinegar:
I strongly recommend sticking to white vinegar. Furthermore, I encourage to use a good sherry vinegar if you have some.
But if you don’t have any, you may also use red wine vinegar or even lemon juice or lime juice instead.
The ingredient I haven’t found any good alternative for are cucumbers.
FAQs to replace the fresh tomatoes in gazpacho
1 kg fresh tomatoes can be substituted for:
a) 28-ounce canned tomato
b) 800 gr. canned tomato
This means you could make this gazpacho recipe for 4-5 servings with a 28-ounce canned tomato or two 400 gr. cans.
Make sure you use diced tomato and not cooked tomato purée.
You can substitute 3 tomatoes or 250 gr. (half pound) for a cup of tomato juice.
While authentic gazpacho is made with fresh tomatoes, if you want a drink with a similar taste, both tomato juice and vegetable juice that contains tomato may be an option.
The gazpacho-like taste comes from the blend of the tomato base with cucumber and the decent accent of raw garlic (rounded of course with some white wine vinegar and olive oil), so there is not such a big difference whether you use tomato juice or vegetable juice as long as it contains tomato.
Tomato juice gazpacho recipe
Equipment
- Blender or food processor Any type works
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Tomato juice (or vegetable juice such as V8)
- 2 Oz. Cucumber (50 gr.)
- 1 Oz. Green pepper (around 20 gr.)
- ½-1 Peeled garlic clover
- 2 tsp. white wine vinegar (choose Sherry wine vinegar if you can)
- 1 Tbsp. Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- -Wash your veggies and chop them.– Peeling the cucumber is optional (unless the skin is very thick: then please peel it). You only need to remove the seeds if they are from the hard sort.– Peel the garlic and remove stem.
- Put all the ingredients in a blending safe recipient and blend until smooth.
- Serve cold. Adding ice cubes is not recommended.
Notes
- If you have some fresh tomato (even if it’s only a couple of cherry tomatoes), adding it to the blend will make this juice much more original-like.
- I like drinking my gazpacho, but if you are looking for a more soup-like result, try adding some bread to the ingredient list.
Nutrition
I hope these little tricks and my recipe to make “gazpacho” from tomato juice allows you to enjoy a gazpacho-similar taste even when you don’t have real tomatoes!
Cool recipe! I love the idea of making gazpacho with tomato juice!
Where I live we have plenty of tomatoes, but still, I find it very convenient to make a gazpacho juice with tomato juice. Delicious! Great pictures by the way!
Thank you so much 🙂