Cold Cucumber Soup
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Cold cucumber soup is an easy-to-make, refreshing cold soup, lovely to sip on hot summer days. It’s also a perfect appetizer, or a light, healthy main dish. It is one of our favorite summertime soups, and requires zero cooking which makes it perfect when the thought of hot food is too much to bear. (This post was originally published on July 28th, 2014.)
Ingredients for cold cucumber soup
- 2 cups plain yogurt. Full-fat Greek yogurt is best.
- 2 English cucumbers peeled and sliced
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- Fresh lemon or lime juice
- 1-3 teaspoons fresh dill chopped
- Kosher salt to taste
- Pinch white pepper
How to make chilled cucumber soup
Use a full-fat Greek yogurt for a great no-cook, low-carb, and keto-friendly appetizer. Each 1/2 cup serving has only 5 carbs.
To prepare, peel and slice the cucumbers in half. If there are a lot of seeds. It’s best to remove them.
To remove the seeds, I like to use an apple corer.
Next, “sweat” the cucumbers, by sprinkling them with salt, to get rid of excess water. While it sounds counter-intuitive, the salt brings some of the moisture to the surface.
Rinse the salt off with cold water and pat the cucumbers dry. While this step isn’t crucial, especially if you’re going to be eating the soup right away, I think it makes for a thicker and creamier soup.
Put the yogurt, cucumbers, dill, and all of the other ingredients into a food processor or immersion blender, and puree on high speed until smooth.
Adjust the seasonings. Since the cucumbers will have salt on them from the sweating process, wait until after blending to check seasonings. Chill the cucumber soup in an airtight container for at least an hour before serving.
I like to serve small portions in shot glasses or small bowls with diced cucumber and fresh dill to garnish. These tiny spoons are also great tasting spoons.
Looking for more no-cook dishes perfect for a hot day?
Tomato Gazpacho is another cold soup recipe that makes great use of peak-season produce!
Vichyssoise is a chilled version of the French Leek and Potato soup.
Iced Borscht with sour cream is a traditional Russian chilled soup.
Mediterranean Rice Salad with Fresh Herbs
Tomato salad with fresh mint leaves
Cold Cucumber Soup
Ingredients
- 16 ounces plain Greek yogurt full fat
- 2 English cucumbers peeled, seeded, and sliced
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 clove garlic minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 lemon juiced (or lime)
- 1-3 teaspoons fresh dill chopped
- Kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Peel cucumbers and slice lengthwise. Remove seeds and slice.
- Lay sliced cucumbers on a sheet pan covered with 2 layers of paper towel. Salt cucumbers liberally. Let them “sweat”, about 20 minutes, to release moisture.
- In a blender or food processor, blend cucumbers, yogurt, shallot, garlic, fresh dill, lime or lemon juice and ground cumin.
- Puree until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Check seasoning and add salt if necessary. Chill at least an hour before serving.
This is a delicious soup for summer, which seems to last for half the year here in south Texas! My family requests it frequently, and it always seems like a treat.
I find that taking the time to taste and make slight adjustments to salt and lime juice, as suggested, makes a huge difference.
oh, yeah, Texas has its own kind of weather! Perfect!
How long would you say you can safely keep leftovers?
I’d say 2-3 days?
Love this recipe. Great for a warm summer day