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.
I like to think chilled soups were invented for people like me who like to eat soup all year round. Beautiful recipe and I’ll be adding this to my recipe book.
Janette, I could eat soups year round too!
This is actually a traditional summer favourite in Bulgaria called ‘tarator’. We don’t blend it and just to make it more yummy we add some crushed walnuts and finish with some olive oil. 🙂
Well that sounds positively delicious with the walnuts and olive oil! I’ve never heard of Tarator before, but I sort of based it on thinned down tzatziki.
CONGRATS CYNTHIA!!!! Your fantastic Cold Cucumber Soup is being featured this week at MUNCHING MONDAYS!! Pl. spread the wonderful news. Warmest, Nic
Congrats we have featured you on our link party #TheWeekendSocial ! Thanks so much for sharing a fantastic recipe! We look forward to seeing you again tonight 9PM EST.
Heidy
Wow Heidy! I’m so honored, thanks so much for hosting!
Sounds so refreshing on a hot summer’s day. Love the ingredients. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays Blog hop. I twitted and pinned.
Thank you for hosting!
Just want to let you know that I have chosen your post as one my features for this weeks Real Food Fridays blog hop. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks marla!
I’m going to assume that the cucumbers are supposed to go into the food processor as well ?
Yes! Thanks, I’ve amended it!
can you freeze the soup minus the yogurt and add yogurt before serving
that’s a good question…I think I’d just like it fresh…not sure how it would hold up frozen.
Could the greek yogurt be replaced with a non-dairy yogurt? If so, what would you recommend?
Hmm, I actually don’t know how that would affect the taste, especially since the yogurt is such an integral part of it. I’ve never tasted a non-dairy yogurt.
Sounds delicious. My garden is just starting to have cucumbers now and the weather is hot.What kind of cucumbers did you use because 2 English cucumbers will be much more than regular field cucumbers. Could you give me an approximate number of cups of sliced cucumber please.
good question! Since it’s just a soup, I don’t think it makes a big difference if it’s not exact. I’ll measure next time I make it for sure, but 2 english cucumbers while longer also tend to be a bit skinner than regular cucumbers.
Once you taste it, you can decide if it’s too “cucumber-y” and add a bit more yogurt! Although I love cucumbers so I wouldn’t mind it with extra cucumbers!
Fun recipe! Almost like eating tzatziki sauce… which I love. Haha.
Yes! My daughters drink tzatziki sauce too!
Looks so special! It’s hot here, and I love this for a simple supper!
Yes it was over 100 here today, so i could have used this soup!
Such a simple, yet refreshing and filling soup! Loved the touch of ground cumin!
Not everyone’s a fan of cumin, but I love just a hint.
This soup isn’t just tasty and delicious, but it’s also elegant! Thank you!
Thank you! A nice way to start a summer supper.
What a yummy and refreshing soup! I love cucumbers and this looks so perfect for hot summer days.
You know? I have never ever made or tried cold cucumber salad. But your recipe makes me wanna have it right now. For sure will be making this, since we have so many cucumbers in the garden this year.
I love cold soups in the summer! Perfect for excess cucumbers!
We get so many cucumbers from our farm share this time of year. Can’t wait to try this!
I wish I could grow cucumbers!
I love savory cold soups like this in the summer. This one is such a winner!
I love soups year round and this one hits the spot on a hot day!
This soup must be such a life savor this summer. Cold, refreshing, healthy AND delicious! Isn’t it what a real summer recipe is all about?! Love it!
Absolutely! I love soup any time of year!
I love cold summer in the summer especially strawberry. But, I’ve never tried cucumber soup and it sounds so refreshing. It’s definitely something I need to try soon before summer ends.
I’ve never tried strawberry soup! I’ll bet that’s great for dessert!
I love how refreshing the cucumber is and that this is a no-cook soup! Perfect during warm weather 🙂
I’m all about no-cook in the summer!
I’ve been looking for good cold soup recipes! Totally saving this one.
It’s been over 100 here this week, so we need cold soups!
This looks so satisfying and refreshing! Perfect for a hot day!
I need to try this, the Frenchman loves cucumbers! It looks so light and refreshing for summer, too!
I think cucumbers are one of my all time favorite vegetables (fruit actually!)
I’m making your cold cucumber soup for the 2nd time obviously if I’m making it for the second time that says it all!!! There are really not a bunch of ways to do a whole lot with cucumbers & this is perfect on the end of a hot day, very refreshing I like the greek yougurt in it. Is there a reason you blend it due to just diceing it, ? I didnt blend mine just chopped it all it was the bomb, more like a dip! Haha soup blend,! Dip chop!!!!!!! Awesome either way
I agree…sometimes I don’t even sweat the cucumbers…I just blend the whole thing!