27 Cold Soups to Enjoy on Hot Summer Days

By Megan Soll
Updated June 01, 2020
Credit: Eric Wolfinger
When the weather heats up, we’re always looking for something a little lighter to serve for lunch and dinner. Whether it’s simply too hot to turn on the oven or grilling fatigue has you yearning for something easier, getting a few cold soup recipes in rotation is a huge help. Dine al fresco in the backyard with a tasty gazpacho or add a corn soup as an appetizer to round out a weekday meal. We’ve rounded up plenty of cold soup recipes to whip up at home for yourself, your family, or your chosen companions during the summer months. Read on for some of our favorites.
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Smoky Salmorejo

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This chilled, no-cook Spanish soup is similar to gazpacho but blended instead of chopped. Smoked olive oil adds meatiness to the vegetarian dish.

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Chilled Spring Pea Soup

Credit: Quentin Bacon
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Daniel Boulud puts this deliciously light and clean-tasting soup—a mix of sweet peas, favas, pea shoots, snap peas and snow peas—on the menu each spring. To make it even easier, skip the labor-intensive fresh favas, as well as the snow peas and pea shoots. Instead, just use sugar snaps and frozen baby peas.

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Chilled Avocado Soup Topped with Crab

Credit: Bobby Fisher
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F&W Best New Chefs 2017 Rico Torres and Diego Galicia created this zesty, creamy cold soup. Their restaurant's region is the largest and most important avocado producer in Mexico, so this dish is a fitting start to the meal. The chilled soup, which is topped with fiery, crisp serranos and sweet crab, is a nice alternative to a classic tomato gazpacho.

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Chilled Peach Soup with Fresh Goat Cheese

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Chef Jason Franey makes this sweet and tangy summer soup by marinating fresh peaches overnight with dried apricots, honey, vinegar and olive oil and then pureeing the mixture. Since peaches can vary in flavor, Franey suggests seasoning with vinegar to taste as you puree.

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Spicy Avocado-Cucumber Soup

Credit: PHOTO © JOHN KERNICK
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This tangy, luscious soup is an excellent make-ahead dish: Simply puree everything except the garnish, then chill. For a milder version, scale back on the serrano.

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Chilled Fennel-Grapefruit Velouté with Lemon Olive Oil

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Chef Hiroki Yoshitake cleverly uses grapefruit oil to boost the flavor in his chilled four-ingredient soup. Lemon olive oil is a terrific alternative, and easier to find in the US. The citrus oil is used in two different ways: for sautéing fennel before pureeing it with grapefruit juice, and for garnishing the soup before serving.

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Chilled Persian Yogurt Soup

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“Ask anyone on my staff their favorite summer dish, and they’ll tell you it’s this one,” says Hoss Zaré. Filled with herbs, nuts and raisins, the soup is delicious with grilled bread.

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Chilled Tomato Soup with Goat-Milk Yogurt

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge make yogurt from goat milk. They blend the tangy yogurt into this herb-flecked soup.

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Chilled Edamame Soup with Ginger Crème Fraîche

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One of the basic rules of pairing wines with food is that rich dishes match well with wines that have good acidity. This silky soup—a simple puree of onion, edamame and chicken stock—is no exception.

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Tangy Green Zebra Gazpacho

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Green Zebras are heirloom tomatoes with a striped pattern; they are sweet like red tomatoes but give this gazpacho a lovely jade hue. To make the chilled soup extra tangy, use tomatillos or unripe red tomatoes instead of Green Zebras.

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White Gazpacho

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This refreshing gazpacho—made with apples, grapes, almonds and cucumber—is a perfect balance of sweet and tangy.

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Almost-Instant Chilled Borscht

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Fresh beet juice and shredded beets are the secret to this ultra-fresh, super-quick take on borscht.

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Chilled Sour Cherry Soup with Fennel & Sour Cream

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Traditional Hungarian chilled sour cherry soup is sweet enough to be a dessert. Nicolaus Balla blends fennel into his more savory version and serves the beautiful pink soup as a first course. “Fennel might be my favorite vegetable,” he says.

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Tangy Cucumber Soup

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To turn this tangy and refreshing yogurt-based soup into a terrific light meal, simply add poached shrimp.

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Chilled English Pea Soup with Crab and Meyer Lemon

Credit: Eric Wolfinger
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This refreshing, verdant English pea and watercress soup is the perfect base for a zesty crab salad. Any lump crabmeat or cooked, chilled shrimp would also work.

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Tomato Water Gazpacho


Credit: Greg DuPree
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This refreshing gazpacho highlights Chef Michael Gallina’s zero-waste approach: The base of it is built on the tomato seeds and pulp, plus the brine of pickled green tomatoes, from an elegant amuse-bouche of tomato and watermelon bites.

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Cucumber-Avocado Salad with Gooseberry Piri Piri Soup

Credit: Greg DuPree
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Kwame Onwuachi’s salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, gooseberries, avocado, and mint might seem simple at first, but with its Trinidadian Green Seasoning and a tangy, gazpacho-like Gooseberry Piri Piri, this 30-minute recipe is one of the best things you’ll make this year.

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Mint and Pea Soup

Credit: © Andrew Montgomery
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Mint gives this soup a wonderfully fresh taste, and it makes a perfect lunch with some bread and cheese on the side.

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Cherry Gazpacho

Credit: Christopher Testani
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This truly delicious gazpacho is inspired by Andalusian chef Dani García, who includes sweet cherries in the mix, then tops the summery soup with shaved goat cheese “snow.”

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Zucchini and Buttermilk Soup

Credit: Greg DuPree
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This version of okroshka, a Russian chilled soup, is garnished with chopped vegetables, eggs, pickles, and fish roe. The tangy buttermilk in this recipe highlights zucchini’s mild sweetness and light vegetal flavor.

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Corn Potage

Credit: Greg DuPree
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A riff on Taiwanese corn soup, Chef Jonathan Yao’s Corn Potage soothes with its deep flavor and silky-smooth texture.

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Watermelon Gazpacho

Credit: Buff Strickland
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This cool, sweet-tangy riff on the Spanish staple has both tomato and watermelon, as well as fresh herbs and lime juice to keep things bright.

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Green Corn Soup

Credit: Con Poulos
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This silky, cool corn soup gets its great flavor and fun color from spinach and jalapeños, brightened up with a touch of fresh lime juice.

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Green Gazpacho with Shrimp

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The Old Country gazpacho got its color from cucumbers, and once you've tried it you'll understand why the green version is still preferred over the red in some quarters.

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Ajo Blanco with Crab and Green Grapes

Credit: © John Kernick
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Chef Katie Button’s version of this classic Spanish soup is jaw-droppingly silky thanks to her homemade almond milk. The crab adds a Southern twist.

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Chilled Tomato Soup with 
Parsley-Olive Salsa


Credit: ABBY HOCKING
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Pizzana chef Daniele Uditi’s ultrasilky gazpacho-like soup with red bell peppers comes with a chunky salsa topper.

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Chilled Piquillo Pepper Soup with Fresh Bean Salad

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This light, refreshing soup combines sweet red bell peppers with more intensely flavored roasted piquillo peppers. The lemon juice and mint keep things extra light for the summer season.

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By Megan Soll