Healthy Cold Soup Recipes

Avocado is the star of this light, flavorful soup served chilled to take away summer's heat.

This take on gazpacho replaces the tomato with melon or grapes for a sweeter taste and gets its silky texture from Marcona almonds. If you can't find them, use skinless almonds and add 1 tablespoon oil and a pinch more salt.

This fresh take on gazpacho--a chilled tomato soup--is spiked with chopped chipotle peppers, which add a deep, smoky heat to the dish. The cilantro-yogurt swirl balances the heat from the chiles and makes a beautiful garnish. Serve this soup as a starter for dinner on a warm summer evening..

Add pizzazz to any meal by starting it off with this refreshing gazpacho soup, topped with a delicious black bean and corn salsa.

You can substitute dill, cilantro or basil for the mint in this refreshing cucumber-lemon soup. An easy way to make crushed ice is to fill clean milk or juice cartons with water and freeze. Then place the carton in a large plastic bag and smash with a hammer.

This cold cucumber-dill soup has a surprisingly seductive taste. The secret is that both the broth and the yogurt garnish are loaded with fresh (never dried) dill and chives. Serve as a starter or a light lunch entree. The recipe calls for “handfuls” of herbs; if you are relying on the grocery store instead of the garden or farmers' market, you'll need about one large bunch or one to two 2- to 3-ounce packets. Recipe by Nancy Baggett for EatingWell.

Delightful and refreshing, this chilled soup works as an appetizer, dessert or snack. If using frozen blueberries, cover the pan in Step 1 to bring the cold blueberry mixture to a boil more quickly.

Though gazpacho originated as a soup made with bread, today tomato gazpacho recipes are often made with diced vegetables, tomato juice and seasonings, and no bread at all. It's a different approach, but one that's just as delicious, especially with a little seaside flair from Old Bay seasoning and lobster or shrimp floated on top. If you don't have time to cook lobster, buy precooked lobster or ask at the fish counter to have it cooked while you wait.

Yellow tomatoes have a lower acidity than their red cousins and several varieties are among the earliest in the season to ripen. Here they combine with cool cucumber and yellow bell peppers in a refreshing salsa. Grilled shrimp make this dish a more full-flavored and elegant version of shrimp cocktail.

The grains of rice disappear into the yogurt as it's simmered and stirred, thickening the soup and giving it substance. Serve warm or chilled, depending on the weather.

Forget the tomatoes--this green gazpacho is full of cucumber, green bell pepper, green grapes and lots of fresh herbs.

Cold fruit soups are a refreshing end to a summer's evening.

This tomatillo-based gazpacho is gorgeously green with a tart flavor that complements the sweet shrimp and salty olives. Make this meatless by substituting ricotta salata or feta for the shrimp. Serve with: Cheese quesadillas.

There's no reason to only use cucumbers raw--they are wonderful sautéed then pureed with avocado for a silken-textured soup that's good warm or cold.

Swirling soups of different colors together, in this case cantaloupe and honeydew, creates a stunning presentation.