Sarra Ina Garten’s cucumber soup is a cold, creamy summer soup made with Greek yogurt, half-and-half, hothouse cucumbers, red onion, scallions, fresh dill, and lemon juice, topped with cooked shrimp. There’s no cooking involved at all. Just chop, puree, chill for 2 hours, and serve. It feeds 6.
This recipe comes from Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. Ina says she loves cold cucumber soup in summer but “when I order it in a restaurant, it’s often really boring.” Her fix was Greek yogurt for body, red onion and scallions for bite, and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice right before serving. That last-minute lemon is what she says was “just the tartness needed to balance the sweet cucumbers.”
The lemon juice goes in at the very end, not during the puree step. Adding acid too early pulls moisture out of the cucumbers and thins the soup before it has time to develop flavor in the fridge. Stir it in right before you ladle the bowls and you get a bright, clean hit of tartness against the cool, creamy base.
Ina Garten Cucumber Soup Recipe
Course: SoupsCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy6
servings20
minutes260
kcalA no-cook chilled soup from Ina’s Back to Basics cookbook, built on a Greek yogurt and half-and-half base with plenty of fresh dill. The halved shrimp on top turn it from a side dish into a light summer lunch. Serve it ice-cold on the hottest day you can find.
Ingredients
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3 (7 oz / 200g) containers Greek yogurt (such as Fage Total)
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1 cup (240ml) half-and-half
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2 hothouse cucumbers, unpeeled, seeded, and chopped
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1/2 cup chopped red onion
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6 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
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4 teaspoons kosher salt
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1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
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3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, plus extra for garnish
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1/2 cup (120ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
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1/2 lb (225g) cooked large shrimp, halved horizontally
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Thin lemon slices, halved, for garnish
Directions
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Combine the base: In a large bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt, half-and-half, chopped cucumbers, red onion, scallions, salt, and pepper until well mixed.
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Puree in batches: Transfer the mixture in batches to a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Process until the cucumbers are coarsely pureed, not completely smooth. Pour each batch into a clean bowl and repeat until all the soup is processed.
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Chill the soup: Fold in the chopped dill, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours until very cold. The flavor develops as it sits.
- Finish and serve: Just before serving, stir in the lemon juice. Ladle into chilled bowls and top each serving with halved shrimp, thin lemon slices, and a sprinkle of fresh dill. Serve immediately.
FAQs
Why does the lemon juice go in at the very end?
Lemon juice serves two purposes here: it brightens the flavor and cuts through the richness of the yogurt. But acid also draws water out of vegetables, so adding it too early would thin the soup and dilute the cucumber flavor while it sits in the fridge.
Ina is specific about this: stir the lemon juice in just before serving. You get a sharp, clean tartness that wakes up the whole bowl instead of a flat, watered-down version where the lemon has already faded into the background.
Can you make cucumber soup ahead of time?
The base keeps in the fridge for up to 24 hours before you add the lemon juice and shrimp. It actually tastes better after a longer chill because the yogurt, cucumber, and dill flavors have more time to blend together.
Don’t go past a full day though, because the cucumbers start to break down and the soup gets watery. Add the lemon juice and shrimp right before serving every time, even if you made the base the night before.
Why Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Most traditional cucumber soups use sour cream, which makes them heavier and richer. Ina uses Greek yogurt because it gives the soup body and tang without weighing it down. The half-and-half adds just enough richness to round it out.
Ina also makes a Creamy Cucumber Salad in the same cookbook that uses both yogurt and sour cream together. The soup version skips the sour cream entirely so it stays lighter and works better as a first course or lunch on a hot day.
What can you use instead of shrimp?
The soup works on its own without any protein on top. If you want to keep the garnish but skip shrimp, lump crabmeat or diced avocado both pair well with the yogurt and dill base.
For a vegetarian version, a few thin slices of radish and a drizzle of good olive oil give you crunch and richness without seafood. The soup is really about the cold cucumber and dill, so whatever you put on top should stay simple and not compete.
Does this soup need to be served cold?
Yes. This is not a soup that works heated up. The Greek yogurt base will separate and curdle if you warm it, and the whole point of the recipe is that cool, refreshing temperature on a hot summer day.
Serve it in chilled bowls if you can. Just stick your serving bowls in the freezer for 10 minutes before ladling. The colder the soup stays through the meal, the better the texture and flavor hold up.
