This Traditional Polish beet borsch soup is a very easy and delicious soup, made with only 4 ingredients in just 20 minutes! Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, you will find yourself making this soup over and over again.
Polish Borscht Soup Recipe
Every woman from a Slavic country knows how to make a good Borsch (or Borscht)! And there are many variations, but the soup always needs to be red (not pink but really red), and it always contains beetroots!
It’s said that every Slavic woman makes a different version of the Borsch soup, so no 2 soups are identical. In our family, we usually make the Russian version of this soup with cabbage, but the one that I’m sharing with you today is actually Polish and much simpler than the Russian Borsch. I make it all the time as it’s very delicious and really easy to make too!
How to buy beets for Borsch soup?
The best beets that you can get for a Borsch soup are fresh, organic and dark in color. The most common variety is called Boltardy, and these are perfect for Borscht. You can always use Pablo beets, and Kestrel variety. Chiogga beets do NOT work for borsch, save them for salads!
How to peel and slice beets?
- Wear gloves to peel and slice beets, as they can stain your hands and won’t wash away for a couple of days.
- Cut off the tops and the stringy bits, then peel the skin using a potato peeler.
- Using a sharp knife, slice into medium sized matchsticks.
How to make Polish Borsch?
A simple soup made with really fresh dark red beets, homemade vegetable stock, garlic, salt and pepper. I also add sugar and lemon juice to help preserve the red color of the soup.
There are different ways to prepare the beets for this Polish beet soup:
- Wrap the beets in foil and roast them in the oven until they’re soft.
- Slice fresh beets and boil them in water until they’re soft.
- Or just use canned beets (that are not pickled), I do this when I can’t find fresh beets sold anywhere.
Polish Borsch variations
Borsch may include meat or fish, but my version is vegan/vegetarian. And it’s served either hot or cold with a spoon of sour cream (smetana)!
Other versions of this soup usually include more vegetables, such as onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots and tomatoes (such as the Russian version). But this Polish version is usually eaten with boiled potatoes, where you separately cook the potatoes and slice them, and then put them at the bottom of your soup bowl, pouring the soup over them.
Polish soups are usually chunky, so pieces of cooked vegetables are always enjoyed in the soups, except for some modern Polish recipes where vegetables are actually blended and pureed. But a Polish soup is always chunky and so is this beet soup.
How to get that vibrant red color?
- The reason why I add sugar and lemon juice to the soup, is to avoid getting a pale borsch soup. Cooking the beets in water or stock for long may result in a brown soup, and since a good borsch needs to be red just add a little bit of sugar and lemon juice at the end of the cooking process and mix everything with a spoon.
- Or, add white vinegar to the beets at the end of the cooking process and that should help preserve the vibrant red color.
Looking for more Polish recipes? Try my Polish apple pancakes!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Polish Beet Borsch Soup
Ingredients
- 2 large (2) beets cut into match sticks
- 4 cups (1 litre) (4 cups) vegetable stock
- 1 clove (1 clove) garlic minced or crushed
- 1 teaspoon (1 tsp) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon (1 tbsp) lemon juice
- salt and pepper
- dill or parsley, to garnish
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F (175°C) degrees. Wrap each beet in foil and roast for about 45 minutes.
- When beets are cooked, let them chill then peel and slice to julienne.
- In a pot, bring the vegetable stock to a boil, add the minced garlic along with the beets, sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 15 around minutes.
- Serve warm over cooked potatoes or with toasted bread, top with sour cream (smetana) and garnish with dill or any greens. The soup can also be served cold.
Notes:
- To help preserve the vibrant red color, add white 1 tbsp of white vinegar to the soup at the end of the cooking process and let it boil for a minute. Or add sugar and lemon juice.
- Serve over boiled potatoes, or with fresh crusty bread.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
This recipe first appeared on the blog in May 2016 but was updated with new images and more info in September 2019.
Dina says
Hello, interesting variation on the theme of Polish borscht, but I would like to say that borscht originally, traditionally is made with beet sourdough ( that is, pickled in brine, fermented beets). This is the basis of borscht. No vinegar or citric acid is used. I remember in my family home we ate such borscht hot with marjoram and pepper, boiled potatoes separately served, of course. Such borscht is made on meat and vegetable broth, a little carrot is also added. The important thing is that each region of Poland has a slightly different version ( there is also a cold version and a thick version with beans).
Thank you for your version 🙂
Best regards
Frank says
What is a serving size?
Diana says
Hi Frank, this recipe makes 2 generous portions. Each about 2 cups (500ml) with beets. Enjoy!
Nelson says
This is very similar to borsch that I learned to make from my grandmother. Since lemons and many vegetables to waste making stock were not easy to come by in the old country she used plain water and citric acid (a substitute for lemons tartness), sugar , salt and pepper no garlic but added potatoes and sometimes cabbage, beets were easy to get. Can’t get much simpler than this.
Today I make borsch with plain water, a lemon cut in half plus a bit of citric acid, beets cubed or shredded, potatoes cubed, sugar, salt and pepper, and sometimes cabbage bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes, serve chilled with yogurt or sour cream.
Good hints in article particularly the types of beets to buy.
Anon says
Your website is wonderful.
The design is clean, and I really like that you condensed the instructions down to a readable, printable format at the end.
Being able to click the box to check ingredients off is a fantastic idea.
Good recipe too!
Shirley Tomchuk says
excellent soup! Just like Gramma makes ☺️