Sharing my grandma’s authentic Borscht Recipe I grew up eating in Ukraine. This iconic beet soup is made with beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, garlic and dill. Then served with a dollop of sour cream and rye bread.
If you like borscht, be sure to try my green borscht, Instant Pot borscht or vegetarian borscht!
This is my grandma’s authentic borscht recipe I grew up with in Ukraine. She made it every week and I still have it in a regular rotation. It’s simply the best borscht recipe!
If you don’t know what is borscht, it is vibrant red color soup with cabbage, beets, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic. It can be vegan or vegetarian, as well as made with beef, pork or chicken. Then served with sour cream and dill.
It truly depends what’s in your fridge that day. That’s how this soup came about – out of necessity and hunger.
Essentially, this borscht is a superfood and a meal in itself. According to Healthline, beets are packed with iron, may help fight chronic inflammation and lower blood pressure. Then we add cabbage (vitamins, fiber and cancer fighting properties), potatoes (vitamin C and potassium), carrots (carotene) and optional protein (meat and beans).
“Borscht”, “bortsch”, “borsh” or “борщ” is a true classic soup every Ukrainian or Russian grew up eating almost weekly. It is pronounced without “t” at the end.
What Does It Taste Like?
Traditional borscht definitely tastes like beets, sweet and tangy. Earthy flavors of beets truly shine through in this dish.
It is also kind of sweet and sour soup. We add vinegar and a little bit of sugar to compliment natural sweetness of root vegetables.
And lots of fresh dill and garlic after soup is cooked. As much as you like to personal preference, and us, Ukrainians, like to add a lot!
What Type of Broth Should I Use?
- Beef bones with meat (my favorite): If you choose to add meat to borscht, first make the broth. Cover beef with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, skimming foam occasionally. After soup is ready, remove meat, separate from bones and discard bones, chop and return meat to the pot.
- Bone broth (my other favorite): This time I was ready, stopped by my local beef farm, got soup bones and made Instant Pot beef bone broth. It came out so rich, I diluted half of it with water and used for borscht. And cooked the other half with more water and same bones for to create more broth. Ukrainian in me will never die.
- Store bought broth: You can use beef soup base or chicken soup base diluted with water. It adds good flavor, I quite like it. Or use broth or stock from a carton. I highly recommend to buy organic and low sodium. What I don’t like is a lot of packaging and price but hopefully you recycle.
- Homemade broth: I often make batches of homemade chicken broth or Instant Pot chicken broth and freeze for later. It is cheaper than store-bought and is more flavorful.
- Water and beans: I also make water based borscht more often than not because it’s easy and I don’t always have beef bones on hand. In this case, I make sure to add a can of low sodium beans to up the protein, a bit more olive oil and maybe an organic bouillon cube, if I have it. As for beans, any large-sized beans like cannellini beans, red kidney beans (I love to make Instant Pot kidney beans) or pinto beans will hold the shape and add volume to this dish.
The History of Ukrainian Borshch
FAQ
What is traditional borscht made of?
What is borscht supposed to taste like?
Is borscht soup Russian or Ukrainian?
What’s the difference between beet soup and borscht?
What is Ukrainian borscht?
Vocabulary Quiz Ukrainian borscht is a hearty soup of beef and a variety of vegetables in which root vegetables and cabbage predominate, and the soup takes its characteristic deep red colour from beets. The soup is often eaten with a sour cream garnish and with pirozhki, turnovers filled with beef and onions.
What does borscht mean in English?
In English, the word “borscht” is most often associated with the soup’s variant of Ukrainian origin, made with red beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which give the dish its distinctive red color.
What is borscht made of?
Borscht was a winter soup, often made with sour flavors and topped with a dollop of sour cream. It was usually made by combining meat or bone stock with sautéed or boiled vegetables. Popular ingredients may include cabbage, carrots, onions, potatoes and/or tomatoes. Sometimes it’s puréed; sometimes it’s not.
What does borscht look like?
As it turns out, a lot. What is borscht, exactly? In its most essential form, borscht is a sour vegetable soup that bears some quintessential semblance of Russia and Ukraine. More often than not, it contains a variant of beets or beetroot, which often gives it a striking red or magenta color.