Country Style Borscht
This country style recipe for Borscht tastes just like my Grandma made. It is so easy to make, healthy and flavorful. Beet soup is perfect for using your garden fresh beets!
My homemade Borscht soup starts with garden fresh red beets, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions. To make this soup even tastier, I used my Homemade Chicken Stock. While you can use store-bought broth or stock, homemade is easy to make and loaded with flavor.
Ukrainian Borscht is considered the original recipe for traditional borscht but over the years there have been many adaptations to this delightful beet soup. Some recipes include meat or bone marrow, poultry or even beans. I prefer borscht that is meatless prepared with chicken stock and loaded with fresh beets, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. Fresh dill is a must to add sensational flavor to this soup.
Borscht is super healthy and nutritious, and this meatless version is so hearty and healthy. Serve with some crusty bread or Butternut Squash Scones for lunch or a light family dinner.
Easy to Follow steps for making borscht
Prepare the vegetables to your preference. I like the vegetables chunky, but they can also be shredded.
Chop beets into cubes
Slice carrots
Peel and cube potatoes
Shred cabbage
Dice the onion
Saute until tender.
Transfer to a large pot, add the stock, tomato paste and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 1 hour, then stir in vinegar, sugar and dill.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt.
Yes, borscht freezes very well. Allow it to cool completely, then transfer to airtight containers. It can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.
tasty recipes that use garden fresh vegetables
I grow a ton of vegetables in my garden, so come harvest time I can make these tasty recipes.
Country Style Borscht
Ingredients
- 5 cups red beets cubed
- 1/2 medium green cabbage shredded
- 1 1/2 cups carrots sliced
- 3 cups potatoes cubed
- 1 cup onion finely diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 6 tablespoons tomato paste
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1/4 cup fresh dill chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven or soup pot, heat the olive oil and butter.
- Add prepared beets, cabbage, carrots, potatoes and onions and sauté until tender. About 15 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste and chicken stock.
- Add the bay leaves.
- Season with salt and pepper. Taste to season as amount of salt used can vary depending on how salty the chicken broth is.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.
- Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
- Next add the sugar, vinegar and dill.
- Simmer for additional 15 minutes.
- Serve with dollop of sour cream.
Nutrition
The colour is just so gorgeous it’s irresistible! I love that you’ve share a classic country-style version!
Thank you Nagi.
Delicious, simple and healthy! Great late summer and fall recipe. Thanks!
Your welcome Elizabeth.
Hi, Laureen. I’ve never cooked borsht soup before but my wife has been bugging me to give it a try. We both love beets! I do pretty well all the cooking. Perhaps this is a really naive question – do you peel the beets before cutting them up? Thanks. Looks delicious!
Hi Dave, wonderful that you cook, I do wish my hubby did some, Yes you do peel the beets.
You can boil in water for awhile so you can just peel the skin off first. Just like making pickled beets. Or, Ijustuse a peeler and cut up with a very sharp knife.
I have a dedicated vegetable scrubbie now. Insteadof peeling the beets I just scrub the outer skin until the rough/brownish parts are gone. Rationale is that the skin has tons of nutrients and it is quicker/easier than peeling them. Just don’t use the scrubbie for cleaning dishes etc.
thanks for the great tip Kendra.
I like it better without the sugar( personal preference) and next time think I will also leave out the potato; but very nice recipe very similar to a fave from an elderly Ukraninn friend’s! ?
Adapting a recipe to your liking is the way to go with any recipe 🙂
I love this recipe so much! This is the third time I am making this soup and it is almost exactly like my mother’s (she uses beef and beef stock in hers). I also love to add garlic, but otherwise this is very much a true Russian borscht as well! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Christina, that’s quite a compliment to be almost like your Mother’s. I love recipes that bring back special memories 🙂
I used this recipe every fall for my fresh beets and fresh produce from friends. I can’t tell you how amazing it is!! I don’t like cabbage so I omit that but everything else is as is. I also half way cook the beets so I don’t have to peel them!! Enjoy
Excellent soup, made exactly the way you have it. I think the potatoes melt the flavours together.
Simple and delicious, I use heavy surgical gloves and peel beets with a pairing knife, cut up on glass cutting board for easy clean up. I always put in extra cabbage and beets and my family and friends love this meal. I also cook any meet I want to use separately and adding at the end so it doesn’t overpower the fantastic beet taste.