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.
Preparing the fresh beets for soup
- Wash the beets and cut the greens from the beets, leaving about 1 inch of the stem on.
- Place the beets in a large pot of boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes until slightly tender. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your beets. You should be able to pierce the beets with a fork, yet they should still feel firm.
- Remove from the boiling water and immerse in ice-cold water. Peel with a vegetable peeler.
Pro tip: cover your counter-top with a plastic tablecloth and wear rubber gloves. Beets can stain!
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
All of the vegetable ingredients are given in cups. It would have been nice to see approximate numbers of each veggie or even weight. Off the top of my head I don’t know how many beets equals 5 cups.
Hi Alison, I have found that something especially like beets vary is size so much, but thanks for the feedback. Next time I make this recipe I will include the weight and update accordingly.