After several requests for my borscht recipe, here it is. Ukrainian Borscht… everyone knows what it is and many people around the world have fallen in love with this iconic beet soup.
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I love the deep ruby color of this borsch! It’s so healthy and nutritious; packed with beans (protein), beets (iron), carrots (carotene), potatoes (vit C, potassium, Vit B6), oftentimes cabbage is added (vit K, vit C, fiber, etc…). It feels so good serving this to my family.
Our Family’s Borscht Recipe (Beet Soup)
This is our family’s version of classic borsch and it’s one of the two soups my children absolutely love (Mom’s Meatball Soup being the second). Borscht is definitely on the regular rotation at our house!
This version keeps better because it is a meatless version but doesn’t lack in flavor because it uses good quality chicken broth.
Ingredients for Classic Ukrainian Borsch:
It’s best to have all of the ingredients prepped and ready to go which makes this soup super easy and care free. Start by peeling, grating, chopping, slicing and dicing all of the vegetables for borscht.
Once your potatoes are peeled and sliced, transfer them to a bowl of cold water to keep them from discoloring until ready for use.
Note on Using Cabbage:
We used to add cabbage but our children prefer it without so for years now we’ve been making it just like this without cabbage. If you prefer cabbage, add 1/4 to 1/2 small head of cabbage, thinly shredded, adding it when the potatoes are halfway cooked.
How to Peel and Cut Beets:
- Use gloves when handling beets or your fingertips will stain red for a couple of days.
- To peel beets, use a simple potato peeler like this one.
- You can slice the beets into matchsticks but it is way way easier to grate and children don’t mind the texture of grated beets. We love our food processor for this task as it grates more coarsely than on a hand grater so the beets still have some texture. It also keeps the counter and your hands clean (beat juice can be a pain to get out of clothing and porous surfaces).
How to Remove Beet Stains:
When you eat borscht often, you learn quickly to pace a napkin in your lap and bibs on children. If you do get beet juice on your clothes, address the stain right away.
- Use a paper-towel to blot off any excess juice.
- Run cold water over the opposite/under side of the fabric to push the stain out.
- If the stain persists, apply a stain removing agent (I have found that dish soap works well in a pinch) and launder clothing as usual.
Watch Natasha Make Classic Borscht:
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Classic Borscht Recipe (Beet Soup)
Ingredients
For Borscht:
- 3 medium beets, peeled and grated
- 4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
- 8 cups chicken broth , + 2 cups water
- 3 medium yukon potatoes, peeled and sliced into bite-sized pieces
- 2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
For Zazharka (Mirepoix):
- 2 celery ribs, trimmed and finely chopped
- 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped, optional
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 4 Tbsp ketchup or 3 Tbsp tomato sauce
Additional Flavorings:
- 1 can white cannelini beans with their juice
- 2 bay leaves
- 2-3 Tbsp white vinegar, or to taste
- 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 large garlic clove, pressed
- 3 Tbsp chopped dill
Instructions
- Peel, grate and/or slice all vegetables (keeping sliced potatoes in cold water to prevent browning until ready to use then drain).
- Heat a large soup pot (5 1/2 Qt or larger) over medium/high heat and add 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add grated beets and sauté 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until beets are softened.
- Add 8 cups broth and 2 cups water. Add sliced potatoes and sliced carrots then cook for 10-15 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork.
- While potatoes are cooking, place a large skillet over medium/high heat and add 2 Tbsp oil. Add chopped onion, celery and bell pepper. Saute stirring occasionally until softened and lightly golden (7-8 minutes). Add 4 Tbsp Ketchup and stir fry 30 seconds then transfer to the soup pot to continue cooking with the potatoes.
- When potatoes and carrots reach desired softness, add 1 can of beans with their juice, 2 bay leaves, 2-3 Tbsp white vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1 pressed garlic clove, and 3 Tbsp chopped dill. Simmer for an additional 2-3 minutes and add more salt and vinegar to taste.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
So, which camp are you in? Do you love that dollop of sour cream at the end or the flavor that real mayo adds to borscht?
May I ask, how does this take 2 hours to cook when the recipe only
Calls for it to be cooked certain minutes at a time? Am I missing something?
Hi John, that should be the maximum time. That also includes prep time. Bringing water to a boil and prepping all of the ingredients may take some longer than the 20 minutes. 🙂
John, prep time and cook time are two different things. If you total the two you end up with a more accurate time to make the dish. Of course, as mentioned already in response, your prep time may take longer or not so the overall time may be a little different, but negligible, nothing to nitpick over.
Can you freeze this soup and can you make it in a pressure cooker. If so how long would you cook it in the pressure cooker. Thank you. Suzanne.
Hi Suzzane, I never tried freezing it but it should freeze just fine. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
The one thing I recommend if you are going to freeze it is to leave out the potatoes until you are ready to eat. For some reason, the potatoes become gritty whenever I freeze borscht – all the other ingredients reheat nicely though.
Also – I would not make it in a pressure cooker, at least not the beets anyway. When I have done that in my instant pot, the beets lose their red color. However, I still make it in my instant pot, but using a slow cook function instead of the pressure setting (although I do like to hit the cabbage first at high pressure while I chop the other ingredients).
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Great recipe I didn’t notice hat it didn’t have cabbage so I added a little bit. Hubby loves beans so I added some kidney beans also. When I chop an onion I have a candle next to me. The fire makes the tears not come and doesn’t hurt.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Chef Natasha your borscht is excellent and your very funny
Chef George
Wow! Thank you for that wonderful compliment Chef George!
This borscht looks delicious. Have you ever heard of putting cabbage into borsht? I always make mine with cabbage
Hi Julie! Yes, we made it with cabbage as well. This version is so perfect for kids who normally wouldn’t enjoy cabbage in borscht!
This looks really really good. Can the bortsch be made ahead of serving? I’m looking for a good recepie for a soup that I can make for 20 people the day before and the heat up again just prior to serving.
If I prepare it ahead of time will it loose the beautiful colour?
Hi Kristina, borscht is one of those soups that are just as good, if not better the next day after refrigeration. It doesn’t lose color or flavor and reheats really well. I hope you love the recipe!
Meatless made with chicken stock. :).
I grew up not eating meat, and it’s funny how people say there is no meat in something and then put animal products in it. Why not just leave it without animal products at that point? It’s so easy to find good vegetarian stock that use the same spices and flavors as chicken stock.
Anyway, some good ideas here for my next borsch batch.
I hope you enjoy that, Aurora!
Hi Natasha, I just made this soup for my book club on Sunday night. I made it Saturday night, added half a grated small cabbage, and thus more broth, more garlic, more ketchup, vinegar and added Worcestershire sauce. It was delicious and everyone loved it!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review 🙂
Natasha,
I’ve tried this recipe and it’s a stunner, in a good way!!
With one of your related borscht recipes, there was a link at the bottom to several “you might like these,” including Borsch Recipe II. I went there and got the ingredients and instructions. However, the step-by-step pictures were reduced to micro-icons. Is it possible that you might send me that recipe with the detailed pictures? I’d like to give it a go.
Thanks, and keep sending out the great recipes!!
Reno Dave
Hi Reno Dave, the best thing I can suggest for that is to try opening it up on google in chrome – I’m not sure why that site displays it that way but I’m seeing it load well on my desktop computer in the chrome browser. This is basically the updated version of that borscht recipe though. Hope you love it!
Natasha,
Thanks for the quick response. I’m not a Google Chrome person and don’t want to be one for the sake of a recipe. Way too complicated way to get what otherwise seems like a great recipe. If you could just send the Borsch Recipe II, that would be great. Otherwise, I’ll be okay and wonder why, rather than why not..
Color me beet red!!
Reno Dave
You can’t call it “classic Borsch” when you make substitutions! Beans?? Really?!
Hi Kaity! This is our family’s version of classic borsch.
Borsht is one of those soups that has many, many variations! My “YaYa” made it very similiar but with chicken and always with mayonaise, chunks of garlic and dill on top. Yummy!!
Hi Natasha instead of sour cream and mayo I used yogurt
I haven’t tested that so I can’t advise. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
Where can I find your classic Ukrainian Borsh recipe?
It was my family’s favorite!
Hi Rebecca, here is a web archive of the original recipe. Hope that helps! 🙂 We only update recipes when we feel it is an improvement, but I understand if you are used to making the original version.
Thanks for this recipe, but we loved the old one, with grated carrots, red kidney beans, and cabbage. Any chance you could add a link to that one. I’m not sure I can recreate it myself! Thanks for all your recipes, which we love.
Thank you! I used this recipe for the first time this year and my family loved it! Even I, who doesn’t particularly care for borscht, loved it. 🙂 The seasonings are spot on. I skipped the potatoes, peppers and beans because traditionally for Christmas Eve it wasn’t included in the borscht I grew up with. No dill either because the cook doesn’t like it. Lol. And to make the soup vegetarian for Sviata Vechera, I used vegetable stock. A nice, lighter soup to complement the richness of the rest of the meal.
I love your recipes! Happy New Year!
I love that! Thank you for sharing this with me and for the wonderful review! 🙂
My only prior experience with borscht was a cold borscht I once tried at a Jewish deli, and I wasn’t too impressed. But since my vegetable CSA gave me beets, carrots, and potatoes this week, I thought I’d go ahead and try yours.
Oh my gosh, this was AMAZING. Dinner was a few hours ago, and I still can’t stop thinking about how incredible this soup was. This is going on a recipe card, for sure!
(I used a dollop of mayo)
Awww that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me :).
Hi Natasha, you had a Ukrainian borscht on your website that I can no longer find. It’s my favorite!! Please send it to me! Or post it back up on the website.
Hi Veronika, this is the same recipe you are referring to. Here is a web archive of the original recipe. Hope that helps! 🙂 We only update recipes when we feel it is an improvement, but her it is if you prefer the original version.
Hi Natasha,
I’m hoping to get the original version of this recipe as well. Can you send it my way?
Hi Evan, here is a web archive of the original recipe. Hope that helps! 🙂 We only update recipes when we feel it is an improvement, but I understand if you are used to making the original version.
Hi
Do you boil your beets before you shred them?
Thanks
We did not boil the beets, they will cook through in the broth 🙂
This is an awesome recipe! I love borscht but never made it until I came across this recipe. I like the fact that it has no cabbage, that way I can bring it to work for lunch 😉 And, the best part is, my husband (who is a very picky Puerto Rican eater) loves it. He actually requests it now. The very first time I made it, I followed the recipe to a T and loved it. However, since I try to watch my calories, I used turnips instead of potatoes in my last batch and it came out just as good, my husband did not even notice.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Nice recipe, but some significant improvements could be made. First, when the spices are added is odd. Bay leaves should be added when the broth and water are added. It takes time for them to infuse the soup. Second, too much water is added. You could halve that. Third, why not sauté the garlic for at least some of the time that the onion and celery are sauté. Fourth, Ketchup? Really? How about some chopped canned tomatoes? Fifth, at the beginning of the recipe, you say that the cook time is 1 hour and 40 minutes. However, nothing in the body of the recipe indicates that length of time. In fact, the body of the recipe suggests a much shorter time.
Hi Jason, with bay leaves, they can be added earlier or later but the flavor will differ so it depends on the flavor you are going for – sort of like when you cook garlic – the flavor changes as it is cooked longer.
Can you please keep the old version of the recipe as an option? I’d really prefer to work with the original recipe, as it is what I have the ingredients for.
Hi Mirabelle, here is a web archive of the original recipe. Hope that helps! 🙂 We only update recipes when we feel it is an improvement, but I understand if you are used to making the original version.