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.

Red Borscht Recipe with Dollop of sour cream and dill

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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.

Classic Borsch served with sour cream

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.

Ingredients for Beet Soup Borscht including beets, carrots, potatoes, chicken broth, beans

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.

  1. Use a paper-towel to blot off any excess juice.
  2. Run cold water over the opposite/under side of the fabric to push the stain out.
  3. 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.

How to Make Borscht

Watch Natasha Make Classic Borscht:


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Natasha's Kitchen Cookbook

Classic Borscht Recipe (Beet Soup)

4.95 from 747 votes
Author: Natasha of NatashasKitchen.com
Our family's go-to recipe for Borscht (Red Beet Soup). It's best to have all of the ingredients prepped and ready to go which makes this soon super easy and care free. Serve with a dollop of sour cream or real mayo.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients 

Servings: 10

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.
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: Russian, Ukrainian
Keyword: Borsch, Borscht
Skill Level: Medium
Cost to Make: $

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?

Natasha Kravchuk

Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.

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Comments

  • Staci
    January 28, 2013

    Wow! This is my new favorite borscht recipe!!!!

    I’ve been craving beets and decided to search the internet for a new recipe and your recipe popped up. I halved the recipe and improvised with what I had on-hand – canned garden beets and lime juice – nonetheless it turned out absolutely fantastic!

    Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 28, 2013

      Woohoo! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I should halve the recipe; I’m so used to making giant pots of soup 😉

      Reply

  • Pon
    January 28, 2013

    Very good!
    But Borscht is 1000% Ukrainian.
    “Russian borsch” sounds like american balalaika 🙂

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 28, 2013

      I’ll take it! Since I am Ukrainian! 🙂

      Reply

  • Bob Sendek
    January 26, 2013

    I searched Borscht recipes and yours comes close to what my Grandmother made. Originally from Romania, to Germany and Austria before coming here. I just have to chuckle with all the different ethnicity who call the soup their own. Russian, Polish, Jewish etc. all have a common thread. The use of beets and sour cream is universal. Some go with Matzo, potato, carrot’s beans and more. I come to conclusion that this soup was made with whatever was available. The basic vegetable soup that happens to be red. My 97 year old grandmother was making this soup my whole life. The stuff she used varied upon her harvest or what was available at that moment. I enjoyed you site.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 26, 2013

      Thanks Bob. I enjoyed reading your common. I completely agree; most people in those areas were poor and used the basic ingredients that they had, but were able to make amazing recipes with them!

      Reply

  • Julia {The Roasted Root}
    January 25, 2013

    All of the ingredients in this soup are so healthy and tasty! I’ve been meaning to make borscht for a while now and would love to use your recipe!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 25, 2013

      I love the name of your site; how fitting that beets are a root vegetable 🙂 P.S. I love your blog. Great photos and I look forward to checking out more 🙂

      Reply

  • Anastacia
    January 24, 2013

    What is the tool that you use to cut the cabbage? I’ve been searching for an easier way to cut cabbage with no luck.

    Reply

  • Mairna of Let the Baking Begin!
    January 24, 2013

    Are the beats store bought or you guys grow them youreslve? I’ve never seen this kind in the stores.
    I make my borsh the same exact way))) Except for some difference in techniques, but the ingredients are pretty much the same 😀 I also love beans in my borsh.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 24, 2013

      My mom grows the long beets; her favorite! 🙂

      Reply

  • Nadezhda
    January 18, 2013

    Borscht never gets old in my house, thank you for the recipe :).

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 18, 2013

      Same here Nadya :).

      Reply

  • Mary Christine
    January 12, 2013

    Hi Natasha,

    Thanks for posting this. I love borscht, but I use a different recipe every time I make it. I found yours and I am excited because I am a vegetarian, and I will use the Better than Bouillon vegetable broth. The beets are boiling right now and I am super excited. I think this might by my future recipe!

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      January 12, 2013

      I hope you LOVE it 🙂

      Reply

      • Mary Christine
        January 13, 2013

        I did love it! I think it is now my permanent borscht recipe. Thanks so much.

        Reply

        • Natasha
          natashaskitchen
          January 13, 2013

          YESSS! Now that is a very good report. Glad you loved it 🙂

          Reply

  • Phoebe
    December 7, 2012

    I made Boscht when I was a student (cold winters and no heating meant needing lots of hot soup being made to warm me and my friends up!)
    The thing I remembered doing was peeling the potatoes, beets, carrots and slicing up the end of the cabbage then boiling them all in the water for half an hour meaning you got all the nutrients out of them. Then I would sauté all the other vegetables together with the beef, add the filtered vegetable after the beet chunks etc were soft and blitz it all with a hand bender. It was a good way of getting nutritious soup without the extra time or losing any of the nutrients by throwing the peelings away.
    You have a lovely blog and I will enjoy trying some of your other recipes! xxx

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      December 7, 2012

      Welcome to the site, I hope that you will find some new favorites 🙂

      Reply

  • Kriste
    December 1, 2012

    My husband begged me to make some borscht. He found your recipe and loves it!! Thank you so much for posting it. It was a bit time-consuming, but according to my husband and two daughters it was sooooo worth it. 😀

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      December 1, 2012

      So glad you all enjoyed it 🙂

      Reply

  • Megan P
    November 24, 2012

    Hi Natasha!
    I came across your site looking for a good borscht recipe and this one looked the best. I’m going to try it today. I also checked out your “about”section and I see you live in Idaho. I’m chuckling because here I am, a native-born Idahoan, bsu graduate, searching for a borscht recipe from my home in Moscow, Russia, and the one that catches my eye comes from Idaho! What are the chances?

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      November 24, 2012

      It’s a small world Megan :). Welcome to the site, I hope that you will find some new favorites.

      Reply

  • Eric
    November 15, 2012

    Just made this recipe for my family and it was a complete success. The only change I made was replacing the chicken Better than Boullion with the veggie version because I’m vegan. A++

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      November 15, 2012

      Awesome! I’m glad that you have been able to tweak the recipe to your preference :).

      Reply

  • Emma
    September 13, 2012

    Hello there! I want to make this borscht tonight, it sounds delicious! But I hope you’ll answer my question in time. In Europe we don’t work with cups but I found out one cup is 225 ml. That means 16 cups is 3,6 liter!? Is this right? Sounds like a lot of water for soup to me.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 13, 2012

      Hi Emma, that is correct! 🙂 It does make a big pot of soup, but you can easily cut everything in half and make a smaller pot of soup. I can’t help it; every time I make soup, it’s a big pot. 🙂

      Reply

  • Paul Z.
    September 4, 2012

    I’ll post it in about an hour or two.

    Reply

  • Paul Z.
    September 4, 2012

    my borsh is usually gone in two days.
    i can share a recipe if that’s ok)

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 4, 2012

      Borsch has many variations and I would love to try yours especially when its gone in two days :D. Please be specific on the ingredients so that I can make it just like yours 😉

      Reply

  • Paul Z.
    September 4, 2012

    good recipe, but what happened to beef?)

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      September 4, 2012

      I was suprised at how good it tastes without beef, but you can definitely add it if you wish and you probably won’t need bouillon if you add beef. It seems to stay fresher for a longer period of time in the fridge without the meat.

      Reply

  • Rachael
    August 27, 2012

    Aloha!! 🙂 Just made this for dinner & kept going back for more from the pot! It was so good!! Thank you for posting! 🙂

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      August 27, 2012

      You’re welcome. I’m so glad you enjoyed it 🙂

      Reply

  • nadia
    April 26, 2012

    borsh bez myasa? eto je ne borchsh… u have have meat in there.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      April 26, 2012

      I was a little skeptical at first too since I grew up with meat in my borscht, but this is my favorite recipe for borscht. The beans provide protein and it tastes perfect.

      Reply

  • Helga
    March 29, 2012

    Yummm. I love Borscht. When I make it I too use some ketchup and golden sugar. I use canned beets, and sauerkraut instead of cabbage! Go figure!
    Growing up in Shanghai, there were many Ukrainian & Russian restaurants. Strangely, an American restaurant (called The Chocolate Shop!!) made excellent Borscht!!
    We used to get Piroshky, tasty buns stuffed with ground meat, hard boiled eggs and cabbage.
    The only place I’ve ever had it since leaving China was once in San Francisco at a Russian bakery.

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 29, 2012

      Your version of borscht actually sounds quite good. I’ll have to try golden sugar and sauerkraut in the future. Thanks Helga!

      Reply

  • vicki
    March 28, 2012

    i add sugar to my borsch. have you ever come upon any borsch recipes with sugar? its delicious

    Reply

    • Natasha
      natashaskitchen
      March 28, 2012

      That sounds good! Some of the beets i’ve used in the past weren’t as sweet as others; it probably would have helped to add a little sugar.

      Reply

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