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Schavel (Sorrel) re-grows year after year. In Russia and Ukraine, sorrel is called shchavel’ (щавель). Shchaveloviy borscht or Green borsch is a classic Ukrainian sorrel soup – we serve it hot with a dollop of sour cream or mayo.
You can make this sorrel soup with pork or vegetarian using a good broth. It also freezes well so you can enjoy this soup in winter. My mom grows Shchavel in her yard and it’s currently flourishing – time to make soup! If you have a yummy recipe with sorrel, I’d love to hear from you!
Ingredients for Sorrel Soup:
14 cups water
(if not using pork, you will need 8 cups water plus 6 cups chicken broth)
2 large Pork Loin Chops or 1 pound chicken breasts, sliced or diced
1 Tbsp salt
4-5 medium potatoes (any kind will work), diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
2 Bay Leaves
3 Tbsp Dill (fresh or frozen)
4 cups fresh Schavel, packed, rinsed and chopped (or use 3 cups chopped, frozen Shchavel)
Sour cream or mayo to serve
How to Make Sorrel Borscht:
1. Fill a large pot with 14 cups water (or water plus chicken broth if not using pork) and bring it to a boil. Next, add the meat, 1 Tbsp of salt and simmer pork partially covered for 30 minutes (or chopped chicken for 10 minutes – I used chicken this time). Use a spoon to skim off any impurities that rise to the top.
2. After meat is done cooking, add diced potatoes, 2 bay leaves and lightly boil 15 minutes or until potatoes can be pierced with a fork.
3. While potatoes are cooking, saute 1 diced onion in 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat until golden brown and add to the pot with the soup.
4. Next, lightly beat 2 eggs together and stir them in to the pot.
5. When potatoes are cooked through, stir in Shchavel (Sorrel) and Dill. Return pot to a boil and simmer additional 3-5 minutes or until sorrel is soft. Adding more sorrel (щавель) will make your soup/borscht more sour.
Serve hot with an optional dollop of sour cream or mayo.
Shchavel Borscht (Sorrel Soup)
Ingredients
- 14 cups water
- if not using pork, you will need 8 cups water plus 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 large Pork Loin Chops or 1 pound chicken breasts, sliced or diced
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 4-5 medium potatoes, any kind will work, diced
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 3 Tbsp Dill, fresh or frozen
- 4 cups fresh Schavel, packed, rinsed and chopped (or use 3 cups chopped, frozen Shchavel)
- Sour cream or mayo to serve
Instructions
- Fill a soup pot with 14 cups water (or water plus chicken broth if not using meat ). Bring to a boil. Then, add meat, 1 Tbsp of salt and simmer pork partially covered for 30 minutes (or chicken for 10 minutes). Use a spoon to skim off any impurities that rise to the top.
- When the timer goes off on your meat, add diced potatoes, 2 bay leaves and lightly boil 15 minutes or until potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.
- While potatoes are cooking, saute 1 diced onion in 2 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat until golden brown and add to the pot with the soup.
- Next, lightly beat 2 eggs together and stir them into the pot.
- When potatoes are cooked through, stir in Shchavel (Sorrel) and Dill. Return pot to a boil and simmer additional 3-5 minutes or until sorrel is soft. P.S. Adding more sorrel (шавель) will make your soup/borscht more sour.
- Serve hot with optional dollop of sour cream or mayo.
Thank you so much for this recipe. Shchavel borshch is a favorite of my Ukrainian foster daughter and our first spring harvest of shchavel gave me a chance to make it for her as part of our Easter dinner. She lived in Mariupol and Kyiv and said that she had never had the egg stirred into the borshch rather than hard cooked as a topping. She still liked it and I now have a new way to give her a little taste of home.
Pretty delicious! I used Polish jarred sorrel, since I couldn’t find fresh (I actually had some last week, but I ate it all and couldn’t find more this week), and it’s still nicely sour. I don’t like potatoes, so I used celery root, and that’s also delicious. I used leeks instead of onions, since that’s what I had. I’ve seen a whole bunch of shchavel recipes and they’re all really different, so I figured this would be OK, and it was! Thank you for the recipe, and I’m sorry that I didn’t actually follow it that closely, but it came out great!