How Do You Make Polish Beet Soup in a Snap? (2024)

Polish Soups
Main Dishes
Soups
European Food
Polish Food

Barbara Rolek

Barbara Rolek is a former chef who became a cooking school instructor and award-winning food writer.

Learn about The Spruce Eats'Editorial Process

Updated on 02/20/24

Tested by

Danielle Centoni

Tested byDanielle Centoni

Danielle is a James Beard Award-winning food writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon.

Learn about The Spruce Eats'Editorial Process

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 50 mins

Total: 65 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Yield: 6 cups

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Perhaps you have heard of borscht, the Eastern European sour soup made with beets and served hot or cold. The Polish word barszczmeans borscht, but this soup is slightly different. Whereas traditional borscht is an opaque purple and commonly includes meat, tomatoes, and cabbage, barszcz is more of a basic beet broth that is somewhat translucent, whether red or white in color.

Traditional barszcz is often made with akwasor sour starter; sometimes people even chill this fermented starter and drink it, as you might with kombucha. However, if the soup is red, then the kwas was made with fermented beets (kwasburaków). If the barszcz is white, it was made with fermented rye flour or rye bread, (żurorkwaschlebowy).

This easy, clear redPolish beet souprecipe doesn't use a sour starter but insteadtakes a shortcut and gets the desired hint of sourness from lemon juice or vinegar. This soup is great eaten hot with boiled potatoes or cold with rye bread.

This meatless soup is often served with mushroom uszka("little ear" dumplings) for Polish Christmas Eve dinner(known aswigilia). When the soup is served that way, it is then referred toasbarszcz wigilijny.

How Do You Make Polish Beet Soup in a Snap? (2)

What You'll Need to Make This Barszcz Czysty Czerwony Recipe

A Good Pot

A Handy Dandy Garlic Press

A NIfty Citrus Juicer

Ingredients

4 whole beets, about 1 pound, (or 2 cups sliced canned or jarred beets)
4 cups stock (chicken, beef, mushroom, or vegetable)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt, to taste
Black pepper, to taste
Boiled potatoes, optional
Chopped fresh dill, optional

Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.
If using fresh beets, heat the oven to 400 F. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and place on a baking dish. Roast until tender, about 30 to 45 minutes.
When cool enough to handle, peel, and slice into strips or julienne. If you prefer, julienne some for garnish and dice the rest.
In a medium pot, bring meat or vegetable stock to a boil. Add the cut beets, garlic, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes.
Serve hot with optional boiled potatoes and garnish with chopped dill.Enjoy.

Recipe Variation

White borscht, known as biały barszcz or żurekwielkanocny (Easter sour soup), is made withcooking water from white kielbasa, potatoes, sour cream, sausage, and hard-cooked eggs.White barszcz features ażur, similar to akwas, but it's madeby fermenting rye flour or bread with water in a jar or crock for up to five days.
To make a cold version of this beet soup, barszczzabielany, simply cool the soup in an ice water bath and refrigerate. Serve cold, garnished with dill and sour cream.

What's the Difference Between Borscht and Barszcz?

What distinguishes Russian borscht from barszcz is that borscht is often made with meat, served with sour cream, and can be served cold, whereas barszcz does not usually include sour cream and is most often served hot. That being said, there is a version calledbarszczzabielanythat is creamed and served cold.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
132	Calories
3g	Fat
19g	Carbs
8g	Protein

Show Full Nutrition Label

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	132
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 3g	4%
Saturated Fat 1g	4%
Cholesterol 7mg	2%
Sodium 554mg	24%
Total Carbohydrate 19g	7%
Dietary Fiber 2g	7%
Total Sugars 12g
Protein 8g
Vitamin C 7mg	34%
Calcium 26mg	2%
Iron 1mg	7%
Potassium 531mg	11%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

Recipe Tags:

soup
entree
polish
christmas

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