The BEST Borscht Recipe
This authentic borscht recipe is a hearty and nutritious Ukrainian soup made with beef, cabbage, beets, mushrooms, potatoes, and many more vegetables. Our family recipe was perfected over decades features tender beef and a vibrant ruby-red color. Beets give this borscht a beautiful color and a distinct flavor and I have tips to cook them right.
Servings: 10
Calories: 286kcal
Ingredients
Beef stock:
- 2 lbs stew beef
- 1 lb beef bones (marrow bones) optional
- 2.5 quarts water
- 2 large bay leaves
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1/2 tbsp whole peppercorns
Soup:
- 3 medium beets about 1.5 lbs
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 head of cabbage
- 2 medium Idaho potatoes
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- 3 tbsp fresh dill weed minced
Topping:
- Sour cream
- Fresh minced dill weed
Instructions
Beef Stock:
- Preheat the pot over medium-high heat. Add a little bit of cooking oil, like avocado, canola, vegetable, etc.
- Cut big, hard chunks of fat off the beef, if any. Add beef and bones to the pot and sear for a couple of minutes.
- Add water to the pot and bring it to simmer.
- Add bay leaves, coriander, and whole peppercorns. Lower the heat to low.
- Loosely cover with a lid (so that there is a good amount of room for steam to escape) and cook for 3-4 hours.
- About half way through of cooking meat, add whole, unpeeled beets to the pot. Cook until done, take out and set aside.
- Strain off the stock and discard bones, bay leaves, coriander, and peppercorns. Set meat and beef aside.
Borscht soup:
- Prepare your veggies: slice onions, mushrooms, and cabbage thinly. Grate carrots on a large grater, and cube potatoes. Peel garlic and set aside. Set whole cooked beets aside to cool.
- Using the same pot, set the heat to medium and add a couple of tablespoons of canola oil to the pot.
- Add onions and carrots and saute until softened. Smash garlic, mince and add to the pot. Stir well.
- Add potatoes and mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add cabbage, stir and cook until cabbage softens.
- Add tomato paste, sugar, salt, and black pepper. Stir well until tomato paste is evenly mixed.
- Break apart beef and add it to the pot. Stir and start adding stock. Add enough stock to completely cover the veggies. (You can add more if you want more broth.)
- Cook over medium heat for 25-30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Taste to make sure you have enough salt and pepper. Adjust to taste.
- Stir in dill weed.
- Peel beets and grate them into the soup on a large cheese grater. Stir and your soup is ready to eat!
- Garnish with some sour cream and fresh dill weed.
Video
Notes
- Tie Spices For Broth: If you don’t want to deal with straining and picking the whole spices out of the meat and stock later, you can always tie the spices in cheesecloth so you can easily discard it after.
- Wear gloves: Disposable gloves keep your hands from staining while you peel and grate the beets.
- Make ahead: Make the broth and cook the beets a day ahead, then refrigerate them separately. The soup takes under an hour to finish the next day.
- Store: in the refrigerator in airtight containers for 3 to 4 days. Divide large batches into shallow containers so the soup cools quickly.
- Freeze: once the soup cools completely, portion it into freezer-friendly containers or zip-top bags, or freeze it all together in one large container. Press out as much air as you can, then seal, label, and freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw slowly in the refrigerator overnight. Potatoes soften a bit after freezing, so expect a slight change in texture.
- Reheat: on the stovetop over medium-low heat, or individual portions in the microwave.
Nutrition
Calories: 286kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 56mg | Sodium: 163mg | Potassium: 963mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 2275IU | Vitamin C: 41.3mg | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 3.7mg