Sharing my grandma’s authentic Borscht Recipe I grew up consuming in Ukraine. This iconic beet broth is made with sirloin, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, garlic and chives. Then served with a dollop of sour cream and rye bread.
What Is Borscht?
If you don’t know what is borscht, it is vibrant red color broth with cabbage, beets, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic. It can be vegan or vegetarian, as well as prepared with beef, pork or poultry. Then served with sour cream and dill.
It truly depends what’s in your frig that day. That’s how this soup came about – out of necessity and starvation.
Essentially, this borscht is a superfood and a meal in itself. According to Healthline, beets are packed with iron, may help combat chronic inflammation and reduce blood pressure. Then we add cabbage (vitamins, fiber and cancer fighting properties), potatoes (vitamin C and potassium), carrots (carotene) and optional protein (meat and legumes).
“Borscht”, “bortsch”, “borsh” or “боpщ” is a genuine classic broth every Ukrainian or Russian grew up consuming almost weekly. It is pronounced without “t” at the conclusion.
Is Borscht Ukrainian or Russian?
According to Wikipedia, borscht is Ukrainian dish that has a history of centuries. It is prepared in every household of any former republic that belonged to USSR – Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Belorussia etc. Not to mention all over Eastern Europe.
There are as many variations of traditional Ukrainian borscht recipe as there are regions and families. Everyone makes it differently, even within the same household.
Fun truth. All females in my family: mom, grandmother, sibling, aunt and me, had their own recipe. We all cooked in the same kitchen we used to share and yet everyone’s version of borscht was distinct. Even my sister-in-law and mother-in-law cook theirs differently.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Borscht ingredients are very simple and differ on one’s larder contents and region of Ukraine. Here are the main ingredients you could always locate in my grandma’s recipe:
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Beef bones or beef broth: As a basis, you can use beef broth or even chicken broth. Or pick up some bovine bones like oxtail, shanks, short ribs or even swine ribs and make bouillon with it first. If your bones are not substantial, add some cubed stew sirloin. Please see below for more info about it.
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Beets: You want to use red beets because they lend the most vibrant intense color to broth. Young beets in autumn and summer will also taste more tender and fresh, just a different flavor.
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Cabbage: Traditionally green cabbage is used but you can also use red cabbage because you won’t see its color in this broth and it tastes precisely the same.
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Potatoes: Red or yellow potatoes, Yukon golds, russet potatoes or baby potatoes work.
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Carrots and onion: For heft and flavor. I use yellow onion but you can use white onion or red onion.
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Tomato paste: To add more flavor and color.
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White vinegar and sugar: You can also use any light color vinegar like white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Also any sugar or maple syrup works. It’s just to create that sweet and acidic flavor at the conclusion of preparation.
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Garlic: Please use only fresh garlic cloves and grate them or press them. Garlic in borscht is a must!
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Dill: Just like with garlic you have to use only fresh dill and not desiccated dill grass. Fresh dill is an essential flavor profile in this broth!
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Bay leaves, salt and pepper
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Sour cream: For serving.
How to Make Borscht
Here is a brief overview of how to create borscht. Also there is a video below.
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It is actually very simple to prepare and anyone can do it. I like my borsch with diversity of vegetables, with thin flavorful broth, loads of raw garlic and dill.
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Prep veggies: You want to start with cabbage first because it takes the longest time to prepare. While it is simmering, you can prep other vegetables.
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Cook cabbage in bouillon with bay leaves and peppercorns for 20 minutes after bringing to a simmer. Chop beets, potatoes, carrots and onion in the meanwhile.
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Saute onion and carrots in a touch of olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. This makes onion flavorful rendering entire borscht recipe more delectable. Do not continue.
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Then add beets and a touch more oil, simmer for another 5 minutes. It’s called “zazharka”.
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Transfer sauteed vegetables to the kettle along with potatoes, tomato purée and salt. Cook covered for 20 minutes. In the meantime, prep garlic, dill and other seasonings.
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Season borscht with white vinegar, garlic, sugar and pepper.
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Stir, turn off heat and let it stand for 10 minutes covered to enable flavors to “marry” each other. Add dill and your borscht is ready to serve.
How to Peel and Cut Beets and Other Vegetables
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Beets: Peel beets with a regular vegetable peeler and cut into thick matchsticks. You can also grate beets on a box grater or in a food processor. If you have raw beets, you can also mince some beet greens and add to the broth.
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Cabbage: Thin uniformly grated cabbage is a key to a borscht with correct texture. Don’t shred it paper thin so it disintegrates during heating, and don’t cut into large pieces so all you taste is cabbage. Cut it into reasonably thin strands. I am experienced enough to do it by hand with a chef’s knife, but you can also use a mandoline if you still need practice.
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Potatoes: Cube potatoes into small-medium segments to take up more of the broth flavor. Cover them in a basin with cool water to prevent from oxidizing while they are waiting their turn.
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Onion and carrots: Dice the onion like for sauté, a mirepoix size. And carrots into small spheres and wider part into half moons.
What Type of Broth Should I Use?
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Beef bones with flesh (my favorite): If you choose to add meat to borscht, first make the broth. Cover beef with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, skimming froth intermittently. After soup is finished, remove meat, separate from bones and discard bones, mince and return meat to the saucepan.
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Bone broth (my other favorite): This time I was ready, stopped by my local cattle farm, got soup bones and made Instant Pot beef bone broth. It came out so flavorful, I diluted half of it with water and used for borscht. And cooked the other half with more water and same bones for to create more broth. Ukrainian in me will never disappear.
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Store purchased broth: You can use beef soup base or chicken soup base diluted with water. It adds excellent flavor, I quite like it. Or use bouillon or stock from a carton. I highly recommend to purchase organic and minimal sodium. What I don’t like is a lot of packaging and price but presumably you recycle.
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Homemade broth: I often make quantities of homemade chicken broth or Instant Pot chicken broth and freeze for later. It is cheaper than store-bought and is more flavorful.
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Water and beans: I also make water based borscht more often than not because it’s simple and I don’t always have beef bones on hand. In this case, I make careful to add a can of low sodium legumes to up the protein, a touch more olive oil and maybe an organic bouillon cube, if I have it. As for beans, any large-sized legumes like cannellini beans, scarlet kidney beans (I love to make Instant Pot kidney beans) or pinto beans will retain the shape and lend volume to this dish.
Read Also: Beginner's Guide to Baking Sweet Potatoes
What Does It Taste Like?
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Traditional borscht undoubtedly tastes like beets, sweet and piquant. Earthy qualities of beets genuinely shine through in this dish.
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It is also kind of sweet and sour broth. We add vinegar and a little amount of sugar to compliment natural sweetness of root vegetables.
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And loads of fresh dill and garlic after soup is prepared. As much as you like to personal inclination, and us, Ukrainians, like to contribute a lot!
How to Store and Reheat
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The finest borscht is like an excellent bottle of wine, it grows better with time. Therefore, I always prepare a very large pot and we consume it for days or freeze.
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Store: Refrigerate remains in a large saucepan you prepared broth in for up to 5 days. Or transfer to a hermetic container.
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Reheat by simmering on low in a small container only amount you are intending to consume. Or microwave in individual containers for 2-3 minutes.
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Freeze in a hermetic glass container for up to 3 months. Then defrost in the refrigerated overnight and reheat.
