Sharing my grandma’s authentic Borscht Recipe I grew up eating in Ukraine. This iconic beet soup is made with beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, garlic and dill. Then served with a dollop of sour cream and rye bread.
If you like borscht, be sure to try my green borscht, Instant Pot borscht or vegetarian borscht!
Table of Contents
This is my grandma’s authentic borscht recipe I grew up with in Ukraine. She made it every week and I still have it in a regular rotation. It’s simply the best borscht recipe!
Everyone in our house loves it and I hope you will too!
What Is Borscht?
If you don’t know what is borscht, it is vibrant red color soup with cabbage, beets, potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic. It can be vegan or vegetarian, as well as made with beef, pork or chicken. Then served with sour cream and dill.
It truly depends what’s in your fridge that day. That’s how this soup came about – out of necessity and hunger.
Essentially, this borscht is a superfood and a meal in itself. According to Healthline, beets are packed with iron, may help fight chronic inflammation and lower blood pressure. Then we add cabbage (vitamins, fiber and cancer fighting properties), potatoes (vitamin C and potassium), carrots (carotene) and optional protein (meat and beans).
“Borscht”, “bortsch”, “borsh” or “борщ” is a true classic soup every Ukrainian or Russian grew up eating almost weekly. It is pronounced without “t” at the end.
Is Borscht Ukrainian or Russian?
According to Wikipedia, borscht is Ukrainian dish that has a history of centuries. It is cooked 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 Fact
All girls in my family, mom, grandma, sister, 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 unique. Even my sister-in-law and mother-in-law cook theirs differently.
Ingredients for Borscht Recipe
Borscht ingredients are very simple and vary on one’s fridge contents and region of Ukraine. Here are the main ingredients you could always find in my grandma’s recipe:
- Beef bones or beef broth: As a base, you can use beef broth or even chicken broth. Or pick up some beef bones like oxtail, shanks, short ribs or even pork ribs and make broth with it first. If your bones are not meaty, add some cubed stew beef. Please see below for more info about it.
- Beets: You want to use red beets because they add the most red deep color to soup. Young beets in fall and summer will also taste more tender and fresh, just a different flavor.
- Cabbage: Traditionally green cabbage is used but you can also use red cabbage because you won’t see its color in this soup and it tastes exactly the same.
- Potatoes: Red or yellow potatoes, Yukon golds, russet potatoes or baby potatoes work.
- Carrots and onion: For bulk and flavor. I use yellow onion but you can use white onion or red onion.
- Tomato paste: To add more flavor and color.
- 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 sour taste at the end of cooking.
- Garlic: Please use only fresh garlic cloves and grate them or press them. Garlic in borscht is a must!
- Dill: Just like with garlic you have to use only fresh dill and not dried dill weed. Fresh dill is an essential flavor profile in this soup!
- Bay leaves, salt and pepper
- Sour cream: For serving.
How to Make Borscht
Here is a quick rundown of how to make borscht. Also there is a video below.
It is actually very easy to make and anyone can do it. I like my borsch with variety of vegetables, with thin flavorful broth, lots of fresh garlic and dill.
Prep veggies: You want to start with cabbage first because it takes the longest time to cook. While it is cooking, you can prep other vegetables.
Cook cabbage in broth with bay leaves and peppercorns for 20 minutes after bringing to a boil. Chop beets, potatoes, carrots and onion in the meanwhile.
Saute onion and carrots in a bit of olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes. This makes onion flavorful making entire borscht recipe more delicious. Do not skip.
Then add beets and a bit more oil, cook for another 5 minutes. It’s called “zazharka”.
Transfer sauteed veggies to the pot along with potatoes, tomato paste and salt. Cook covered for 20 minutes. In the meantime, prep garlic, dill and other seasonings.
Season borscht with white vinegar, garlic, sugar and pepper.
Stir, turn off heat and let it stand for 10 minutes covered to allow flavors to “marry” each other. Add dill and your borscht is ready to serve.
How to Peel and Cut Beets and Other Vegetables
- 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 fresh beets, you can also chop some beet greens and add to the soup.
- Cabbage: Thin uniformly shredded cabbage is a key to a borscht with right texture. Don’t shred it paper thin so it disintegrates during cooking, and don’t cut into large chunks 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.
- Potatoes: Cube potatoes into small-medium pieces to soak up more of the soup flavor. Cover them in a bowl with cold water to prevent from browning while they are waiting their turn.
- Onion and carrots: Dice the onion like for frying, a mirepoix size. And carrots into small rounds and wider part into half moons.
What Type of Broth Should I Use?
- Beef bones with meat (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 foam occasionally. After soup is ready, remove meat, separate from bones and discard bones, chop and return meat to the pot.
- Bone broth (my other favorite): This time I was ready, stopped by my local beef farm, got soup bones and made Instant Pot beef bone broth. It came out so rich, 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 die.
- Store bought broth: You can use beef soup base or chicken soup base diluted with water. It adds good flavor, I quite like it. Or use broth or stock from a carton. I highly recommend to buy organic and low sodium. What I don’t like is a lot of packaging and price but hopefully you recycle.
- Homemade broth: I often make batches of homemade chicken broth or Instant Pot chicken broth and freeze for later. It is cheaper than store-bought and is more flavorful.
- Water and beans: I also make water based borscht more often than not because it’s easy and I don’t always have beef bones on hand. In this case, I make sure to add a can of low sodium beans to up the protein, a bit more olive oil and maybe an organic bouillon cube, if I have it. As for beans, any large-sized beans like cannellini beans, red kidney beans (I love to make Instant Pot kidney beans) or pinto beans will hold the shape and add volume to this dish.
Serving
My favorite part of the whole entire borscht recipe cooking process is serving it. That’s when I go all out!
Ukrainians like to serve it warm, with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle of fresh dill in bowl, slices of home cured pork belly (salo), pampushky or rye bread and fresh garlic on a side. But on a hot summer day, cold borscht is just as delicious!
Sour cream or yogurt: Sour cream is traditional choice. Often we use plain yogurt with more than 2% fat because it is lighter than sour cream. It really depends what’s in the fridge. I think you are getting that’s the vibe of entire Ukrainian cuisine by now. Some people also love mayo in their soup but it’s not for me.
Rye bread: Rye bread is dense dark color bread. I find mine in a bread section seal wrapped for freshness. It is often German.
Sourdough bread would be great for serving as well! I toast it to resemble freshly baked Ukrainian bread. Nothing compares to pampushky traditionally served with borscht though.
More garlic: Many Ukrainians eat borscht while biting on a clove of garlic in between the spoonfuls. The key is to eat garlic together with your partner and don’t leave the house that night.
More dill: I add dill to the pot and then to individual bowls. There is no such thing as too much garlic and dill, almost never. I’m such Ukrainian at heart.
This is how I enjoyed grandma’s Ukrainian borscht as a kid – rub garlic on a slice of rye bread, spread it with sour cream and sprinkle with salt.
By the way, my Canadian born kids love it! Try on yours and see. Would love to hear how it goes!
What Does It Taste Like?
Traditional borscht definitely tastes like beets, sweet and tangy. Earthy flavors of beets truly shine through in this dish.
It is also kind of sweet and sour soup. We add vinegar and a little bit of sugar to compliment natural sweetness of root vegetables.
And lots of fresh dill and garlic after soup is cooked. As much as you like to personal preference, and us, Ukrainians, like to add a lot!
How to Store and Reheat
The best borscht is like a good bottle of wine, it gets better with time. Therefore, I always make a very large pot and we eat it for days or freeze.
Store: Refrigerate leftovers in a large pot you cooked soup in for up to 5 days. Or transfer to an airtight container.
Reheat by simmering on low in a small pot only amount you are planning to consume. Or microwave in individual bowls for 2-3 minutes.
Freeze in an airtight glass container for up to 3 months. Then thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat.
More Eastern European Recipes to Try
Have you ever tried it? Would love to hear your experience. I promise traditional Ukrainian borscht recipe would be one of the most delicious and healthiest soups you have ever tried. Enjoy!
Ukrainian Borscht Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 cups beef or vegetable broth or stock low sodium
- 5 cups green or red cabbage thinly sliced
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 medium carrots chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 large beets peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 4 large potatoes peeled and cubed
- 6 ounces can tomato paste low sodium
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- Pinch of sugar or maple syrup
- 3 large garlic cloves grated
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup dill or parsley finely chopped
- Yogurt, sour cream and rye bread for serving
Instructions
- In a large pot (I use 6 quart Dutch oven), add broth, bay leaves and bring to a boil. In the meanwhile, wash, peel and cut vegetables.
- Once broth is boiling, add cabbage, cover and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes.
- In the meanwhile, preheat large skillet on medium heat and swirl 1 tbsp of oil to coat. Add onion, carrots and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add beets, remaining 1 tablespoon of oil and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Transfer sauteed veggies to a pot along with potatoes, tomato paste and salt. Cover, bring to a boil and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
- Turn off heat. Add vinegar, sugar, garlic and pepper. Stir and let borscht sit for 10 minutes to allow flavours to marry each other. Add dill, stir and adjust any seasonings to taste.
- Serve hot with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, bread and garlic clove on the side (this is not for everyone).
Video
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate borscht in a large pot you cooked it in for up to 5 days. Reheat by simmering on low in small pot only amount you are planning to consume.
- Freeze: Freeze in an airtight glass container for up to 3 months. Then thaw on a counter overnight and reheat.
- Store bought stock: You can use regular stock from a carton. Preferably organic and low sodium, if you can.
- Beef bones: If you choose to add meat, cook broth with ribs, soup bones or any cut with a bit of fat first. Cover with cold water, bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, skimming foam occasionally. After borscht is ready, remove meat, separate from bones and discard bones, finely chop and return meat to the pot.
- Vegetarian: I make water based borscht more often than not because it’s easy. In this case, I make sure to add a can of low sodium beans to up the protein, a bit more olive oil and maybe an organic bouillon cube, if I have it. Any large white, red kidney or pinto beans work.
- Sauerkraut: If you replace 2 cups of cabbage with 2 cups of sauerkraut, borscht will have even more umph.
Made this for a family dinner with good rye bread and butter, sausages, sour cream etc on the side. Did it with a very good sauerkraut. Family enjoyed, no leftovers.
I grew up with Polish, Italian and Portuguese neighbors with kids my age. I got to the enjoy authentic food and traditions. Sadly, my kids can really only experience these with my cooking, but when I find a good recipe, it gets made again. Thank you, and god keep the people of Ukraine.
So glad you enjoyed it and thank you!
Hi Olena!
Just got up from the table after thoroughly enjoying TWO BOWLS of your Authentic Ukrainian Borscht! What a delicious experience! I made 1/2 a recipe because there are just two of us now. Followed your excellent directions exactly except I added a cup of chopped celery because we love celery. Thank you for a wonderful recipe that I will make often.
Thank you for making it Cheryl and so glad you enjoyed it. ๐
Looked at a few borscht recipes and this one seemed the simplest and most attractive. Plus I had most of the ingredients on hand. Am simmering it now and am so grateful for a food processor which made it so easy to make. Am excited to try this as I think this is the first time I made borscht.
Thank-you!
So glad that you are making it, enjoy!
I made this yesterday and also halved, it as itโs just two of us. Delicious! I hadnโt made borscht in years (for some stupid reason lol)โI was reminded of it by the Zero Waste Chef, who is running a cook-along called โ Make Borscht Not War.โ I love your recipe, thanks for it. I used beets and carrots from my farmers market, and beef short ribsโsimmered them with the bay leaves and peppercorns for an hour or so, then added veggies and took the meat and bones out later as you showed in your video.
I of course put the white vinegar into the pot at the end, and I also sprinkled ume plum vinegar (a nice salty mild vinegar) onto the soup in my bowlโyum! We had rye bread with garlic, sour cream, and salt as you recommended and that was fantastic. Such a satisfying meal.
All the best.
Thanks for making the recipe Lisa! So glad you enjoyed it.
I made this delicious borscht for dinner tonight, halving it for 2 of us. I wanted to make an authentic Ukrainian meal in solidarity considering what’s happening. In addition, as I left the grocer, I noticed some sunflowers for sale, so those are on the dinner table as well. This soup is so delicious and healthy! I’ve made borscht before with beets we got in our farm box last year, but I have to say this is my favorite recipe. The flavors are so well balanced and it is a beautiful bowl of comfort. Thank you, Olena for this wonderful recipe!
Thank you for the kind words and support! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Can I ask what this recipe yields? Or is there a way to scale it down ?
8 servings at 2 cups per serving. You could cut ingredients in half, or freeze leftovers for another meal.
Thank you, Olena, for this great recipe! I harvested the last of our allotment grown beetroot, yesterday and having recently purchased an 8 quart Instant Pot, was keen to try something new. Having read your recipe notes + all the reviews, I decided to use half cabbage and half sauerkraut, made the vegetarian version, omitting the beans and served it with natural Greek yogurt and toast spread with garlic and herb Boursin soft cheese – absolutely delicious. I have sufficient beetroot left to make another batch, tomorrow so am very pleased that there will be plenty in my freezer for the coming weeks. I shall plant and look after this year’s beetroot seeds with renewed relish in anticipation of harvest time!!
Thanks Julie! So glad you enjoyed it and that’s amazing on growing your own beetroot!
Forgot the stars!
When I saw your photo of borscht I knew this was the one I had to make. It looked just like the borscht my mom made. Made this with my son yesterday so he could keep some of his Ukrainian- Russian heritage going for the next generation. Yogurt and dill is a must! So delicious and freezes really well.
Thank you Tina, so glad you and your son enjoyed it!
My friend is Russian and I use her recipe for Borsh she uses chicken instead of the bone broth or beef ribs otherwise this is the closest recipe I see to hers and hers is the best ever. You cook the chicken first and after itโs done and starts falling off the bone and then you start adding the vegetables etc. Itโs so delicious I just love it
So happy to hear you found a recipe you can enjoy Janice! Be sure to come back and let us know how it goes when you make it!