Simple Borscht Recipe (Instant Pot or Stove Top!) (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between beet soup and borscht? ›

The Polish word barszcz means 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.

A common opinion is that a good borscht should be thick enough for a spoon to stand upright in it.

Borscht is a beet soup that's warm, sweet, and sour all in one bowl. It has the umami and complexity of a well-developed chicken soup but the beets add a whole different flavor profile.

Borscht can be hot or cold, meaty or light, dairy-laden or broth-based, depending on your mood. According to Bonnie Frumkin Morales, chef and owner of Kachka in Portland, Oregon, the biggest benefit of making borscht at home is that “it's very malleable and riffable.

It's standard for Ukrainian cooks to use pork in their Borscht and top it off with sour cream, whereas Russian cooks are more likely to use beef. Furthermore, Ukrainians will offer buns with their bortsch, and Russians will offer a native bread known as “black bread.”

Sometimes beets are peeled before cooking. They may also be scrubbed and cooked until tender with their skins on; the skins slip off fairly easily after cooling. (Some people are happy to leave the skins on; they are fine to eat.) You can also pickle cooked beets.

Borscht can also be eaten hot or cold. It's become a beloved holiday meal in many Eastern European Jewish homes, eaten on Passover, Shavuot and Shabbat. For many Jews, Passover wouldn't feel complete without beet borscht.

You can serve borscht with sides like Pumpernickel or rye bread, garlic toast, meat, salads, dairy, pickled foods, pierogi, grains, potato pancakes, mashed potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, deviled eggs seasoned with paprika or dill, gluten-free options, and accompany it with fermented Slavic beverages and Santa Carolina ...

Cooking Time and Temperature: Beets can lose their vibrant red color if they are overcooked or cooked at high temperatures for too long. If you cooked the beets for an extended period or at a high temperature, it could cause them to lose some of their color intensity, resulting in a more orange appearance.

Parsnips, carrots, beets and turnips all have a lot of natural sugar so if you prefer a sweet borscht, try making it without sugar. Taste it before adding the lemon juice and add a bit if you need to punch of the sweetness to suit your preferences.

Why is my borscht not red? ›

How to get that vibrant red color? To avoid getting a pale borsch soup. Cooking the beets in water or stock for long may result in a brown soup, and since a good borsch needs to be red just add a little bit of sugar and lemon juice at the end of the cooking process and mix everything with a spoon.

Its Ukrainian-ish Origins

A commonly accepted theory is that the word borscht comes from the Slavic “borschevik,” which means “hogweed.” In early Slavic cuisine, hogweed stems, leaves and flowers were often cooked into a soup or fermented, yielding something akin to sauerkraut.

Borscht is a popular soup in Russia and many Russians do indeed love it. It is made with beets, cabbage, potatoes, and other vegetables, and often served with sour cream and bread.

In Ukraine this soup is called kholodnyk, which means "the cold one" in Ukrainian. Many types of cold borscht are eaten throughout Eastern Europe and it goes by many different names. There are even variations by region in Ukraine, some are made with a beet broth instead of the yogurt base.

Borscht is a soup, usually made with beets, originating from Central and Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is especially popular in the cuisines of Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Latvia, and Ukraine.

Red beets: These are crucial for both color and nutrition, a good source of Vitamin C. Pork butt: This adds meaty depth and texture. Potato, cabbage, and lima beans: These veggies add heft and balance. They provide Vitamin B9, which is essential for overall cell health, and potassium to help maintain blood pressure.

While “cultured” Americans are likely to spell it with a 't' (Borscht) and describe it as “a beet soup served chilled”, with a little detective work we learned that during the long Russian winters, Borshch is served piping hot and is spelled without the 't' (Borshch).