🍲 Borscht

Name: Borscht
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Ukraine · Eastern Europe
Ingredients: 2 medium beetroots (about 400 g), grated; ¼ white cabbage (about 400 g), shredded; 3 potatoes, diced; 1 carrot, grated, and 1 onion, chopped; 2 tbsp tomato paste; 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice, 1 tsp sugar; 2 litres vegetable broth or water; 2 tbsp sunflower oil, 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper; 2 garlic cloves and a bunch of dill; Sour cream to serve

Origin: Ukraine · Eastern Europe

245kcal

per serving · 350 g

70kcal

per 100 g

7 gProtein2 g / 100 g

10 gFat3 g / 100 g

28 gCarbs8 g / 100 g

Borscht is a sweet-and-sour beetroot soup with cabbage, potato and carrot, finished with a spoonful of sour cream. Its deep red colour comes from beetroot sautéed with a little vinegar or lemon, which keeps it bright. There are hundreds of versions — with beef or pork broth, with beans or mushrooms, or, like this one, purely vegetable.

Diets

✓

Vegetarianno meat or fish in a typical recipe

✓

No pork

✓

Gluten-freeno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

✓

Low-carb8 g carbs per 100 g

Not veganbecause of: sour cream

Contains dairybecause of: sour cream

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Milk

What it is made of

beetrootcabbagepotatocarrotonionsour cream

Recipe

6 servings75 min

Ingredients

2 medium beetroots (about 400 g), grated
¼ white cabbage (about 400 g), shredded
3 potatoes, diced
1 carrot, grated, and 1 onion, chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice, 1 tsp sugar
2 litres vegetable broth or water
2 tbsp sunflower oil, 2 bay leaves, salt, pepper
2 garlic cloves and a bunch of dill
Sour cream to serve

Method

Bring the broth to the boil, add the potatoes and cook for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile fry the onion and carrot in oil for 5 minutes, add the beetroot, vinegar, sugar and tomato paste and cook for another 10 minutes.
Add the cabbage to the pot and cook for 5 minutes, then stir in the beetroot mixture and bay leaves and simmer for 10–15 minutes.
Season, add crushed garlic and chopped dill, cover and leave for 15 minutes.
Serve with a spoonful of sour cream.

How to make it lighter

A tablespoon of 20% sour cream adds about 30 kcal; Greek yogurt is a lighter swap.
For a vegan bowl leave out the sour cream or use a plant-based yogurt.
Borscht tastes even better the next day — cook a big pot.

History

Borscht is most closely associated with Ukraine, where it belongs to both everyday and festive tables; in 2022 UNESCO inscribed the culture of Ukrainian borscht cooking on its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. The name goes back to hogweed (borshchivnyk), whose leaves went into early sour soups; beetroot became the base later. Related soups are cooked across Eastern Europe, from Polish barszcz to Romanian and Russian versions.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →