Classic Beef Borscht
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Borscht is an Eastern European soup made with beef, and vegetables, including beets, which gives it its distinctive color. This is the definition of a comfort meal! It’s hearty, warm, and loaded with different vegetables: potatoes, cabbage, beets, carrots, onions.
The soup base is made from beef stock and tomato puree, and it gets a delicious herbal taste from dill and parsley. Dill is not always available at our local supermarket, so if you don’t find fresh dill you can use the dried kind.
It may seem like it has a lot of ingredients and putting it all together takes a bit of time, since all the different vegetables need to be chopped. But most of the cooking time is not active, once the ingredients are incorporated into the pot, just cover and let it cook for the required time.
Do take note of adding the potatoes until the end, these require only about 15 minutes to cook, but keep their shape. This soup gets more delicious after it stands overnight in the refrigerator, so we recommend you make the entire recipe so you can have leftovers. Trust us, you will love it.
Helga
Classic Beef Borscht
Ingredients:
1 ½ lb. beef roast (chuck roast), cut into small pieces
oil for frying
salt and black pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2 large ribs celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ tablespoon sugar
3 medium beets, peeled and diced
4 cups beef broth
4 to 8 cups water; more for thinner soup
1 cup tomato sauce or puree
4 to 5 medium potatoes, cubed
2 to 4 cups shredded cabbage
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon lemon juice; optional
rustic bread, for serving
sour cream, for serving
Procedure:
- Preheat a large pot over medium-high heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the beef, season it with salt, and increase the heat to high. Cook the meat until it is well browned all over, 7 to 8 minutes. Remove the beef from the pot and set aside.
- Into the same pot, add the butter, and allow it to melt (careful that it doesn’t burn, you might want to remove the pot from the heat when adding it, until it melts). Add the onion, carrots, and celery and toss to combine. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the mixture for 4 to 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic, then season the mixture with more salt and the black pepper, cumin, coriander, and sugar. Add the beets, broth, water, browned beef and tomato sauce. Add more water for a thinner soup. Cover the pot with a lid and bring the mixture to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and cook the soup for 45 minutes to 1 hour, covered until the beef is tender.
- Once the beef is tender, add the potatoes and cook the soup for 15 minutes. Add the cabbage, dill and parsley and cook for an additional couple of minutes. Remove the soup from the heat, cover the pot and let the soup stand for 15 minutes before serving with a dollop of the sour cream and the bread.
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This post is also available in / Esta entrada también está disponible en ESPAÑOL (SPANISH)
Comments (4)
Nancy Serrett
October 7, 2020 at 10:43 pm
Looks delicious. I have a couple of questions though. From pictures it appears the beef is cut I to bite size pieces. Didn’t see this mentioned in the instructions. Also, I assume you return the beef to the pot with beets and onion before simmering. This was also omitted in the instructions. Do t mean this unkindly. Just want to be clear, as I’m sure you do. Thanks for the recipe!
Helga Glaesel de Blanding
October 8, 2020 at 9:40 am
Hello Nancy! Thank you for your comment. You’re right, those details were left out in the instructions, but we have added them to make all the steps clear, thanks!
You do need to cut the beef into small pieces, and after browning the beef is returned to the pot when you add in the beets. We’d love to hear back from you if you make the recipe!
– Helga
Pavlo Voronin
October 20, 2020 at 12:59 pm
The Borscht is national dish of Ukraine
Helga Glaesel de Blanding
October 22, 2020 at 11:12 am
Hello Pavlo! Yes, it is… and we love it! What did you think about the recipe?