Ukrainian Borscht

Make Ahead and Storage

Refrigerate 5 days, freeze 3 months. The colour deepens over time. Add fresh dill and a splash of vinegar on reheating.

Ukrainian Borscht: The Method

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1. Heat the oil in a large pot and cook the onion for 8 minutes until soft.

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2. Add the grated beetroot and carrot with 1 tablespoon of the vinegar and the sugar. Cook, covered, over low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The vinegar here is what preserves the colour.

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3. Stir in the tomato purée and cook 3 minutes.

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4. Add the stock, potatoes, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt. Simmer for 15 minutes.

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5. Add the cabbage and cook 12 minutes more, until everything is tender but the cabbage still has bite.

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6. Stir in the garlic and the remaining vinegar off the heat.

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7. Taste and adjust — borscht should be distinctly sour with sweetness behind it, not the other way round.

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8. Rest, covered, for 20 minutes before serving. Borscht is one of those soups that improves noticeably with a short rest.

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9. Serve with a generous spoonful of smetana, plenty of dill and rye bread (optional) on the side.

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Related guides: Prep, cook and total time · Ingredient substitutions.

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Worth Knowing

• Add the garlic raw at the end. Cooked garlic disappears into the soup; raw garlic gives it a lift.
• Grate the beetroot rather than dicing for the deepest colour and fastest cooking.
• It is even better the next day, and better still the day after that.

Why the Method Is What It Is

Beetroot pigments, called betalains, are destroyed by prolonged heat and turn the soup brown — adding vinegar stabilises them chemically, which is why acid is added both during cooking and again at the end. Grating rather than dicing the beetroot maximises surface area so the colour and flavour leach fully into the broth.

Good Alongside

Chilled vodka, or a dark rye beer · Serve with rye bread, salo or pampushky garlic rolls · Follow with syrniki

Changing the Recipe

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
• A dry vermouth keeps for longer than an open bottle of white wine and is the closer swap than a random white left in the fridge; for an alcohol-free version, use the same amount of stock with a squeeze of lemon.

Ukrainian Borscht FAQ

What's in a Serving

Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.

Vegetarian when made with vegetable stock rather than beef stock. Gluten-free when served without the rye bread.

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