Borscht a special recipe that has been passed down through my family. For generations on my mother's side the women have been cooking borscht (also borsch, in Russian борщ).

      Borshdt is a wonderful hearty deep reddsih or sometimes purple color soup that uses cabbage, beets and tomato as its main ingredients. I know your probably reading this and saying cabbage and beets, is she kidding? Well just be patient and listen to the recipe and results. I will tell you this my husband was not a believer at first but now he goes crazy for my families borscht recipe. My kids thought it's a scariest-looking soup and now they love it too!

Ingredients for Borscht

• 1 large beets or 2 medium beets
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced into small ½ inch cubes
• 1 large carrot, grated
• ½ medium white cabbage, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
• 3 medium cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 fresh tomato, chopped
• 1 extra can of peeled cubed tomatoes
• 6-8 cups of water (Note: If you're adding meat to your borscht, then most definitely use your meat broth)
• 1 Tablespoon salt or to taste
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• Fresh chopped dill or parsley for decoration
• sour cream or mayonnaise for dressing

Optional is you want to add meat to your borscht, which tastes fantastic super delicious and rich with meat

• 1 pound slice of meaty bone-in beef shank
• 3 chicken drumstick

Instant Pot Borscht Instructions, scroll down below

Preparation: About 20 minutes. Cook 45-50 minutes. Ready in 1 hour 10 minutes

1. In a large skillet add oil and saute onions. Until this good looking golden caramelized look (about 10-15 minutes). You can also use a large stainless steel soup pot to make it one pot process by simply keep adding the ingredients.

2. After onions caramelized nicely and achieved this soft and translucent look I push them to the side of the skillet and I add shredded beets and carrots. Saute them for about 10 more minutes. Feel free to add more oil as needed.

3. Add broth to the large soup pot. Add seasonings. Bring heat to medium and add shredded cabbage to the broth to cook for about 20 minutes.

4. Add the onions, carrots, beets, tomatoes to the pot. Add tomato paste and a can of peeled tomatoes, cook for another 10 minutes.

5. Add cubed potatoes to the soup. Note that I soaked them in water just to get rid of some starch. Cook and simmer for additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

6. The meat step is optional, but amazingly delicious. Meat completes the Borsch soup. Shred chicken and beef meat from the cooked meat. Cook the meat the way you like it - boil, bake or pressure cook.

In this photo below, the method I used is boiled. I start with large 2 liter soup pot (about 10 cups of water). After heating up the water I place the 3 chicken drumsticks and meaty bone-in beef shank to cook for 30 minutes or until the meat is cooked and tender.  Then take the cooked meat out of the pot and place them aside to cool. And now you have this nice rich meat broth. Use the broth towards the borscht soup or freeze it for later.

7. Add cooked shredded chicken and beef to the ready to serve borscht. Serve with sour cream and chopped fresh dill to top.

For My own liking though I like to eat my borcht with Mayonnaise instead sour cream. But my hubby and kids like it with sour cream. So it really depends on your favorite topping - there's no soup police! I also top it with fresh chopped dill for the extra look and taste.

Enjoy!

Let me know if you tried my recipe or if you tried Borsch before. I would love to know what you think about it and how you liked it and whether you preferred with meat or vegetable only version? Check out more hearty delicious soupshearty delicious soups.

Below is handy printable and I also tried the

Instant Pot Pressure cooker Borscht and the result is amazing - Ready in 10 minutes

For Instant Pot Borscht (pressure cooker Method)

Press Saute mode on Instant Pot, proceed with step 1, 2.

Add broth, seasoning, cabbage, and rest of ingredients.

Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Natural release for 5 minutes, then quick release.

Add shredded meat if desired and serve with sour cream or mayo and fresh chopped dill.

Russian Borscht Recipe - Beets Cabbage Soup

 

Save Print

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 20 mins

 

Author: Irina Davey of TheBigAppleMama.com

Recipe type: Soup

Cuisine: Russian

Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 1 large beets or 2 medium beets
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced into small ½ inch cubes
• 1 large carrot, grated
• ½ medium white cabbage, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
• 3 medium cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 fresh tomato, chopped
• 1 can of peeled cubed tomatoes
• 6-8 cups of water (Note: If you're adding meat to your borscht, then most definitely use your meat broth)
• 1 Tablespoon salt or to taste
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• Fresh chopped dill or parsley for decoration
• Sour cream or mayonnaise for dressing
• Optional is you want to add meat to your borscht, which tastes fantastic super delicious and rich with meat
• 1 pound slice of meaty bone-in beef shank
• 3 chicken drumstick

Instructions

1. In a large skillet add oil and saute onions. Until golden caramelized look (about 10-15 minutes). You can also use a large stainless steel soup pot to make it one pot process by simply keep adding the ingredients.
2. After onions caramelized nicely and achieved this soft and translucent look, push them to the side of the skillet and add shredded beets and carrots. Saute for about 10 more minutes. Feel free to add more oil as needed.
3. Add broth to the large soup pot. Add seasonings. Bring heat to medium and add shredded cabbage to the broth to cook for about 20 minutes.
4. Add the onions, carrots, beets, tomatoes to the pot. Add tomato paste and a can of peeled tomatoes, cook & simmer for another 15 minutes.
5. Add cubed potatoes to the soup. Note that I soaked them in water just to get rid of some starch. Cook and simmer for additional 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
6. The meat step is optional, but amazingly delicious. Meat completes the Borsch soup. Shred chicken and beef meat from the cooked meat. Cook the meat the way you like it - boil, bake or pressure cook. In this photo below, the method I used is boiled. I start with large 2 liter soup pot (about 10 cups of won medium heat for 30 minutes or until the meat is cooked and tender.  Then take the cooked meat out of the pot and place them aside to cool. And now you have this nice rich meat broth. Use the broth towards the borscht soup or freeze it for later.
7. 7. Add cooked shredded chicken and beef to the ready to serve borscht. Serve with sour cream and chopped fresh dill to top.

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