How to Make Borscht in 5 Easy Steps
Try this recipe for making borscht in 5 easy steps, or contribute your own.
Try this recipe for making borscht in 5 easy steps, or contribute your own.
- salt to taste
- sour cream (optional)
- 3 bay leaves
- for the broth:
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- 2 medium beets coarsely grated (300 g)
- 3 cups cabbage shredded (200 g)
- 2 medium potatoes diced (400 g)
- 1 medium carrot coarsely grated (100 g)
- 1/3 cup parsley root coarsely grated (40 g) (optional)
- 1 small onion diced or finely sliced (75 g)
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste (60 g)
- 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar (20 g)
- 1 tbsp. vinegar (12 g)
- 4 tbsp. vegetable or olive oil (40 g)
- 2 garlic cloves (10 g) finely chopped
- fresh dill parsley and green onions finely chopped
- 10 cups water (2500 g)
- 2 lbs pork butt fat trimmed (900 g)
- 10-15 whole peppercorns
- 1 whole carrot peeled cut in half
- 1 whole medium onion cut in half
- note: this amount of broth will produce a fairly t as pictured above, increase the amount of broth by 1.5 times. sugar, vinegar and tomato paste should be increased by the same ratio.
- Carbohydrate 9.570553 g
- Cholesterol 4.9 mg
- Fat 2.314558 g
- Fiber 2.62984995193481 g
- Protein 1.844615 g
- Saturated Fat 1.290874 g
- Serving Size 1 1 recipe (1005g)
- Sodium 3548.3472 mg
- Sugar 6.94070304806519 g
- Trans Fat 0.203282 g
- Calories 62 calories
Step-by-step
- Place meat, water, carrot, onion, peppercorns and bay leaves in a large pot and bring to boil. Turn the heat down to very low and simmer for about 1.5 to 2 hours. Take the meat out, let cool and cut into pieces or shred. Filter the broth through cheesecloth and set aside. Broth can be made in advance and refrigerated overnight
- Start bringing the broth back to boil over medium heat
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Place beets in the skillet and cook over medium high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add two more tablespoons of oil, followed by onions, carrots, and parsley root. Continue cooking for 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, vinegar, sugar and 1 cup of hot broth. Turn the heat to medium and continue cooking for 10 minutes, stirring frequently
- Add the meat and diced potatoes to the boiling broth and cook for 15 minutes
- Add the beets, carrots and onions and wait until borscht comes back to boil
- Add the shredded cabbage with chopped garlic and cook for 5 minutes
- Add salt and pepper to taste just before the borscht is done, followed by the finely chopped greens (fresh dill, parsley and green onions). Alternatively, you may sprinkle fresh greens in the bowl just before serving.
- Turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes
- Serve with sour cream (optional but highly recommended), greens and garlic buns
Pork butt does the heavy lifting in this recipe, providing both the structural foundation for the broth and the shredded meat that returns later in the process. Simmering the shoulder cut with whole aromatics for up to two hours extracts enough gelatin to give the liquid body without requiring commercial stock. When scaling quantities up or down, operators must adjust the water volume alongside the sugar, vinegar, and tomato paste by identical ratios to preserve the crucial sweet-and-sour balance of the soup.
Judging Doneness and Vegetable Integrity
Visual cues dictate when to halt the cooking process since thermometers do not apply to mixed vegetable soups. Potatoes are ready when a paring knife slides into the center with zero resistance, which typically takes fifteen minutes in boiling broth. Cabbage requires only five minutes of heat at the end to soften while retaining a distinct crunch and pale green color.
- Overcooked beets turn dull brown; remove the skillet from the heat as soon as they soften slightly in the oil.
- Straining the meat broth through cheesecloth removes fine bone fragments and cloudy sediment for a clean presentation.
- Finishing the soup with fresh dill and raw garlic off the heat preserves volatile aromatic compounds that degrade during prolonged boiling.
