Polish Borscht Recipe (Christmas)

This delicious Polish borscht recipe is a traditional dish served with mushroom dumplings (uszka) as part of Christmas Eve dinner. It requires few ingredient and is incredibly easy to make. Ready in under an hour!

Polish borscht ('barszcz wigilijny') is for me the highlight of the Polish Christmas Eve meal.  It is served as the first of 12 dishes (according to tradition) and I couldn't imagine Christmas Eve without it.

Having said that, customs can vary from region to region and many people in Poland prepare wild mushroom soup instead of borscht.  Commonalities do exist though as wild mushrooms are also added to the Christmas Eve borscht.

Christmas borscht is a little different from everyday borscht (the one people tend to be more familiar with).  At Christmas it is served without any vegetables, as broth really.  It contains very few ingredients and is always vegetarian!  Polish Christmas Eve is meat free, though not vegetarian, as the meal consists of at least one fish dish.

Polish borscht ingredients

To most people (those who haven't grown up with this tradition) this soup must seem a bit odd.  After all, it's just beets cooked with a few dried mushrooms and simple vegetables including onion, celery and garlic.  This is why it's important to add vinegar, some brine from the pickled beets, soy sauce and a good amount of seasoning to bring out the flavour of the beetroot and add sharpness to this soup.

This is one of the least labour intensive Polish Christmas Eve dishes!  I like to get some of the more time consuming dishes out of the way first (i.e. sauerkraut pierogi dumplings and cheese and potato dumplings).  And I leave the easy stuff, such as the dried fruit compote and this borscht soup, until Christmas Eve.

How to make Polish barszcz: step-by-step

1.To make this beetroot soup simply place the beets, pickled beets, onion, garlic, celery stalk, mushrooms (omit if using the water from cooking the porcini, see Notes below) and allspice berries in a large pot.

2. Pour in the water, pickled beet brine, vinegar add seasoning, cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for about 50 minutes.

3. When the soup is ready add in the butter, adjust the seasoning as needed and stir. Remove the vegetables from the pot and serve the broth only.

What to serve with this soup

Polish borscht is always served with porcini dumplings ('uszka'), which make this soup truly special.  Beetroot tastes really delicious with wild mushrooms! Any leftover clear barszcz can be reheated and enjoyed on its own as a nourishing hot broth (it tastes delicious the next day!) or along with Christmas day leftovers.

2 ways of making it

The soup itself also contains a bit of mushroom flavour and there are 2 ways you could add it.  One is to simply throw a few porcinis into the pot and cook with the rest of the ingredients.  The other one has to do with making the porcini dumplings.

If you make the porcini dumplings to go with this barszcz reserve the water from cooking the mushrooms and add it into this soup.  One or 2 quarters of a cup will suffice.  If you choose this method you won't need to add any mushrooms to the borscht.

Top tips and FAQs

• I do NOT recommend using ready cooked bought beets to make Polish barszcz.
• You can make this soup as sharp and tangy as you like so use the vinegar, pickled beetroot brine, soy sauce and seasoning according to your preference.
• Although soy sauce is not a traditional ingredient it is a good idea to use it in this recipe.  Soy sauce complements the beetroot, adding complexity and more depth to the overall flavour.
• Use either 2-3 large dried porcini mushrooms or one or two quarters of a cup of water from cooking the porcinis for Polish porcini dumplings.
• Serve only the broth.
• Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
• Freeze individual portions for up to 3 months.

What to do with the beets from the borscht

As Polish beet soup is served without any vegetables in it you could create a nice side dish using the beets.  Simply grate them coarsely, add a little lemon juice/sour cream, knob of butter, stir and serve hot alongside a meat-and-potato meal.  You could also turn it into a zesty, delicious Polish cold beet salad as well as beetroot salsa.

You might also like

• How to Make Borscht Soup (Vegetarian)
• Beetroot Fennel Soup with Kale
• Polish Chilled Beet Soup
• Beet Greens Vegetable Soup

Another traditional Polish Christmas Eve dish you might like is Polish kutia (wheat berry pudding).

You may also like this collection of over 12 creamy vegan soups.

Keep in touch!

Have you made this traditional Polish Christmas borscht recipe? I'd love to know how it turned out for you. Do you have your own tried and tested way of making this recipe? Let me know in the comments below, thanks!

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Polish Borscht Recipe (Christmas)

Polish borscht is a traditional dish served as part of the Christmas Eve feast along with mushroom dumplings. It is super simple to make and ready in under an hour.

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Course: Lunch, Soup

Cuisine: Polish, vegetarian

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 8 people

Calories: 41kcal

Author: Monika Dabrowski

Equipment

• ▢
  Large pot

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 medium beets peeled, cut in half
• ▢ 2 small pickled beets coarsely grated
• ▢ ¼ cup brine from pickled beets
• ▢ 1 small celery stalk
• ▢ 1 onion peeled
• ▢ 1 garlic clove peeled, cut in half
• ▢ 3 large pieces dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed approx. 2 grams, *see Recipe Notes below
• ▢ 2 allspice berries
• ▢ 3 tbsp white wine vinegar or cider vinegar or to taste
• ▢ 2 tbsp soy sauce
• ▢ 5 cups water
• ▢ ⅔ tbsp coarse sea salt plus plenty of pepper
• ▢ 1 tbsp butter or vegan spread

Instructions

• Rinse the porcini mushrooms (if using) under cold water and rub briefly with your fingertips to remove any grit. Place all the ingredients (apart from the butter) in a large pot, cover and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 50 minutes.
• Remove from the heat, add the butter and adjust the seasoning if required. Remove the vegetables from the pot and serve (only the liquid) with porcini dumplings.

Notes

• I do NOT recommend using ready cooked bought beets to make this recipe.
• If you make the Polish porcini dumplings to go with this barszcz reserve the water from cooking the mushrooms and add it into this soup.  One or two quarters of a cup will suffice.  If you choose this method you won't need to add any mushrooms to the borscht. 
• Flavour: You can make this soup as sharp and tangy as you like so use the vinegar, pickled beetroot brine, soy sauce and seasoning according to your preference.
• Although soy sauce is not a traditional ingredient it is a good idea to use it in this recipe.  Soy sauce complements the beetroot, adding complexity and more depth to the overall flavour.
• Serve only the broth.
• Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
• Freeze individual portions for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 41kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4mg | Sodium: 885mg | Potassium: 163mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 58IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg

*Nutritional information is automatically generated and should be considered as an estimate.

**A note about baking: If using a fan-assisted oven refer to your appliance's instructions and adjust the temperature accordingly.

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