Borscht is a beet-based soup that I grew up eating throughout the year, but especially on Ukrainian Christmas Eve. This Homemade Borscht Recipe is the easiest and quickest ever – ready in under 15 minutes!
If you know anything about beets you must be wondering how I can possibly make a beet-based soup in under 15 minutes. Beets take a long time to cook. Longer than 15 minutes for sure. And they’re a pain to peel. No way could it be done.
And right now we’re in the holiday season which always makes me think of Borscht since it is a staple at Ukrainian Christmas feasts. I had to find a way to make this soup easily!
Video: Making Easy Borscht
Can You Use Canned Beets For Borscht?
Last time I wanted to make Borscht, I remembered my mom telling me, years ago, that she tried making borscht using canned beets. I couldn’t remember if she’d said that it had worked or not. I called her and asked. She said, “Yes!”
Using canned beets for this soup is amazing. Not only are they already tender, but they’re also already peeled. Peeling beets is a time-consuming and messy business. It’s so great to not have to do it.
Cooking Beets For Borscht
I have discovered two ways to prepare fresh beets that are simple and not at all messy. You can roast the beets in their skins or cook the beets in the Instant Pot Both are done with the skins on. If you don’t peel the beets, they make much less mess. You then peel them after they’re cooked and cooled. It’s way less messy! So, if you want to make borscht using fresh beets instead of canned, use one of these methods. You’ll need 5-6 medium beets for the borscht recipe below.
Note that you can use the liquid from the Instant Pot in place of the liquid from the canned beets in the recipe below. If you roast the beets, you won’t get liquid to use but don’t worry, it will be fine. Just use an extra 1/2 cup of broth.
Types of Borscht
A note about this borscht and borscht generally. There are different kinds of borscht. In my family alone we eat three different varieties. There’s a special summer version with fresh garden vegetables, a wintery meaty version that can be a whole meal, and a more delicate vegetarian version that is always part of our meatless Ukrainian Christmas Eve dinner. If you grew up eating borscht it might have been like one of these three. Or it might have been completely different. There’s even something called White Borscht that doesn’t involve beets at all!
I think you’ll like this one no matter what you’re used to though.
And if you want another soup with great Ukrainian flavors, try my Stuffed Cabbage Soup. All the great taste of cabbage rolls, in a wonderful soup.
Why Is There Vinegar in Borscht?
The key to delicious borscht is those sweet beets, of course, but also the dill and a good bit of cream (sour cream or heavy cream). But also, you need to have a bit of acid, usually in the form of vinegar.
My mom says that the acid is needed to keep the beets brightly colored. I don’t actually know if this is true since I’ve never omitted the vinegar to find out. Whatever the reason for adding it, I’ve noted nice acidity in every borscht I’ve ever had and I don’t think it could really be borscht without it.
More Delicious Soup Recipes
I’m pretty much obsessed with soups, both making them and eating them. If you’re like me on this one, you’ve got to have a look at my other soup recipes. There are over 70 of them! I love them all and I know you will too. Here are some of my favorites:
- Cabbage Soup
- 13 Bean Soup Recipe
- Easy Vegetable Soup
- Broccoli Cheese Soup (With Frozen Broccoli)
- Greek Lemon Soup Recipe
- Easy Minestrone Soup Recipe
- Cream of Chicken Soup
Podcast Episode About Making Borscht
Listen to learn how to make this recipe, along with some great tips from me along the way:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
And now, here’s my quick and Easy Borscht Recipe:
Print
Easy Homemade Borscht Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Ukrainian
DESCRIPTION
Borscht is a beet-based soup that I grew up eating throughout the year, but especially on Ukrainian Christmas Eve. This Homemade Borscht Recipe is the easiest and quickest ever – ready in under 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
- 1 medium potato, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 cup carrot matchsticks
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper
- 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped, divided
- 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
- 1 cup frozen cut green beans, thawed
- 2 (15 oz.) cans “original cut” beets
- 2 tsp. white vinegar
- 6 Tbsp. whipping cream or sour cream to serve
Instructions
- Measure the broth into a large microwave-safe bowl and microwave it for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the potato. Increase the heat to medium-high. Stir and then cover the pot.
- Roughly chop the carrot matchsticks. Add them to the pot along with the onion. Stir and cover.
- When the broth is done heating, add it to the pot along with the salt and pepper. Stir well.
- Increase heat to high, cover and let it come to a simmer. Reduce heat to a moderate simmer.
- Add half of the dill to the pot of soup.
- Put a colander over a bowl and pour in the cans of beets to drain them. Set the liquid aside and do not discard it because you’ll need it soon.
- Put the drained beets into a food processor and process until they’re in small pieces.
- When the potatoes in the pot are fork-tender, add the vinegar and stir. Then add the processed beets, the reserved beet liquid, the peas, and the beans. Heat on high until simmering.
- Stir in the remaining dill. Taste and add more vinegar and black pepper if needed.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with either whipping cream or sour cream on the side for people to add to their bowls of soup.
This post originally appeared in December 2014 and was revised and republished in October 2018.
Hi comrade lol.Im Cher also Ukranisn..half..I need to cook my beets now as they are getting soft..all I have are fresh small carrots and 1 onion and beef broth..in my garden I have sage and not sure if dills still there..of course salt, pepper, 1 potato, vinegar…Let see how it goes. I intend to put beets in Ninja deluxe Foodi..with broth put sm veggies later..herbs later..vinegar first..u get idea..What do u think it’ll be OK? If there’s no black bread aka rye I don’t like it etc Same for sour cresm..I gave it.
Hi, I made my own chicken broth. I wore the ‘hair dye’ gloves , best way to handle beets. Prepped beets, used purple carrots, yes purple. Cut up small potatoes. Used 2 cups broth, 2 cups water. Cooked all until potatoes were completely ready. Delicious with my sour cream dollop. Better hot than cold. Used herb ox seasoning. Dry dill, dry celery, onion bits . Came out decent ! Thx!
Thanks for sharing, Beth! :)
Very tasty soup. Used fresh chicken stock, green beans and beets, but otherwise followed the recipe. I cook dinner for my mother who is in her 90’s and she commented several times on how delicious it was. Many thanks!
You’re welcome, Peggy! Glad it was enjoyed.
I have made this recipe several times for a friend of mine who grew up in Poland. He loves this recipe. Using pickled canned beets makes the borscht slightly sweet. Because of this sweet, slightly tart note, he states it’s better than his Polish mom’s (sorry Mom).
Wow, thanks for sharing, Dawn!
I love beets and this looks delicious!
Thanks, Elizabeth!
I have made borscht a number of times over the years. But I never use chicken broth – only beef. I also brown 500g of stewing beef. I have also used celery in the veg mix. My question is: do my additions make the soup better, or does it compromise its integrity.?
Linda, I think there are many different kinds of borscht. My mom and Ukrainian grandmother made different kinds for different seasons. Summer borscht had beets and veggies from the garden. Christmas eve borscht was completely meatless, not even using chicken or beef broth. Fall borscht often had lots of beefy flavor and some meat. I’ve also had borschts with much less beets and sometimes some kind of sausage. I think what they all have in common is that there’s a strong beet flavor. Other than that, whatever you like works! NOte that the recipe I’ve given tastes pretty close to the meatless borschts that I had growing up. To make it totally meatless, use vegetable stock instead of chicken.
We are making this Soup tonight for dinner
Wow ! So delicious !
We had Shallow fried Salmon steaks, garnished with red onions sliced lengthwise and spiced with salt and white pepper powder and a dusting of turmeric powder as per my Keralyte Indian roots as the 1st course, garnished with vinegered red onions sliced lengthwise, and marinatated by squeezing with a pinch each of salt and red chillie flakes.
We topped off this meal with cubes of Baklava
Dr. Meena Amour
Made this tonight!! Once I get off work either I eat something on the way home or cook something really quick. My husband is Russian and been wanting to surprise him with one of his favorite dishes. This recipe was perfect for what I was looking for. I knew I wanted it to be quick and to use can beets. I change a few things… instead of peas in used purple cabbage. I for got dill, so I used a little pickle juice (haha), and added two leaves of sage. Top off with sour cream at the end. I love how quick and easy to follow these directions. Plus, my husband was very impressed with how well it turned out. I did two tps vinegar then it said if you think you want more add more I wasn’t sure so I did a splash more. But my husband said two would of been perfect. But hey everyone is different! Thank you for this receip!! I will be using it for when ever I make borscht!
Alyssa, Thanks for letting me know. Your adjustments sounds great! Did you know that there is actually a soup called Pickle Soup that uses the juice from pickles? Here is a link https://cookthestory.com/dill-pickle-soup/ It’s a Polish soup. I wonder if it was adding the pickle juice to your borscht that made it seem too vinegary. The pickle juice is quite strong-flavored. Anyway, very happy that you both liked it!
Thanks for the quick and easy recipe! I made this for our book club, discussing War and Peace. Great Russian peasant food!
Alicia, What a great idea. Glad you liked it!
A polish chef introduced me to the polish version of this. It’s less beetroot and red cabbage, and more normal cabbage and polish white sausage. Then it can be served in a cooked round loaf of bread – crusty on the outside with the inside scooped out – and then a boiled egg chopped in half and half a sausage. Delicious.
That really does sound delicious!
I’m so grateful to find your soup recipes. I love soup, and I hate to spend my life in the kitchen. As I like to say, “I like to have cooked.” lol Thanks for quick and delicious!
I just started liking beets a couple of years ago. I always did love the color, however. I am a soup lover, so this looks
mighty tasty to me.
Carol, yes, lots of people don’t seem to like beets. But once they get used to them they love them. Really sweet and flavorful. Thanks for the comment!