Russian Borscht (Борщ)

This recipe of borscht combines healthy efforts, secrets from my culinary school teachers, personal preferences along with some adjustments I had to make regarding the availability of American produce and taste. It might look somewhat time-consuming, but it is definitely worth cooking!

First, meat part. For borscht any kind of meat will work: beef, pork, chicken. I used chicken thighs for mine. Take off the skin and fatty parts. It will save you about 2000 calories for the whole pot! Leave bones in. All normal Russian borscht recipe calls for some bones for the stock. Pork and beef bones are the best, by I simplify it and just use chicken. If you vegetarian (like Harsha) just use vegetable stock and skip this part.

Trick #1: place the meat of your choice into pot half filled with COLD WATER! Never use warm water to start with. Bring water to boil and dump it out!!! Yes, first stock is the most fattening and unhealthy part of the whole process. You don't want fat floating in your borscht. It will be tasty even without it!

Pour cold water again (half of pot) and bring to boil. This time, with my permission, you can keep the stock! Bring it to a boiling point and skim foam from the top. Simmer for at least 30-40 minutes and pull the meet out of the stock to cool down. Yes, this is my trick #2. Meet needs to be taken out of the soup, cooled down, separated from the bones and cut into small pieces.


In meantime, take three medium potatoes, pealed them off, cut into cubes and cook them in a separate saucepan.

This is trick #3: it takes longer to cook potatoes in stock. It will take about 10-15 minutes to cook them in just simple water. In stock it will take longer - 30 minutes at least, because of fat part of the stock. Cook it for about 15 minutes and set apart.

Beet is an essential part of borscht. It gives color and special taste. If you don't like it much - you can cook it without beets. Tomato paste will give the desired red color, but taste will be a little bit different. I use canned beets. It is easy.

Open the can, drain the liquid into a separate bowl and save it, cut or shred the beets and set them apart too.

Now the cabbage. One small head of cabbage is enough for the 5 liters-size pot. I simplify it too by using a bag of coal-slaw salad from the store. (I got so lazy that even don't want to cut the cabbage!) But it s about the same price and already pre-cut into small pieces, so why not?
Here goes my trick #4: cabbage never goes into borscht by itself. It is supposed to be added with bell pepper. That little trick will give you better taste. Sometimes borscht will smell like boiled cabbage, but if you listen to my advice and use belle pepper, it will eliminate unpleasant smell and your soup will smell like Bulgarian dinner! So, cut 1 or 1/2 of bell pepper and place in on the top of cabbage and set apart. You see, all ingredients are just sitting on your counter getting ready to be added into the soup. Be patient. Cooking doesn't take that long. Preparation does.

I adore garlic. It drives my husband crazy because I smell like garlic for a week! But there is no borscht recipe without garlic. So, embrace yourself and peal a couple of cloves of garlic and mince them.


Herbs and green onions are good additions too. Use any herbs that are in season - parsley, dill, cilantro. Anything you like. Cut them into small pieces and mix with garlic and green onions. And, yes, you guess it correct - Set apart too.

When tomatoes are in season, I like to add some fresh tomatoes into my borscht.

I crash them in the food processor, but simple grater or blender will do the work just fine. It is not a necessary ingredient, just a summer touch when you have plenty of tomatoes at hands.

But this one essential! Onion and carrots cut into small pieces....

and fried them with oil. Add 1 can of tomato sauce at the end. Trick #5: bring to boil tomato sauce and add 1 teaspoon of sugar, one bay leave and fresh ground pepper. Set apart.


Now when you have a hundreds bowls on your counter, you are ready to complete your borscht! The order is really important. Bring stock to boil, add potatoes with water in which it was cooked. Now, cabbage with bell pepper together. Let it boil for about 3-5 minutes (depends if you like overcooked or crunchy cabbage taste). If you like it crunchy, after a couple of minutes of boiling, add the tomato sauce. If you like it very soft, let it boil for another 5 minutes, then add tomato sauce. Add shredded beets with juice, fresh tomato and pre-cut meets. Add your herbs. Bring to boil.

The main rule of cooking soup is bring it to boil after you add anything new to it. So, even when you add you spices and herbs, you have to make sure that it was boiling after that. I like to add fresh ground pepper, salt, and a couple of bullion cubes. Also make sure you have enough liquid and add just tap water if it's needed. But don't forget to bring to boil after that!

The best way to finish is to correct your spices, bring to boil the last time, turn your burner off and let it stand for about 20 minutes at the same burner, so it will gain its taste.


My borscht turned out really good. I enjoyed it very much. I wish you would too!