Main Page
National cuisine
Hot borscht from pickled beetroot

Hot Borscht with Pickled Beets

Original, zesty, appetizing, very tasty! Hot borscht with pickled beets is a new take on a familiar dish. Adding tangy pickled beets gives a fresh flavor and aroma to your favorite soup. And because the beets are already cooked, the simmering time is much shorter.

Nika

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Beef

700

Water

3.5

Beets (pickled beets with their brine)

500

White cabbage

200

Carrot

Onion

Tomato

Sugar

Vinegar

Vegetable oil (for frying)

Bay leaf

Allspice

Salt

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 43 % 3 g

Fats 29 % 2 g

Carbohydrates 29 % 2 g

36 kcal

GI: 50 / 0 / 50

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make hot borscht with pickled beets? Gather the ingredients for the soup. It's best to use bone-in beef with a little fat — it makes the borscht richer and tastier.
Step 2:

Make the meat broth. How do you cook the broth? Put the beef in a large pot, cover with cold water, and set over the heat. When the water boils, reduce the heat to medium and skim the foam off the surface with a slotted spoon. Add a peeled whole onion, the bay leaves, the allspice berries, and salt to the boiling broth. Cook, covered, at a gentle simmer for 1.5 hours. The cooking time may vary depending on the quality of the meat.
Step 3:

Prepare the vegetables for the soup. Using a sharp knife, finely shred the white cabbage.
Step 4:

Peel the carrot and grate it on the coarse side of a grater.
Step 5:

Peel the tomato. How do you remove the skin from a tomato? Score a cross in the top. Drop the tomato into boiling water for a minute, then transfer it straight to cold water. The temperature shock makes the skin slip easily off the flesh. Cut the peeled tomato into small cubes. In this recipe, the tomato can be replaced with ketchup, canned tomatoes in their own juice, or tomato paste. Adjust the amount to taste.
Step 6:

Drain the brine from the pickled beets into a small container, and put the beets themselves into another. From a 500-gram jar, the brine came to 200 grams and the sliced pickled beets to 300 grams.
Step 7:

Now make the sauté for the soup. How do you make the sauté? Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet, add the carrot, and fry it a little over low heat. Then add the chopped tomato and let the vegetables stew for a bit. After 3–4 minutes, add the chopped pickled beets and simmer everything together for another 5 minutes.
Step 8:

Remove the cooked meat and onion from the broth with a slotted spoon. Using a sieve lined with cheesecloth, strain the finished broth into a large, clean pot. Return the pot of broth to the heat and bring it back to a boil.
Step 9:

Add the shredded cabbage to the boiling broth and cook the soup, covered, until the cabbage is done, about 10 minutes.
Step 10:

Cut the cooled boiled beef into small cubes.
Step 11:

Once the cabbage is soft, add the sauté and the beef cubes to the pot, then add the sugar, vinegar, and the brine from the pickled beets. Let the soup boil a little longer, then turn off the heat and let the borscht rest, covered, for about 15 minutes. Ladle it into bowls, add sour cream if you like, and serve. Enjoy!

When making this soup, I used pickled beets bought at the grocery store. But you can also pickle the beets yourself at home, adding spices to your taste. Then both the beets and the brine will take on new flavors.
Important! Whether or not the recipe specifies an amount of water for the soup, it's best to go by your own preferences (whether you like a thick or a thinner soup), the size of your pot, and the ingredients you're using. Remember that the author has their own idea of how much meat, potatoes, grains, and other ingredients belong in the soup, which may not match yours. In practice this means that if you're making it for the first time, don't cook a whole pot at once. Make a tasting batch — for one or two people. To do that, scale all the recipe's ingredients down to 1–2 servings, and figure the water at anywhere from one cup per serving (for a very thick soup) up to 1.5–2 cups (for a thinner one). Don't forget that some of the liquid will boil off during cooking. After tasting a small portion, you can adjust both the amount of liquid and the proportions of the ingredients to your taste. In time, like most experienced cooks, you'll be able to pour the water and add the ingredients by eye.
The beef can be replaced with any other meat you prefer. But keep in mind that the cooking time, as well as the flavor and calorie content of the dish, will change. Pork and lamb are usually fattier than beef, while chicken breast or turkey are leaner. And the cooking time depends not only on the type of meat but also on which cut is used and how old or young the meat is.
Root vegetables are best scrubbed with a brush or a stiff sponge under running water.