I’ve had a lifelong love affair with sour cream because to this beef borscht. It’s amazing to see as the creamy, sour cream melts into the steaming, meaty soup.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 4 hrs 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 5 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 (1 inch thick) slice bone-in beef shank
- 3 quarts water
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups diced peeled beets
- 2 cups chopped cabbage
- ¼ cup white vinegar, or to taste
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup sour cream, for garnish
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, for garnish
Instructions
- Cook beef shank in a large soup pot over high heat until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Add water, onion, carrots, celery, and bay leaf; bring to a simmer and cook until meat is tender and falling off the bone, about 4 hours. Strain broth and discard solids.
- Combine beef broth, beets, and cabbage in the same pot; cook, stirring occasionally, until beets are tender, about 30 minutes. Reduce heat to low; add vinegar, salt, and black pepper.
- Serve soup in bowls garnished with sour cream and dill.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of beef broth ingredients, even though only the broth is used.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 138 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 21 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 96 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Rich and flavorful. I dated a beautiful Russian for a decade. He taught me to put sour cream on almost all soups.
This recipe is fantastic as is. The only adjustment i made was that i found it impossible to “discard” the broth meat and veggies. They make a very good meal on their own!
Hearty, delicious on a cold winter day. Low carb and filling. Loved it!
while the dish is awesome its not by any means russian. It’s Ukrainian.
Awesome recipe. Used ground beef as that’s what I had on hand. Added more beets and cabbage. Added more salt as others suggested. Turned out great! Definitely making this again!
Added lentils to this soup instead of cabbage. It is one of my favourite soup recipes.
I totally loved this recipe! It was so delicious and the best Borscht Soup I have ever tried. Maybe if I use Golden Beets something may come out of it that was solid gold! Awesome recipe!
This was very good and hearty. I used stew meat and beef broth for the cooking liquid. Used red cabbage. All of this came together beautifully. I used a seasoned German vinegar. Will make this again.
I made it with a lamb shoulder roast that I had in the freezer & doubled the recipe. Loved it!
I love this beautiful soup. It is NOT Russian Borscht…who cares? Its Borscht and its wonderful. I make it with ground sirloin to keep it budget friendly. No other changes necessary.
I could not find the beef they suggested. So, I used 4 small beef ribs and it turned out quite good. Definitely, need something else, but not sure what.
I could not find the beef they suggested. So, I used 4 small beef ribs and it turned out quite good. Definitely, need something else, but not sure what.
Added extra veggies to make it heartier! Garnished with low sugar plain yogurt which is healthier than sour cream. Delicious.
I used this as a guide; didn’t have all the ingredients as called for. Hence the 4 star rating. The result was quite good. Had to scale down a lot (for singles); still got enough for the freezer.
Good ingredients, great soup. So comforting. Homemade beef stock, can’t go wrong.
Yes, I will make this again! What a wonderful taste and includes the borscht ingredients I wanted (beef stock, cabbage) and excludes what I didn’t (mushrooms, sausage). I didn’t summer the shank for 4 hours, due to time, but it was tasty after only 2.5. I used a bit of red wine to deglaze the pan after browning the beef and giving the veg a quick fry. I also added the vinegar in the first step. I also added a splash of balsamic vinegar, which I put in almost anything braised. For the beets I actually boiled them for 30 first with skins on. Set them aside while the beef simmered in the beet liquid, and then peeled them. I added them back before serving. Great recipe!
I modified this a little bit, partially out of convenience, partially out of preference. I browned the beef shank first, then took it out of the stock pot and added some extra oil and fried off the onions, celery, and carrots alongside a tablespoon of tomato paste until everything softened a little bit. Then I returned the beef to the pot and poured in the water and doubled up on the bay leaves. This smelled amazing while simmering. I only let it simmer for around 3 hours instead of 5, and I reserved the beef shank instead of tossing it so I could chop it up and add it back in at the end. I also threw in some diced potatoes in addition to the beets and cabbage. The result was a wonderfully rich, savory, deep red broth, and I happily ate the leftovers for the next 4 days.
Made this for nephew that’s from Ukraine and he loved it. Used canned beets instead of fresh, making it more cost friendly, and it was still very good.
I used a good quality beef broth instead of making the broth and altered the ingredient amounts as I didn’t have a lot of beets. I added extra bay leaves and the soup came out very tasty. Thanks.
Really good recipe. I made a few small changes but used this as the basis. Yum yum. Just like grandma used to make. Friends said it was the best borscht they ever had.
I used beef stock but everything else was the same. Very delish!