I typically tend to share a cake for my birthday blog post. But this year, I am sharing a recipe for one of my very favorite soups. My hubby can confirm that my usual birthday dinner request is usually some kind of soup. What can I say! There is nothing I crave more this time of year than a hot & nourishing bowl of soup. This year, borscht was the soup I had my heart set on. And thanks to my friend Ronny Joseph Lvovski, I get to share his babushka Bronia’s borscht recipe with all of you!
BRONIA’S BELOVED BORSCHT
Back in the fall, Ronny released The Primal Gourmet Cookbook. Since the day that I received his amazing cookbook, the recipe that I could not get out of my mind was his babushka Bronia’s borscht. The story behind this recipe alone was enough to put it at the top of my must-make list. Ronny describes his memories of being a boy and watching his babushka sat at her half-moon kitchen table, preparing meals with the world’s smallest paring knife & cutting board. Beads of sweat dripping from his brow as he assisted her in her tight & claustrophobic apartment kitchen. But any discomfort he experienced was well worth the reward of a bowl of her beloved borscht.
Babushka Bronia’s borscht is a Ukrainian one, deep red in color with plenty of beets, cabbage, potatoes, and beef. While borscht is traditionally made with beef, babushka Bronia always used bone-in beef short rib for its fat and flavor. I was not able to procure beef short rib, so I substituted it with well-marbled beef stew meat. Her use of parsnip also lends the most wonderful flavor to this borscht. Her borscht is hearty and perfectly balanced in flavor and texture.
This recipe is also very easily adaptable. For example, only a few minor adjustments are necessary to make babushka Bronia’s borscht Whole-30 compliant. If you want to skip the meat, you can simply use vegetable stock to create an equally delicious vegetarian/vegan version.
Truly one of the greatest soups there is, you absolutely must try babushka Bronia’s borscht this winter. I could not think of a better way to start the new year & to celebrate my birthday <3
Click HERE to learn more about Ronny’s debut cookbook
BABUSHKA BRONIA’S BORSCHT
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
- 2 pounds cross-cut beef short ribs, cut into pieces between the bones. Or use boneless beef stew meat (omit for vegan/vegetarian option)
- 3 bay leaves
- kosher salt
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 1 1/2 pounds beets, grated
- 3 carrots, grated
- 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 2 pounds white potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch cubes
- 1 large parsnip, peeled and diced
- 1 small green cabbage, thinly sliced (about 2–3 cups)
- Juice of 1 lemon, plus more if needed
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh dill leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, coarsely chopped
- optional: sour cream or whole fat Greek yogurt for serving
Instructions
- In a very large stockpot or Dutch oven, combine the ribs, bay leaves, 2 tbsp kosher salt, and some fresh ground black pepper. Add enough water (8-10 cups) to cover the ribs and bring to a boil over high heat.
- Reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer, cover and cook, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface, until the meat is falling off the bone, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. *see notes for vegan/vegetarian instructions
- While the ribs cook, in a 4-quart stockpot, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Add the beets, carrots, and onion & season with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are tender, about 12 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring to coat the vegetables until thickened, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
- When the ribs are tender and the meat is falling off the bone, add the potatoes and parsnip to the pot and cook until for-tender, about 25 minutes. Reduce the heat to low, stir in the beet-carrot-mixture, and cook until the broth has turned red, about 10 minutes. Add the cabbage and lemon juice and cook until the cabbage is slightly softened, about 10 minutes.
- Taste the borscht and season with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice as desired – it should taste sweet and sour. Remove from the heat and sir in the dill and parsley. Let the soup stand for 10 minutes before serving.
optional garnish:
- top with a dollop of sour cream or whole fat Greek yogurt & garnish with fresh dill
Notes
FOR A VEGAN/VEGETARIAN OPTION:
Omit the meat and simply bring richly flavored vegetable stock & bay leaves to a boil. Add in the potatoes and parsnip and continue with the recipe as instructed above.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cuisine: Ukrainian
Definitely making this soup. Have you ever heard of creamy borscht? There was a restaurant near Princeton called Soup du Jour that served it this way in the winter. Have searched for years and haven’t found the recipe. Assume she used cream. It was amazing and a beautiful pink. Sadly they closed several years ago before I got the recipe.
Hello Debbie! I am so excited for you to try this recipe! It is one of my favorite soups in the world! And I have heard of creamy borscht, a follower of mine was just talking about it over on Instagram today actually! There are lots of recipes for creamy borscht online, so I would suggest looking for one that looks the most similar to what you remember and developing your own recipe from there!
Apologies for barging into your conversation, but with Ukrainian roots thought I’d jump in. Perhaps the borscht was already mixed in with the sour cream or yogurt, before it was served, giving it that pink color. Traditionally, it’s the chilled/cold or summer borscht that is served pink. Hope that helps with your search.
Thank you for chiming in Alla! I hope your tips help Debbie with her search!
Hi Bella!!
I just made your soup. What a delight!
My husband and my two little kids just LOVED it. We enjoyed our meal tonight quite a lot! :) This soup is so rich in flavor, specially (in our case) because of the beets. We hardly ever buy beets at the grocery store…but from now on, beets will be part of our diet thanks to this great soup that you shared.
Tonight, we talked about you and the beautiful recipes you share, at dinner time :)
You are doing a great job from where I can see!! ❤️
Wow! I am SO happy that you and your family loved this recipe! I am incredibly honored to have inspired you all to eat more beets too! This borscht recipe is truly special, and I could not be more grateful and honored to have been a part of your dinner time tonight <3 Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!
I made this soup for our evening meal today and we loved it. Such a beautiful bowlful of nourishing goodness. A make again for sure. Thanks so much for sharing.
I am just delighted that you guys loved Brunia’s borscht! Thank you so much for letting me know!
FANf#@%!nTASTIC Borsch Bella!!!
We just LOVED every single layer, texture, flavor profile, ingredient compliment, it was pure bliss and harmony The Way all the flavors and aromatics came together, the Greek yogurt was the PERFECT creaminess topping too!!
Totally forgot to mention that we were SO enthralled with this Borsch that we literally ate it 3-4 times per week for several weeks straight, THAT is how INCREDIBLE this Borsch is Bella, THANK YOU SSOOO MUCH for everything Bella!!!!!!!!!