Traditional Grybų Sriuba Recipe: Mushroom Soup for Lithuanian Christmas Eve (Kūčios)

Prep: 20 minutes (plus 1–4 hours soaking) | Cook: about 50 minutes | Total: about 1 hour 10 minutes, plus soaking | Serves: 5 | Difficulty: Easy

Quick Overview

1. Soak the dried mushrooms and keep the soaking water
2. Soften the onion in oil, not butter
3. Simmer the chopped mushrooms in the strained soaking liquid
4. Add the barley, then the potato, carrot, and bay leaves
5. Finish with dill, salt, and pepper
6. Serve hot with rye bread, or with cold potatoes boiled in their skins

What Kūčios Grybų Sriuba Is

Grybų sriuba is Lithuanian for mushroom soup. The version here is a mushroom soup for Lithuanian Christmas Eve, the supper called Kūčios on December 24. It is made from dried forest mushrooms, their soaking water, root vegetables, and a little grain, with no meat or dairy in the pot.^2,3 It is counted among the most important dishes of the evening.²

On the Kūčios table, the soup follows the rule of the evening: fasting dishes only, with no meat or dairy.^6,9

History and Cultural Roots

Kūčios grew out of the vigils and shared meals of the first Christian centuries, and the custom has also been traced to older pagan rites for remembering the dead and for the harvest.⁶ The supper opens with a prayer, and only fasting dishes follow. In early 20th-century villages, nine to twelve ritual dishes went on the table, mushrooms among them, along with peas, beans, herring, and oat and cranberry kissel.⁶

For winter, boletes were dried, while other mushrooms were usually salted or fermented.⁷ A 2024 study of Lithuanian mushroom-gathering traditions found dried boletes going into soups, stews, pies, dumplings, and herring dishes, especially for Christmas Eve dinner.⁸

In Dzūkija, in southern Lithuania, the hot dish of Kūčios was grybų rasalas, a plain mushroom broth. The Dzūkian table had no milk, butter, or cheese, and the kūčiukai were eaten with poppy seed or hemp seed milk instead. The broth came to the table with cold potatoes boiled in their skins, with small mushroom-filled pastries called ausiukės, or with yeast buns.¹

Recipes for a dairy-free Kūčios mushroom soup are still published in Lithuania today, built on dried mushrooms, root vegetables, and pearl barley.^2,3 Another recipe for the Kūčios table cooks the mushrooms with sauerkraut juice and rice or barley and thickens the soup with butter and flour,⁴ and a beet version is served with boiled or stewed potatoes.⁵ Where the fast is kept strictly, butter counts as dairy and stays out.^1,9

Traditional Kūčios Grybų Sriuba Recipe

This recipe was compiled by Heritage Healthy Kitchen from a comparison of published recipes; the sources are listed at the end of this article. Figures that are Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s own estimates rather than taken from a published source are marked as such.

The published recipes compared here use roughly 45 to 90 grams of dried mushrooms for every 1.5 liters of water^3,4,5 and soak them for anywhere from one hour to overnight.^2,3,4 Those that use pearl barley add anywhere from two or three tablespoons to a handful,^1,2,3 with potato and carrot for body,^2,3 and simmer the soup for about 30 to 45 minutes once the broth is on.^2,3 The amounts below sit inside those ranges. The weights of the onion, potatoes, and carrot are Heritage Healthy Kitchen estimates.

Ingredients

Serves 5

• 50g (1¾ oz) dried wild mushrooms, preferably boletes (porcini), or a forest mix
• 1.5 liters (6 cups) water, for soaking and broth
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) rapeseed or sunflower oil
• 1 medium onion (about 130g / 4½ oz), finely chopped
• 2–3 tablespoons (30–40g) pearl barley, rinsed (optional)
• 2 medium potatoes (about 300g / 10½ oz), peeled and diced
• 1 medium carrot (about 100g / 3½ oz), diced
• 1–2 bay leaves
• 10g (¼ cup) fresh dill, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Soak the mushrooms. Rinse the dried mushrooms well,⁴ then cover them with the water and leave them to soak for 1 to 4 hours, or overnight, until soft.^2,3 Lift the mushrooms out and chop them. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve lined with a coffee filter or cloth to catch any grit, and keep it: it becomes the broth.^2,3
2. Soften the onion. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, add the onion, and cook until soft and lightly golden, about 5 minutes.^1,3
3. Build the broth. Pour in the strained soaking liquid, topping it up with water to 1.5 liters if needed, and add the chopped mushrooms.³ Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.²
4. Add the barley. Stir in the barley, if using, and simmer for 10 minutes.²
5. Add the vegetables. Add the potatoes, carrot, and bay leaves and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes and barley are tender.²
6. Season and finish. Remove the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper, and stir in the dill.^1,2
7. Serve. Ladle into bowls and serve hot with dark rye bread,² or the Dzūkian way, with cold potatoes boiled in their skins on the side.¹

Kitchen Tips

Dried forest mushrooms carry fine sand. Rinse them before soaking and strain the soaking liquid before it goes into the pot, or the grit ends up in the bowls.^2,4

The onion doesn’t have to be fried. Adding it raw to the simmering broth is the traditional way, and frying it in oil first is the more modern habit.² Left unfried, the soup has almost no fat: about 120 kcal a serving instead of about 170, by Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s estimate.

For a Kūčios table, keep the fat to vegetable oil. The Dzūkian Christmas Eve table left out milk, butter, and cheese entirely.¹

A few prunes or cranberries are an optional addition.² Some cooks build the broth on sauerkraut juice instead of plain soaking water, which makes the soup sharper and more sour.⁴

Nutritional Information

Per Serving (⅕ of the Recipe)

• Calories: approximately 150–195 kcal
• Protein: approximately 3–5g
• Total fat: approximately 5–6g
• Saturated fat: under 1g
• Carbohydrates: approximately 24–34g
• Dietary fiber: approximately 4–5.5g
• Sodium: approximately 330–540mg

Nutritional values are estimates based on standard ingredient databases (USDA FoodData Central). They will vary with the mushrooms used, whether the barley goes in, and how much salt is added.

Traditional Recipe Card

Traditional Grybų Sriuba

Prep 20 minutes (plus soaking)Cook about 50 minutesServes 5

Ingredients

Ingredients (Serves 5)

• 50g (1¾ oz) dried wild mushrooms, preferably boletes (porcini), or a forest mix
• 1.5 liters (6 cups) water, for soaking and broth
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) rapeseed or sunflower oil
• 1 medium onion (about 130g / 4½ oz), finely chopped
• 2–3 tablespoons (30–40g) pearl barley, rinsed (optional)
• 2 medium potatoes (about 300g / 10½ oz), peeled and diced
• 1 medium carrot (about 100g / 3½ oz), diced
• 1–2 bay leaves
• 10g (¼ cup) fresh dill, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Soak the mushrooms. Rinse the dried mushrooms well, then cover them with the water and leave them to soak for 1 to 4 hours, or overnight, until soft. Lift the mushrooms out and chop them. Strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve lined with a coffee filter or cloth to catch any grit, and keep it: it becomes the broth.
2. Soften the onion. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, add the onion, and cook until soft and lightly golden, about 5 minutes.
3. Build the broth. Pour in the strained soaking liquid, topping it up with water to 1.5 liters if needed, and add the chopped mushrooms. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add the barley. Stir in the barley, if using, and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the vegetables. Add the potatoes, carrot, and bay leaves and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes and barley are tender.
6. Season and finish. Remove the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper, and stir in the dill.
7. Serve. Ladle into bowls and serve hot with dark rye bread, or the Dzūkian way, with cold potatoes boiled in their skins on the side.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is this the same soup as everyday grybų sriuba?
Not quite. The Kūčios version uses dried mushrooms and their soaking water and leaves out meat and dairy, because the supper is a fasting meal.^6,9

Can I add sour cream if I’m not serving it at Kūčios?
Yes, outside Kūčios that is up to you. For a Kūčios table, leave it out.^1,9

Is the pearl barley necessary?
No. Published Kūčios recipes treat it as optional,^2,3 and it mainly makes the soup thicker and more filling. Some recipes use rice instead.⁴

Can I use fresh mushrooms instead of dried?
The Kūčios recipes compared here all use dried mushrooms, and their soaking water is the base of the broth.^1,2,3,4 Boletes were the mushrooms Lithuanians dried for winter.⁷

Why do some versions use sauerkraut?
It is one of the variations: one recipe for the Kūčios table cooks the mushrooms in sauerkraut juice with rice or barley, which gives the soup a sour edge.⁴ This recipe follows the plainer version built on the mushroom soaking liquid.^1,2,3

Is this soup vegan?
Yes, as written. No meat, dairy, eggs, or other animal products go into it.

Further Reading & Sources

The recipe is a compilation based on the published recipes listed here; these links are provided for readers who want to explore further.

Published recipes

1. “Dzūkiškų Kūčių stalo tradicijos bei nerealiai skani džiovintų grybų sriuba” (interview with ethnologist Onutė Drobelienė). VMGonline, December 23, 2023. vmgonline.lt.
2. Samanta. “Kūčių patiekalas: grybų sriuba (tradicinė, be pieno produktų).” Tavo Vaikas, December 4, 2025. tavovaikas.lt.
3. Ilonytė, Samanta. “Džiovintų grybų sriuba – puikiai tinka Kūčių stalui.” Panelė, December 24, 2025. panele.lt.
4. Siliūnas, Dana. “For your Kūčios table.” Draugas News, November 15, 2004. draugas.org.
5. Aušra. “Grybų sriuba su burokėliais: pagal senovinį Kūčių receptą.” Mano sriuba, December 15, 2024. manosriuba.lt.

History and culture

6. “Kūčios.” Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija (no byline). vle.lt.
7. Milius, Vacys. “Lietuvių valgiai.” Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija. vle.lt.
8. Motiejūnaitė, Jurga, et al. “Diversity of ethnomycological knowledge and mushroom foraging culture in a small nation: case of Lithuania.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 20, 2024. link.springer.com.
9. “A Feast for the Living – and the Dead.” Draugas News, November 15, 2007 (no byline). draugas.org.

Disclaimer

The information in this article is provided for educational and informational purposes only. Heritage Healthy Kitchen makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of any content on this site. Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on the specific ingredients, brands, and measurements used. This content is not intended as dietary, medical, or professional nutritional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding any dietary needs or health conditions. Heritage Healthy Kitchen is not responsible for any outcomes resulting from the use of recipes or information published on this site.

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