Traditional Barszcz Czerwony Recipe: Beet Soup for Polish Christmas Eve (Wigilia)

Active time: ~45 minutes | Fermentation: 5–7 days | Total cooking: ~1 hour | Serves: 6–8 | Difficulty: Intermediate

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Quick Overview

1. Prepare the zakwas buraczany (fermented beet juice) five to seven days ahead — this is the soul of the soup and cannot be rushed
2. Build a separate vegetable broth with beets, root vegetables, dried mushrooms, and aromatics — simmer about 40 minutes, then strain clear
3. Combine the strained broth and zakwas in a ratio of roughly 3:2, then season with sugar and a splash of vinegar or lemon juice
4. Heat gently — the moment the first bubbles appear, pull the pot off the heat. Boiling kills both the color and the flavor
5. Serve immediately in warm bowls with uszka (mushroom-filled dumplings) on Christmas Eve, or with potatoes and sour cream any other time

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What Barszcz Czerwony Is

Barszcz czerwony is Polish red beet soup. The Christmas Eve version is a clear, ruby-red broth: beets, root vegetables, and dried mushrooms are cooked for flavor and then strained out, so only the liquid reaches the bowl.^1,4 It is not the thick Ukrainian borshch with cabbage and potatoes, which usually contains meat or at least a meat-based broth.¹

The sourness comes from zakwas buraczany, beet juice left to ferment for about a week before the soup is made.^1,5 A little vinegar or lemon juice at the end balances the soup, but zakwas gives a softer, rounder sourness that vinegar alone cannot.⁵

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History and Cultural Roots

The word barszcz first meant hogweed, a wild plant. The original soup was made from hogweed soured like sauerkraut, and the name stayed after the ingredient changed.¹ The first recorded borscht recipe dates to 1580, and a 17th-century aristocratic cookbook seasoned the soup with poppy seed and almonds.^1,2

Beets came later. The beetroot version appears in cookbooks around 1735, and red barszcz became so ordinary that Polish still says tani jak barszcz, “cheap as borscht,” about anything inexpensive. Older recipes served it with groats, fish, or eggs rather than dumplings.²

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Wigilia and the Christmas Eve Table

Wigilia, the Polish Christmas Eve supper, is meatless, and it often starts with barszcz. The Christmas bowl comes with uszka, tiny dumplings filled with soaked, finely chopped dried porcini and fried onion.³

The work is spread over days. Zakwas can be made weeks in advance, and the rest of the soup is cooked on Christmas Eve or the day before.⁴ The rest of the year barszcz is everyday food, eaten with sour cream, with krokiety (rolled filled pancakes), or with yeast buns called paszteciki.^2,6

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Traditional Barszcz Czerwony 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.

Ingredients

For the zakwas buraczany — prepare 5–7 days ahead

• 1 kg (2.2 lb) raw beets, peeled and sliced into rounds
• 1 litre (4 cups) warm water
• 1 tablespoon fine salt
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
• 3 bay leaves
• 4 allspice berries

For the broth (serves 6–8)

• 500g (1.1 lb) raw beets, peeled and halved
• 1.5 litres (6 cups) water or light vegetable broth
• 1 medium onion, halved and unpeeled — the skin adds color
• 2 carrots, halved lengthwise
• 1 small parsley root or 2 celery stalks, halved
• 2–3 dried forest mushrooms (porcini or Polish leśne grzyby)
• 3 bay leaves
• 6 allspice berries
• 4 black peppercorns
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1–2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice
• Salt to taste

To serve

• Uszka dumplings (mushroom-filled), for Christmas Eve
• Or: boiled potatoes, a spoonful of sour cream, a pinch of fresh dill

Instructions

Step 1: Make the zakwas buraczany — 5 to 7 days ahead

Pack the beet slices into a clean glass jar. Add the garlic, bay leaves, and allspice berries. Dissolve the salt in warm water and pour over the beets — they should be fully submerged. Cover loosely with parchment paper or a cloth. Leave in a cool, dark place for five to seven days. The liquid will turn deep red and develop a pleasantly sour, earthy smell. Strain through a fine sieve and set aside. Discard the solids.

Step 2: Build the broth

Place the beets, onion, carrots, parsley root, mushrooms, bay leaves, allspice, peppercorns, and garlic in a large pot. Cover with the water or vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook uncovered for 40 minutes. Add the dried marjoram in the last ten minutes.

Step 3: Strain to clarity

Pass everything through a fine-mesh strainer. For a fully clear broth, strain a second time through cheesecloth or a clean kitchen cloth. The liquid should be a rich, transparent red-ruby. Set aside and let it settle briefly.

Step 4: Combine and season

In the pot, combine the strained broth and the zakwas in roughly a 3:2 ratio — though the exact balance depends on how sour your zakwas turned out and your own preference. Add the sugar, vinegar or lemon juice, and salt. Taste and adjust. The soup should be clearly sour but not sharp, with a gentle sweetness underneath.

Step 5: Heat carefully and serve

Warm the soup over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The moment you see the first bubbles rising from the bottom, remove the pot from heat. Do not allow it to boil. Ladle into warm bowls at once and add your chosen accompaniment.

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Kitchen Tips

On the zakwas

Use spring water, or tap water that has been boiled and cooled.⁵

On color

Barszcz czerwony is won or lost on color. Never let the soup boil, while cooking it or reheating it: it loses its deep burgundy color and much of its beet flavor.⁴ Keep the broth at a gentle simmer and take the combined soup off the heat at the first bubbles.

On clarity

A rolling boil clouds the broth. Simmer gently and resist the urge to stir too often. If the broth still looks slightly murky after straining, let it rest for ten minutes — the sediment will settle to the bottom, and you can ladle from the top rather than pouring.

On advance preparation

Once fermented, zakwas keeps for weeks in the refrigerator, so it can be made well ahead.⁵ The broth can be cooked a day or two early and refrigerated; add the zakwas and the final seasoning when you heat the soup to serve.

On the onion

Leaving the onion unpeeled and halving it through the root adds a deeper amber tint to the broth. Some cooks char the cut face briefly in a dry pan before adding it to the pot — the same technique used in making a good consommé.

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Nutritional Information

Values are estimates for one serving of clear barszcz czerwony (about 250 ml / 1 cup), calculated from USDA FoodData Central reference data for the beets, vegetables, mushrooms, sugar, and salt in the recipe.⁹ Because the vegetables are strained out, the range assumes that half to four-fifths of their sugars, and only a small part of their protein and fiber, pass into the liquid. About half the salt in the zakwas stays in the discarded beets.

• Calories: approximately 30–55 kcal per serving
• Fat: under 0.5 g
• Carbohydrates: 7–12 g, mostly natural beet sugars
• Fiber: under 1 g (the fiber stays in the strained vegetables)
• Protein: about 1 g
• Sodium: about 450 mg from the zakwas salt, plus any salt added to taste

Beets themselves are nutritious: 100 grams of boiled beet has about 44 calories, 2 grams of fiber, and 20 percent of the daily value for folate.⁹ They are high in nitrates, which the body converts into nitric oxide, a compound that relaxes and widens blood vessels and helps blood flow. Their red pigments have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.⁸

A clear soup keeps only part of this. The fiber stays behind in the strainer, raw or lightly cooked beets retain the most antioxidants and nitrates,⁸ and the live cultures in zakwas do not survive heating. What you get in the bowl is a light, nearly fat-free soup that tastes of fermentation.

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Storage

Clear barszcz czerwony keeps in the refrigerator for two to three days.² Store it in a sealed container. Reheat gently over low heat and stop before it boils, the same rule as the first time.

The soup freezes well for up to three months. Freeze it without uszka or other accompaniments and add those fresh when you reheat and serve. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm on the stovetop.

If you made extra zakwas, strain it and keep it in the refrigerator; it lasts for weeks.⁵ Use it to make smaller batches of soup.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between barszcz czerwony and Ukrainian borscht?

Polish barszcz czerwony is clear and strained, a light broth served in a bowl or even a teacup.⁴ Ukrainian borshch is a thick soup with beets, cabbage, and potatoes, and it usually contains meat or at least a meat-based broth.¹ The two share a name and a beet base, but Polish barszcz moved toward clarity and Ukrainian borshch toward a full meal in a bowl.

Do I have to make the zakwas, or can I use vinegar instead?

You can make barszcz without zakwas: use fresh beets in the broth and sour it with vinegar or lemon juice at the end. It is a decent soup, but Polish cooks advise against vinegar as a substitute,⁵ because zakwas gives a softer, rounder sourness. For everyday barszcz the shortcut works. For Wigilia, plan ahead.

Why does my barszcz turn brown instead of staying red?

Usually because it boiled. Clear barszcz loses its deep burgundy color and much of its beet flavor if it boils, while cooking or reheating.⁴ Keep the broth at a gentle simmer, add the zakwas over low heat, and take the pot off at the first bubbles.

What is traditionally served with barszcz czerwony?

On Christmas Eve, uszka: tiny dumplings filled with soaked dried porcini and fried onion.³ The rest of the year it comes with krokiety or paszteciki,⁶ or simply with sour cream.² Some families serve clear barszcz in teacups.⁴

Can barszcz czerwony be served cold?

Clear barszcz czerwony is a hot soup. The cold beet soup is chłodnik, a separate dish. It is thick, made with soured milk, kefir, or buttermilk plus cucumber and dill, and eaten on hot summer days.⁷

Is barszcz czerwony always vegetarian?

The Wigilia version is meatless, because meat is not allowed at the Christmas Eve supper.³ At other times of year, some cooks replace the water with chicken rosół stock.² The soup is dairy-free as long as sour cream is served on the side.

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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.

1. Kępa, Marek. “Polish Food 101 – Barszcz.” Culture.pl (April 2015).
2. Klesta, Karolina. “Polish Red Borscht Barszcz Czerwony Recipe.” Polish Foodies (1 December 2021).
3. Kasprzyk-Chevriaux, Magdalena. “The 12 Dishes of Polish Christmas.” Culture.pl (December 2013, updated December 2022).
4. Polonist Test Kitchen. “Barszcz Czerwony: Polish Red Borscht for Christmas Eve Dinner.” The Polonist (1 September 2019, updated 5 June 2023).
5. Polonist Test Kitchen. “Beet Zakwas: Fermented Beet Juice.” The Polonist (4 September 2019, updated 5 June 2023).
6. “The Real Red Borscht & Our Special Recipe.” Culture.pl (20 December 2022).
7. Polonist Test Kitchen. “Chłodnik: Polish Cold Beet Soup, Lithuanian-style.” The Polonist (18 April 2021, updated 5 June 2023).
8. Cleveland Clinic. “Are Beets Good for You?” Health Essentials (22 July 2026).
9. U.S. Department of Agriculture. FoodData Central: “Beets, raw” (FDC ID 169145); “Beets, cooked, boiled, drained” (FDC ID 169146); “Carrots, raw” (FDC ID 170393); “Onions, raw” (FDC ID 170000); “Celery, raw” (FDC ID 169988); “Mushrooms, shiitake, dried” (FDC ID 169997); “Sugars, granulated” (FDC ID 169655); “Salt, table” (FDC ID 173468).

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Disclaimer

This article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical or nutritional advice. Nutritional values provided are estimates and may vary depending on specific ingredients used, preparation methods, and serving sizes. If you have specific dietary needs or health conditions, please consult a qualified healthcare provider or registered dietitian before making changes to your diet.

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