Cabbage borscht soup is a very yummy traditional meal coming from Eastern Europe. It is not the same as beet borscht or Ukrainian borscht. There are several borscht soup versions and recipes; every family has a favorite. I love this kind of recipe that can be followed loosely since there is no right or wrong in making borscht. The best borscht recipe is the one you make at home.
Cabbage borscht soup is rich in vegetable flavor and great for a whole-food plant-based diet. It is best made with fresh vegetables from the garden. It is an excellent harvest-to-table meal. All the vegetables can also be precut and frozen separately or in portions for a recipe in freezer-safe containers for winter soups. White cabbage is best blanched before freezing; red beets, carrots, and onions can be chopped and frozen.
Instead of tomato paste, you can use fresh tomatoes (about 2 cups) from the garden. You can also freeze whole tomatoes for soups in the winter. We make our vegetable broth for a healthy soup. Read here how to make a flavorful broth.
The soup will vary in color, as all vegetables are used for vegan borscht, but it is always delicious. I think the pictures do no justice to the actual borscht soup. We do not use lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to preserve the beautiful color. It wasn’t part of the original recipe, and I do not think we would like the sour taste.
The traditional Cabbage Borscht Soup
This version of borscht originates from a German Mennonite cookbook. The Mennonites also have a green borscht recipe, an entirely different delicious soup. Traditional borscht is best served with a dollop of sour cream (Or vegan alternative) and garnished with fresh dill.
Traditional meat with a bone is used; the recipe asks for 500 g of meat. After being cooked, the soup bones are removed, and the meat is cut into bite-sized pieces. In my recipe card, vegetable broth is used instead of bone broth.
For vegans, borscht can be made using only vegetables, but beans make borscht even better. Useing home-canned pinto or kidney beans, I add the whole pint jar (500ml) to the soup. The liquid from the beans gives the soup a bit of creaminess/graveness that we all love. If you prefer white beans or cannellini beans, you can use them as well.
- 3 small to medium-sized onions
- 1-2 diced carrots
- 1 beetroot diced
- 1-2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon oil (Optional)
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 potatoes, diced small to medium size
- 1 pound white cabbage, chopped
- 3-4 tbsp tomato paste, or 2 cup fresh tomatoes
- about 8 cups of homemade vegetable broth and water as needed (all vegetables need to be covered)
- 1-pint jar of kidney or pinto beans
- 1 bunch of dill
- Black and hot pepper to taste
- Miso paste, Brags, liquid soy seasoning, or salt to taste
- Wash, peel, dice, and chop all the vegetables. Some prefer the veggies cut small, and some coarse. You choose.
- In a large soup pot (or Instant pot) sauté the onions and carrots on medium heat until they are translucent.
- Add garlic
- After 1-2 minutes, add tomato paste, bay leaf, and vegetable broth
- Now add the beets, cabbage, and potatoes
- Add water if needed to cover all the veggies.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cook on low heat for 30 minutes (Instant Pot 10 minutes)
- Add the can of beans and bring back to a boil.
- Add dill and seasoning
Instant pot Borscht
Instant pot borscht needs 10 minutes of high pressure and turns out yummy. When time is off, it’s best to let it release on its own. If you are in a hurry, you can use the 10-minute natural release. Let the cooker go into the “Keep Warm” mode and count for 10 minutes. Then press “cancel” and twist the steam release handle on the lid to the “Venting” position.
It is said that borscht tastes best after the seventh heat-up. That’s an exaggeration, but yes, a large batch of borscht can be prepared in advance and is great as leftovers. Yummy!
Borsht is usually served with bread, homemade dinner rolls, rye bread, or Krebli.
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I’ve never been a fan of cabbage, but I must say, this looks pretty good!
Yes, that is what I meant. It makes it more flavorful, I think. But you can make it anyway you want.
Ahh – my mom used to make this ALL the time growing up… thanks for the recipe 😀 ~Renee
This soup looks yummy for a cold day!
Looks good! Always looking for more ways to use cabbage. There’s only so much roasted or sauteed cabbage we can handle!
This does look yummy! I’m so glad it’s cooling down some and starting to get into soup season! 🙂
This looks delicious! I can’t wait to try this one.
You always bring something new and interesting for me to read at Let’s Get Real. Thanks so much for linking up each week. I’ve never made borscht. My family will be impressed with me when I write that on our meal planning calendar. It sounds so glamorous and exciting. LOL! I don’t often have cabbage because I make a meal and then think………..now what do I do with the rest of it? This soup would go along nicely with a few other recipes I can think of so that I don’t have to let the cabbage go to waste. That makes me very happy. I really don’t like wasting good produce.
I don’t like wasting good produce either, soups are just so good for that. Hope your family likes borscht!
I will be keeping this recipe for my meal planning as I always end up with the core of cabbage after I cook some delicious dolmas (cabbage rolls).
Borscht is delicious, and cabbage rolls sound good too. Enjoy!
Sounds absolutely delicious. I love recipes that are the whole meal in one dish. I shared this on Pinterest. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays Blog Hop!
Thank you Marla! Love your Blog hop for Real Food!
uhhh why did this change from a recipe with meat to a vegan one??
Because we changed. We realized that we feel much better without eating meat. Also, we learned that in today’s butchering practice many animals are cut apart before they even die, that’s cruel and absolutely forbidden by the Creator God. If you still want to eat meat and are sure that the meat you have is not cut from a living animal, you can use a pound of stew meat of your choice for this recipe, instead of legumes.
I’m curious, how will the taste differ if I do not add beetroot. I ask because I do not always have this on hand.
Not much, I have made it without many times. Recipes are just guidelines, if you want to add or take away something, go for it. Freestyle cooking is the best way to cook anyways.
Made this at the weekend and it’s delicious. Thanks for the recipe
Is this better with tomato paste or actual/canned tomatoes?
It’s personal preference. The paste doesn’t add liquid to the soup, just makes it more tomatoey in taste, if that is a word. Tomatoes, fresh or canned add also the actual tomatoes to it. On the other hand, paste is something I buy, and tomatoes come from the garden. You choose.