Ukrainian borscht with beets. How to cook borscht with beets so that it is red (step-by-step recipe)

Borscht is one of the most favorite dishes of the entire population of Russia and neighboring countries. There are a lot of recipes for its preparation; it is believed that every housewife has her own secrets that make the first dish unique. However, in order for the borscht to be tasty, red and rich, you need to follow certain rules when cooking. Let's figure out what ingredients are needed to prepare everyone's favorite dish, how the dressing is made, and what delicious cooking secrets the housewives of different regions reveal.

Although there are many varieties of red borscht with beets, the basic rules for its preparation remain unchanged. First you need to wash, peel and chop all the vegetables. Beets are processed separately, because they are the main ingredient of the first course. Its preparation takes place in several options:

  1. Boil in the skins.
  2. Bake in the oven.
  3. Chop and simmer in a frying pan.

To keep the beets color, add a little citric acid, juice or vinegar to the cooking medium. As for the broth, it can be made from pork, lamb, veal, beef or pork bones, the pulp of any poultry or mushrooms. For tasty borscht, the broth needs to be fatty, and for it to become so, you need to cook the meat after boiling for at least 2.5 hours over low heat.

Only after preparing the broth, peeled and chopped potatoes are added to the borscht, after 15 minutes - shredded cabbage, then beets, and then frying vegetables. This is a basic step-by-step guide for preparing red borscht with beets, but each recipe has its own nuances and sequence that must be followed.

Step-by-step recipes for preparing red borscht with beets

Today, it is impossible to find a Russian person who knows how and loves to cook, but does not know how to cook red borscht with beets. Another thing is that there are many options for preparing it, but they prepare it differently in each region. For example, in the south they like borscht with fish, in northern Russian cities - with mushrooms, Belarusians cook it without cabbage with smoked meats, Ukrainians - with beans and pampushki. We propose to consider the most delicious recipes for making beetroot borscht.

Classic beef recipe with meat and fresh cabbage

To prepare a hearty, flavorful red borscht according to the classic recipe, you need to work hard, because this dish is not simple. But the whole family will be fed for at least 2 days, and the next day the dish will become even richer and tastier. The main thing is to strictly follow the recipe, and then you will get the result you expected. Ingredients:

  • 800 g beef;
  • 5 pieces. potatoes;
  • 0.5 kg of white cabbage;
  • two beets;
  • two carrots;
  • two onions;
  • two cloves of garlic;
  • one tbsp. l. tomato paste;
  • one tsp. vinegar;
  • two tbsp. l. vegetable oil;
  • salt, herbs, spices.

Recipe:

  1. Rinse the beef, cut into medium pieces, add water, and cook after boiling for 1.5–2 hours.
  2. Peel the beets, cut into thin strips, add vinegar to preserve color, fry in vegetable oil for 5–7 minutes.
  3. Cut the potatoes, carrots and onions into cubes, chop the cabbage thinly.
  4. Fry the onions and carrots separately along with tomato paste, salt and spices.
  5. Place the potatoes in the broth, add salt, and after 5 minutes, add the cabbage.
  6. After 10 minutes of boiling, add the fried beets, and after another 10 – frying.
  7. Garlic, passed through a press, is added at the very end a few minutes before turning off the heat. When all the ingredients are ready, remove the dish from the stove, sprinkle the borscht with finely chopped herbs, let it sit for half an hour, then serve.

Borsch with sauerkraut and pickled beets and carrots

The presence of sauerkraut in red borscht increases the amount of useful substances, because it contains vitamins C, K, B, minerals: sodium, silicon, sulfur, zinc, phosphorus and copper, as well as lactic acid, which is useful for the human body. Therefore, the first course with sauerkraut is not only a very tasty, but also a healthy dish, but you will have to tinker with it. You can buy pickled beets in sweet and sour sauce ready-made or pickle yourself. Ingredients:

  • 2.5 liters of chicken or any other broth;
  • 200 g sauerkraut;
  • two pickled beets;
  • one carrot;
  • two potatoes;
  • one bow;
  • two tomatoes;
  • two cloves of garlic;
  • one tbsp. l. Sahara;
  • salt, bay leaf, spices, sunflower oil. oil.

Recipe:

  1. Place potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes, into the boiling broth with chicken pieces.
  2. Cut the onion into cubes, and grate the carrots, then fry the vegetables in sunflower oil for 5 minutes.
  3. Add the fried vegetables to the pan with the broth.
  4. Cut the pickled beets into small cubes and then place them in the broth.
  5. Pour sugar into the sauerkraut, then simmer for 5-7 minutes over low heat.
  6. When the potatoes are ready, add cabbage, grated tomatoes, chopped garlic, spices, bay leaf, and salt to the borscht.
  7. Simmer under the lid for 7 minutes, turn off the heat, let it brew for 15-20 minutes.

Delicious beetroot borscht without cabbage

Red borscht without cabbage is called beetroot soup. It is tasty both hot and cold, so it is loved by all Slavic peoples without exception. This dish contains a variety of ingredients, but beets remain the same. We will look at a recipe for making delicious beetroot soup with pork ribs. Ingredients:

  • 800 g pork ribs;
  • one large beet;
  • one carrot;
  • one bow;
  • two potatoes;
  • two tbsp. l. tomato. pastes;
  • one tsp. dried celery root;
  • 5 pieces. allspice peas;
  • two bay leaves;
  • one tbsp. l. vinegar
  • two teeth garlic;
  • salt, pepper, chopped herbs.

Recipe:

  1. Wash and cut the pork ribs into small pieces, place in a prepared container, and fill with water.
  2. Add the peeled onion, celery root, allspice, and bay. leaf, put on the stove to cook the broth.
  3. Grate the peeled beets and simmer in a frying pan with water and vinegar for about 20 minutes.
  4. Peel the potatoes and carrots, cut them into cubes, and add them to the broth.
  5. When ready, add the beets to the pan.
  6. Add salt, spices, and finely chopped garlic to the borscht.
  7. Boil the beetroot soup with all the ingredients for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and add the chopped herbs.

Red borscht is also eaten cold; it is especially popular on hot summer days. Beetroot soup is a traditional dish of Russian cuisine, which was originally prepared without meat, but over time many recipes for cold soups with meat broths have appeared. We will look at the classic recipe for cold borscht with beet broth and bread kvass. Ingredients:

  • three beet roots;
  • two carrots;
  • two fresh cucumbers;
  • 2 hard-boiled chicken eggs;
  • 2/3 liters of bread kvass;
  • 2/3 liter of beet broth;
  • 1 teaspoon sugar;
  • 1 tbsp. a spoon of table or apple cider vinegar;
  • 100 g sour cream;
  • salt, citric acid - to taste;
  • chopped fresh herbs.

Recipe:

  1. Wash, boil beets and carrots, cut into strips.
  2. Cut fresh cucumbers into strips.
  3. Pour kvass over the vegetables, mix with beet broth.
  4. Add citric acid, vinegar, salt, sugar, herbs.
  5. Before serving the beetroot soup, do not forget to add chopped eggs and sour cream.

Lenten borscht without meat with mushrooms and green beans

Lenten borscht is perfect for vegetarians and fasting people, and meat broth can successfully replace mushroom broth. As a rule, canned beans are added to the dish, but we will add healthier green beans, which are sold frozen in supermarkets. Ingredients:

  • 200 g of any fresh mushrooms;
  • 150 g green beans;
  • 150 g cabbage;
  • one beet;
  • one bow;
  • one carrot;
  • two potatoes;
  • two tbsp. l. tomato paste;
  • two tbsp. l. for frying any oil;
  • herbs, salt, spices.

Recipe:

  1. Boil randomly chopped mushrooms in lightly salted water (20 minutes).
  2. Add chopped potatoes to the mushroom broth, and after boiling, add shredded cabbage.
  3. Peel the raw beets, sprinkle with vinegar, cut into strips, fry in oil, then add to the broth.
  4. Peel the onions and carrots, cut them, fry them in a frying pan, add the tomato. pasta, salt, spices.
  5. Combine the frying with the broth, bring to a boil, turn off the heat, add herbs, let the borscht brew.

Delicious borscht with sorrel and tomato paste without vinegar

Borscht with sorrel is considered a summer dish, but in winter it will also be relevant if you replace fresh sorrel with canned sorrel. This beetroot soup doesn't require much effort to prepare, and you're sure to love it. Ingredients:

  • half a kilo of chicken;
  • 4 potatoes;
  • one beet;
  • one carrot;
  • one bow;
  • a bunch of sorrel;
  • two tbsp. l. tomato. pastes;
  • herbs, salt, spices.

Recipe:

  1. Wash the chicken, divide it into pieces, and let it cook.
  2. Peel the beets, cut them, and send them to boil in chicken broth.
  3. Grate the carrots, cut the onions and potatoes into cubes.
  4. Add the potatoes to the broth.
  5. Fry onions and carrots for a while. oil, add tomato. pasta, salt, spices.
  6. Add finely chopped sorrel to the borscht along with the frying, let simmer for 10 minutes, then turn off.
  7. Serve with herbs and sour cream.

A simple recipe for chicken broth with tomato dressing in a slow cooker

A slow cooker will help you prepare red borscht much faster. This unit is a real salvation for working people who do not have the opportunity to devote a lot of time to cooking. Let's consider the simplest recipe for a slow cooker, but no less tasty than on the stove. Ingredients:

  • half a kilogram of beef pulp;
  • 400 grams of fresh cabbage;
  • 150 grams of potatoes;
  • 100 grams of onion;
  • 300 grams of beets;
  • 100 grams of carrots;
  • three teeth garlic;
  • three tbsp. l. oils;
  • three tbsp. l. tomato paste;
  • salt, laurel. leaf, spices.

Recipe:

  1. Finely chop the onion and fry in the bowl of a multicooker with the “Baking” mode.
  2. Grate the carrots and add to the onions for 10 minutes.
  3. Then add tomato paste for 5 minutes.
  4. Peel the beets, chop as desired, add a pinch of citric acid, add to the vegetables, and leave to simmer for 15 minutes.
  5. Cut the beef and potatoes into small cubes, shred the cabbage.
  6. Add the remaining ingredients, salt, spices to the multicooker bowl, fill with water to the maximum, select the “Soup” mode and set for an hour.
  7. After the end signal, add chopped garlic and herbs to the dish.

How to prepare seasoning for borscht for the winter from tomatoes

Borscht dressing is always useful in winter, so zealous housewives prepare it for future use. If the house has a large freezer, then vegetables can be frozen, but not everyone has this luxury, so the seasoning is stored in jars without sterilization. Ingredients:

  • 2 kg tomato;
  • 1 kg rep. Luke;
  • 1 kg carrots;
  • 10 pieces. bell pepper;
  • half a kilo of parsley;
  • half a kilo of dill;
  • 1 pack of non-iodized salt.

Recipe:

  1. Grate the carrots.
  2. Finely chop the peppers and tomatoes.
  3. Chop the greens and onions.
  4. Cover the vegetables with salt, place them in glass jars, and store them in a cool place for several months.

Video recipe: how to properly cook Ukrainian borscht with beets

Ukrainian-style borscht is the use of lard as fat, which is pounded in a mortar with garlic, onions and herbs until a thick mass is formed. Some Ukrainian recipes call for the addition of toasted flour to give the borscht a thicker consistency. A beginner may not be able to handle such a dish. Even recipes with photos will not be able to convey the correctness and sequence of cooking steps, so we offer a video that shows in detail how to properly cook classic Ukrainian borscht:

Traditional technology for preparing borscht involves the use of fresh vegetables. Beets are also taken raw, chopped, then stewed or sautéed, and then added to the soup being prepared. However, there are situations where this technology is not suitable. If you have leftover beets from a salad or you don’t fry vegetables, keeping an eye on your health, you can prepare borscht with boiled beets. From the many existing recipes for this dish, you can certainly choose the right one.

Cooking features

Cooking borscht is an art that needs to be mastered if the fame of a skillful housewife is important to you. Improperly prepared borscht looks unappetizing, and its taste leaves much to be desired. When starting to cook borscht, you need to know a few subtleties:

  • Beautiful red borscht cannot be prepared without beets and tomatoes. They can be replaced or supplemented with tomato paste or juice, but it is impossible to completely do without this component.
  • Beets are added no more than 10 minutes before the dish is ready, so that they do not become discolored as a result of prolonged cooking.
  • Using acidic products, including vinegar and lemon juice, helps maintain the rich color of the beets.
  • Vegetables for borscht should be cut carefully, into small pieces, only then will it look aesthetically pleasing.
  • Follow the correct sequence of adding products. If you put them all at once, by the end of cooking some will remain raw, others will be overcooked, and the beets will be discolored.
  • Correct borscht is thick borscht. Don’t skimp on vegetables and don’t be lazy about cutting them more.
  • It’s not scary to cook a lot of borscht - once it’s steeped, it only becomes tastier.
  • Fresh herbs and garlic are often added to borscht made from boiled beets. They are placed in a plate, and if you put them directly in the pan, you need to boil them for a few minutes - otherwise the soup will quickly turn sour.

Boiled cabbage borscht, like traditional borscht, is seasoned with sour cream. If you are fasting and have chosen a vegetarian version of the dish, you can replace sour cream with lean mayonnaise.

Borscht with boiled beets and meat

  • beef on the bone - 0.6 kg;
  • lard - 100 g;
  • white cabbage - 0.3 kg;
  • potatoes - 0.6 kg;
  • beets - 0.3 kg;
  • carrots - 0.2 kg;
  • onions - 150 g;
  • garlic - 3 cloves;
  • tomato paste - 40 ml;
  • table vinegar (9 percent) - 5 ml;
  • water - 3.5 l;
  • salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

  • Wash the beef and dry with a napkin. Place in a saucepan and add the amount of water specified in the recipe. Put it on fire.
  • Wash the beets and place in a separate pan. Fill with water. Let it cook. Cook for about an hour, checking the degree of softness with a knife. Drain in a colander and leave to cool.
  • When the water in the pan with meat boils, remove the foam that appears on the surface and reduce the heat. Add spices. Peppercorns, black and allspice, and bay leaves work well. When the meat becomes soft and begins to fall off the bone easily, remove it from the broth and cool. It will take about the same time to prepare the broth as it does to cook the beets.
  • Peel the boiled beets and cut into small pieces.
  • After peeling the potatoes, cut them into larger pieces, about a centimeter by two centimeters.
  • Remove the top leaves from the cabbage head. Finely chop the cabbage.
  • Scrub and wash the carrots. Cut it into strips.
  • Peel the onion. Cut into thin half rings.
  • Cut the lard into small pieces and place in a saucepan. Melt it.
  • Place carrots and onions in melted lard and fry them until soft.
  • Add tomato paste, stir. Simmer for a few minutes and remove the saucepan from the heat.
  • Strain the broth and return to the pan.
  • Separate the meat from the bones, cut into small pieces, and place in the broth.
  • Place the pan on the fire and bring the broth to a boil.
  • Dip the potatoes into the broth. Once it comes back to a boil, add the cabbage.
  • Cook for 15 minutes after adding the cabbage, then add the fried vegetables and finely chopped garlic. Salt the soup to taste.
  • After 5 minutes, pour a spoonful of vinegar into the broth, stir, then immediately add the beets. Wait for the borscht to boil again, then cook for 2-3 minutes, remove the pan from the heat.

The soup should be poured into bowls no earlier than half an hour after preparation - it needs time to brew. It wouldn’t hurt to put a spoonful of sour cream and fresh herbs finely chopped with a knife on each plate. A good addition to borscht would be Ukrainian pampushki or garlic croutons made from rye bread.

Borscht with boiled beets and chicken

  • chicken breasts - 0.8 kg;
  • water - 3.5 l;
  • white cabbage - 0.3 kg;
  • potatoes - 0.5 kg;
  • carrots - 0.2 kg;
  • sweet pepper - 0.4 kg;
  • onions - 150 g;
  • boiled beets - 0.25 kg;
  • fresh tomatoes - 0.3 kg;
  • garlic - 3 cloves;
  • fresh herbs - 50 g;
  • lemon juice - 20 ml;
  • salt, spices - to taste.

Cooking method:

  • Make broth from chicken breasts. Remove chicken from pan. Once the breasts are cool, remove the poultry from the bones and return to the pan.
  • Peel the potatoes, cut into one and a half centimeter cubes, and place in the broth. Place the pan on the stove.
  • Shred the cabbage. Place it in the pan when the broth boils.
  • Peel and finely chop the onion.
  • Peel the carrots and grate them coarsely.
  • Wash the pepper, remove seeds, and chop into small strips.
  • Add carrots, onions and peppers to the soup 10 minutes after the cabbage.
  • Give the tomatoes boiling water and peel them. Cut the tomato pulp into small cubes and add to the soup 10 minutes after the onions, peppers and carrots. Salt the borscht to taste.
  • Peel the beets and cut into thin strips. Pour lemon juice into it and stir. Add to the rest of the ingredients 10 minutes after adding tomatoes to the borscht.
  • After 5 minutes, add finely chopped herbs and garlic. Boil the borscht for 2-3 minutes, remove from heat.

Let the borscht steep under the lid for half an hour and pour into plates. Soup cooked according to this recipe can be called dietary. The recipe will appeal to supporters of healthy eating.

Lenten borscht with boiled beets

  • white cabbage - 150 g;
  • boiled beets - 150 g;
  • boiled carrots - 150 g;
  • sweet pepper - 0.2 kg;
  • potatoes - 0.5 kg;
  • canned green peas - 130 g;
  • vegetable oil - 20 ml;
  • tomato paste - 40 ml;
  • sugar - 10 g;
  • apple cider vinegar (6 percent) - 20 ml;
  • onions - 100 g;
  • salt, spices, fresh herbs - to taste;
  • water - 2 l.

Cooking method:

  • Peel the boiled carrots and beets. Cut into strips and place in different plates.
  • After peeling the potatoes, cut them into small cubes, about a centimeter in size.
  • Chop the cabbage very finely.
  • Cut the pepper into thin strips.
  • Drain the liquid from the jar of peas.
  • Place cabbage and potatoes in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
  • Add some salt and season. Cook until the dressing is ready.
  • Heat oil in a frying pan, add peeled and finely chopped onion.
  • When the onions turn golden, add the carrots.
  • After 2-3 minutes, add the beets to the vegetables. Sprinkle it with vinegar, add salt and sugar.
  • After 2-3 minutes, add tomato paste and continue cooking for 5 minutes.
  • Place the prepared dressing in a saucepan with borscht. Add canned peas to it. Add some salt. Continue cooking for 7-8 minutes.

You can use frozen peas instead of canned peas. Then it is put into the soup as soon as the water boils. Greens are added directly to the plates.

Borscht with boiled beets is indistinguishable in appearance from that cooked using traditional technology. Its taste is no less pleasant. You can replace fresh beets with boiled ones without losing the quality of the dish.

If someone quietly whispers in your ear or almost solemnly, with the aplomb of a professional chef, announces that he knows how to prepare classic borscht with cabbage and potatoes... You can safely laugh in response. And it doesn’t matter at all who it will be: the elderly neighbor Aunt Galya, who “has been able to cook “correct” borscht for 50 years and generally knows everything about everything,” Svetochka’s best friend, who “won’t give bad advice,” or the respectable chef German Eduardovich , who studied the art of borscht cooking at Le Cordon Bleu. There is no standard recipe for preparing this meat (or lean?) red (or deep burgundy?) soup (or not soup?) with beets and cabbage (or without?) and cannot exist. Dot.

This dish is somewhat unique. Everyone turns out borscht differently. If you put two cooks next to each other, give them the same borscht recipe and the same set of ingredients... Then they won’t get a dish with a perfectly matching color and taste.

I think many would be happy to discuss with me the ingredients and technology for preparing this wonderful dish. But I offer a photo recipe for borscht with potatoes and fresh cabbage without the slightest pretension to the classics. That's just how I cook it.

Well, let's move on from talk to action, shall we?

Borscht with potatoes and fresh cabbage is prepared from the following ingredients (for a 3-liter pan):

Recipe for borscht with cabbage with step-by-step photos

You could write a whole opus on how to properly cook meat broth for borscht. But I will focus on the main points. Take a piece of pork on the bone. Rinse it well. Dry with a paper towel. Then place the meat in the pan. Add the peeled onion and small carrots. Fill with clean water. Cover with a lid and place on the stove. The heat should be slightly higher than medium. When the water boils, remove the lid and reduce the heat to low. About an hour after boiling, remove the meat from the pan. Separate it from the pit. Put the bone back. Add your favorite herbs and spices to make the broth more flavorful and rich. Cook for another half hour. Set the meat aside for now and let it cool. Oh yes, don’t forget to periodically remove the gray foam. Otherwise the broth will turn out cloudy. While the borscht base with beets and fresh cabbage is cooking, prepare all the vegetables for slicing. Remove the top leaves from the cabbage. Wash the carrots, potatoes and beets and remove the skins. Remove the skins from the onion.

White cabbage is a bone of contention between me and my mother. Yes, even in such a small thing it is difficult for two housewives to find agreement when cooking borscht. I add finely shredded (“old”) cabbage to the broth first. And it turns out soft (as my husband likes). And mom puts cabbage last. And it turns out slightly crispy (just like my dad likes). And you can do as your family prefers. By the way, my mother and I agree about “young” cabbage. If you add it at the very beginning of preparing borscht, it will turn into “porridge” in the finished dish. In any case, finely chop the cabbage.

Cut the prepared carrots into thin strips.

Cut the onion into small cubes.

Cut the potatoes into cubes. In the meantime, fill it with water so that it does not darken.

Cut the beets into thin slices. Then turn them into strips or simply grate the vegetable on a coarse grater.

All ingredients from which borscht with cabbage and potatoes are prepared are prepared and chopped. All that remains is to “juggle” them a little to get a tasty dish. Place the chopped cabbage in the prepared broth and slightly increase the heat intensity. Cook the cabbage after boiling for 7-10 minutes. And then add the chopped potatoes.

I prepare borscht with beets and cabbage from two roasts - carrot-onion and tomato-beet. Of course, you can simmer everything in one frying pan. But then the vegetables will turn beet-colored. By the way, it is not necessary to use two frying pans; we can do everything in one. First, cook the beets and tomatoes. It takes longer to cook and is added to the pan first. Fry the chopped vegetable in a small amount of oil, stirring constantly. Approximately 5-7 minutes.

Add tomato paste to the fried beets. Instead of concentrated paste, you can use tomato juice. Or delicious homemade fruit juice.

Stir and add a small amount of clean water. You will need about half to two thirds of a glass. Stir. To prevent the beets from losing their color, add a little acid to the frying - lemon juice (a tablespoon), citric acid (on the tip of a knife) or apple cider vinegar (a teaspoon). But if you have sour tomato paste, then you don’t have to add anything additional. If the roast turns out a little sour, balance its taste with regular sugar. By the way, this ingredient is mandatory in some regions of Ukraine. Try experimenting with it. But don’t get carried away too much so that the delicious borscht with cabbage doesn’t turn into a dessert.

Cover the frying pan with a lid and simmer the frying over the lowest heat until the beetroot straws can be easily broken with a wooden stick, that is, almost until cooked. This will take another 10 minutes. Place the stewed beets and tomatoes in a saucepan.

Rinse and dry the pan. Pour some odorless vegetable oil into it. Heat it well and throw in the onion. Once it becomes soft and translucent, add the carrots. Fry the vegetables for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. The second frying for borscht with potatoes and cabbage is also ready. Add it to the rest of the ingredients after 10-15 minutes of cooking the beets.

During this time, the meat will have time to cool down and even “miss” your hands. Therefore, I propose to take advantage of this circumstance and cut the pork into small cubes or cubes. And then add it to the future borscht immediately after frying the carrots and onions.

Now all that remains is to season the red borscht with cabbage and potatoes to taste. Add salt to taste. Start with an incomplete tablespoon and try it. If the dish seems bland, add more salt. Then add freshly ground black pepper. Cook the dish for another 10 minutes. Test all the ingredients to see if they are ready – they should be soft, but not mushy. Add chopped or crushed garlic. Stir. Wait a few more minutes and turn off the heat. Cover the borscht with a lid and let it brew for 30-40 minutes. I add greens to each serving separately before serving.

Before serving, season the aromatic and tasty borscht with cabbage and potatoes with sour cream or mayonnaise.

Well, that's it, the delicious culinary story is over. Whether there will be a happy ending depends on how carefully you read and looked at the photo of the borscht recipe. As it turns out, describing the preparation of borscht is much more difficult than preparing it. Therefore, arm yourself with food, pots and pans and head to the kitchen! For culinary exploits!

Cooking time for classic borscht with beef is 2.5 hours, including half an hour of infusion. You need to spend 1 hour of clean time at the stove. If you use chicken for the borscht, then the total cooking time for the borscht will be reduced to 1.5 hours, since the chicken for the broth is cooked for only 1 hour, and such borscht does not need to be infused.

How to cook borscht with beets

Products

Classic recipe for a 4-liter saucepan
Beef on the bone- 500 grams, approximately 400 grams of meat and 100 grams of bone.
Traditionally, bone-in beef is used because the bone deepens the flavor of the broth. However, sometimes beef is replaced with pork, then the dish will be fattier, and, as a result, high in calories. Borscht is less often prepared with chicken or turkey meat. In this case, cooking is less and, as a rule, cheaper. In general, it is better to use fresh meat on the bone. If the meat is frozen, defrost it in advance.
Beet- 2 medium or 1 large, 250-300 grams
Carrot- 1 large
Cabbage- 300 grams
Potato- 3 large pieces or 5 small ones
It is better to take larger potatoes for borscht to make peeling more convenient.
Tomatoes- 3 pieces
In the classic variation, add tomato + vinegar. Sometimes this tandem is replaced with tomato paste. Tomato paste is a little more acidic than tomatoes, but it helps preserve the bright color of borscht, as it contains vinegar. Or a few canned tomatoes or juice from canned beans (if it contains tomatoes). Cook in the same way - fry along with vegetables. Or you can cook the tomato paste yourself - peel the tomatoes, chop and simmer over low heat until it becomes a sauce. It’s good to add bell pepper to this homemade tomato-borscht paste.
Vinegar 9% - 2 tablespoons
So that the color of the dish becomes rich red and the taste becomes sharper. For a 4 liter pan you need 1 teaspoon of vinegar 9% or 2 teaspoons of vinegar 6%; sometimes a tablespoon of sugar is added along with the vinegar. When preparing vinegar, you can replace it with freshly squeezed lemon juice (from half a lemon). Also keep in mind that added canned tomatoes or store-bought tomato paste, if they replace tomatoes, already contain vinegar.
Onion- 2 heads or 1 large
Garlic- 3-4 teeth
Dill, parsley- 50 grams
Salt and pepper, bay leaf- taste

These are products that are added to classic borscht. If you want to deviate from the rules, this is what else is often added to borscht:
1. Mushrooms and beans. Beans will make the dish much more filling, and mushrooms will add flavor.
2. Sugar - then borscht will be especially good with sour cream. If the beets are sweet varieties, then there is no need to add. Sugar is added at the very end, so try it and decide for your specific case whether sugar is needed or not.

How to cook borscht - explained step by step

Stage 1. Boil the meat broth - cook for about an hour and a half.


Wash the beef, pour 3 liters of water into a 4-liter saucepan, add the peeled onion and peppercorns, bay leaf, put the meat in the water, cook over low heat, covered, for 2 hours after boiling. Salt the water at the beginning of cooking - you need half a tablespoon of salt. After cooking the broth, the meat is slightly cooled and disassembled (cut) into pieces and returned to the broth. Cover the pan with a lid.

Stage 2. Chop and cook the vegetables in the correct order - about half an hour.


Finely chop the onion, grate or finely chop the garlic, grate or chop the beets into pieces - depending on your taste. And similarly with carrots, you can grate them, or you can cut them into semicircles. Some even grind it in a meat grinder. The classic recipe allows for variations to suit your taste. Add vegetables to borscht in this order:
- Cabbage - if it’s ordinary, then before the potatoes, and if the cabbage is young and tender, then it can be added 5 minutes after boiling the potatoes. If you like your cabbage crispy, add it along with the potatoes.
- Potato
- Vegetable frying with beets - which must be prepared while the vegetables are boiling.

Stage 3. Fry the vegetables and add flavorings - 15 minutes.


Heat a frying pan, fry the onion for 5 minutes over high heat, stirring. Add carrots and garlic to the onion, fry for 5 minutes. Add beets, fry for 5-10 minutes over medium heat (some people like the beets crispier). Then add tomatoes or tomato paste, pour a ladle of broth from the pan with meat into the frying pan with vegetables, add additional sugar and vinegar to taste, simmer for a couple more minutes, add to the borscht - all the vegetables in it should already be cooked by this point. It’s better to taste both potatoes and cabbage, and at the same time check the broth for salt. Cook the fry in borscht for 3 minutes.

Stage 4. Let the borscht sit for half an hour.

The pan with borscht is tightly closed with a lid, carefully placed on a blanket and wrapped on all sides, preferably in several layers.

This completes the preparation of borscht. Now all that remains is to pour it into plates and serve with sour cream and fresh chopped herbs.

Fkusnofacts

How to serve borscht
Sour cream, bread with lard or basturma, green onions and garlic, hard-boiled chicken eggs, cheesecakes with cottage cheese, and donuts are served on the table.

How to store borscht
Cover the pot with borscht tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 7 days (remember that vinegar is a strong preservative). Borscht can be frozen in a bag - once frozen, it will keep for a month.

Cost of products
The cost of ingredients for preparing a 4-liter pan of borscht is 350 rubles. (average for Moscow as of October 2018).

How to make diet borscht
The dish can be made less caloric if you do not fry it. Just peel and cut the vegetables and add them to the soup: beets, after 10 minutes cabbage, after 5 minutes potatoes, carrots and onions. Or you can cook borscht without meat at all - lean borscht is also very good.

How to cook borscht in kitchen gadgets

How to cook borscht in a slow cooker
1. Place the meat in a multicooker pan, add water, salt and cook in the “Stew” mode for 1.5 hours.
2. Separately, fry onions and carrots, beets, and tomatoes in a frying pan.
3. Add the frying to the borscht along with potatoes and cabbage.
4. Set the multicooker to the “Stew” mode and cook the borscht for another 1 hour.

How to cook borscht in a pressure cooker
1. Wash the beets, peel them and grate them on a coarse grater.
2. Place the beets in a pressure cooker, fry them in an open pressure cooker in vegetable oil for 10 minutes, then add onions and carrots, after another couple of minutes, tomato paste - and simmer for 5 minutes all together.
3. Add meat - for borscht in a pressure cooker, boneless meat, cut into small pieces, fry for a couple of minutes.
4. Place potatoes and cabbage.
5. Add salt and spices to the borscht, additionally lemon juice from half a lemon
6. Pour water, close the pressure cooker with a lid and cook for 20 minutes, then wait until the pressure drops, add herbs and serve.

How to make donuts for borscht

Products
Flour - 1.5 200 gram glasses
Water - 100 milliliters
Sugar - 1 tablespoon
Salt - a quarter teaspoon
Sunflower oil - 1 tablespoon
Yeast - 10 grams
Chicken egg for greasing - 1 piece

Recipe
1. Heat the water to 40 degrees, dilute the yeast in it, cover and leave for 10 minutes.
2. Measure out 0.75 cups of flour, add sugar and salt, butter and mix well.
3. Add diluted yeast to the flour mixture.
4. Add the remaining flour and knead the dough, then cover it and leave in a warm place for 40 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
6. Form dough balls into donuts and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. The distance between the donuts should be at least 1.5 centimeters so that they do not touch during the lifting process.
7. Beat the chicken egg and brush the donuts with a pastry brush.
8. Bake the donuts for 20 minutes.

Serve the donuts warm with the borscht.

And again about borscht

Answers and tips

Many, many years ago I had absolutely no idea how to cook borscht with beets. The first experience was so sad that the contents of the pot of borscht went into the sewer network.

But a negative experience is also an experience! Therefore, the shame was never repeated. Now the recipe for how to make red borscht with beets from meat is asked by many friends who have tasted my first dish. I won’t hide the recipe for beetroot borscht with cabbage from you either.

How to cook borscht with beets, step-by-step recipe

Ingredients:

  • 500-600 grams of meat - it can be pork, beef, or chicken. We have recently adapted to lean pork cartilage or strips,
  • 2-3 pieces of potatoes,
  • 1 carrot,
  • 3 pcs. beets of intense color (long ones are best - they are sweeter),
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic,
  • 1 sweet pepper,
  • 3-4 tomatoes or a spoon of tomato paste,
  • fresh greens,
  • 200 grams of fresh cabbage,
  • vegetable oil,
  • salt - as needed.


Preparation

We cut the meat into small portions, rinse and place in a saucepan to obtain meat broth, salt to taste. Do not forget to periodically remove the foam while preparing the vegetables.


Since you need to cook borscht with beets, its quality is very important so that the end result is not a red slurry, but a beautiful red borscht. Therefore, it’s better to be too safe than sorry when it comes to beets.

Wash and clean all ingredients - fillers. We cut the potatoes either coarsely, or into strips, or into small cubes, cubes (to taste) and put them into the meat broth (for those who wish -), about an hour after it starts boiling.


Chop the onion and garlic cloves as finely as possible (horrible memories and intolerance to floating fatty onions in food have not gone away since childhood) and sauté them a little in a frying pan in a small amount of oil.


There, in the frying pan, pour the beets and carrots, chopped into thin strips or grated on a special grater (on which carrots are chopped in Korean). Mix everything in the frying pan, cover with a lid, reduce the heat and let simmer for about ten minutes.

We ourselves will prepare the tomatoes for our borscht. They can be finely chopped, grated, rubbed through a sieve, as you wish. The essence of the issue is to obtain tomato juice with pulp, but without skin and seeds. If you don't have fresh tomatoes on hand, you can use a spoon of tomato paste.

Add the tomato component to the frying pan in which the onions, garlic, beets, carrots are stewed and mix everything well. Add some sweet bell pepper, chopped into strips. Simmer for another five minutes.


At this time, finely and finely add to the pan where the meat and potatoes are cooked. Next are the entire contents of the frying pan. Let it boil for about ten minutes, add fresh finely chopped herbs, cover with a lid and let it brew.

Serve borscht with sour cream and mayonnaise. Garlic donuts are good with borscht and beets, as is just a crust of bread rubbed with garlic.

Small digressions to the side: the borscht with beets you prepare will be very tasty and rich, if a little earlier than the chopped potatoes, you put one or two whole potatoes into the broth to boil.


Before unloading the contents of the pan with stewed vegetables into the pan, remove these potatoes from the broth, mash them into a puree and return them to the boiling broth. Mmmm - delicious taste! Try the delicious borscht with beets prepared according to our recipe, you won’t regret it!