Beet soup might not be of the most common types of soup, but this crockpot Polish beet soup recipe is well worth making. Most of the flavor comes from the beets, although the garlic, carrot, onion, celery intensify it even more, while the cumin and lemon makes this red beet soup recipe taste extra-special. This is a low fat and low calorie soup, although you can serve it with a dollop of cream if you want.
Although it’s quite a light soup, this red beet soup recipe is satisfying enough to be a complete lunch or dinner if you serve bread on the side. Alternatively, it makes a fantastic appetizer. Because there’s no meat in the soup, you can serve it before any kind of main dish.
Best Stock for Beet Soup
The stock in this recipe is chicken stock but if you are not a meat-eater you can switch it for vegetable stock. Vegetable stock is a darker color and the soup will come out looking more burgundy than crimson, but that doesn’t t matter because it still tastes good.
What are Beets Anyway?
Modern beets originate from sea beets, an inedible plant that grows wild along Asian, European and North African coastlines. The garden beet has been cultivated for literally thousands of years though.
Beets are grown all over the world today, and the leading regions in the United States for beet production are California, New Jersey, Texas, Ohio, and Colorado.
Hot weather can toughen the roots so in hotter areas they are planted in the early fall for winter and spring harvests. Beets are rich in vitamins A, B6 and C, calcium, fiber, potassium, manganese, iron, and folic acid. They are also rich in antioxidants.
If you’re a soup fan and love this red beet soup recipe, also try brown windsor soup, clear Japanese onion soup, or seafood chowder. Or discover what exactly separates soups from stews and chowders.
PrintRed Beet Soup Recipe
This smooth beet soup is eye-catching because of its impressive bright red color, and it’s a wonderful soup to serve at a dinner party. Because you can slow-cook it to perfection ahead of time, it’s ideal if you’re busy making the entrees and desserts, because you can concentrate on those while the soup cooks itself. Beets are healthy and when paired with the other ingredients the results are great.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Slow Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 diced celery stalk
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 4 peeled, diced beets (beetroots)
- 1 chopped red onion
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 peeled, diced carrot
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ¼ teaspoon each salt and black pepper
- Chicken stock, as needed
- ¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream (double cream) or sour cream, for garnish (optional)
- Fresh parsley, thyme, or cilantro (coriander) sprigs, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Add the celery, garlic, beets, onion, cumin, salt, black pepper, and carrot to the crockpot.
- Stir well.
- Add enough hot chicken stock to cover all the vegetables plus an extra inch (2.5cm) on top.
- Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours.
- Stir in the lemon juice.
- Let the soup cool for 15 minutes then puree it in batches in a blender until smooth.
- Garnish with a dollop of cream and some fresh herb sprigs if you like.
- Grind some black pepper over the top and serve.
Notes
- Serve the finished soup with your choice of crusty bread or crackers
Keywords: red beet soup, beetroot soup, Polish borscht, beet soup recipe, beets
Photo from UnSplash