Last Updated on October 18, 2023
This Ukrainian sorrel soup, also known as green borsch, will likely become a favorite in your family’s menu from early spring to late autumn.
Usually, by Easter time, you can harvest a handful of young sorrel leaves from your garden, just enough to make this delicious soup. Serve it with homemade bread topped with a spring salad, and you will have a light and tasty lunch created with your freshly harvested garden crop.
The distinctive, pleasantly tangy taste of this soup comes from the oxalic acid contained in sorrel. Young sorrel leaves have a milder flavor due to lower acid content and are preferred for cooking.
Where can you buy sorrel if you do not have it in your garden?
You can obtain it from:
- A farmer’s market
- Purchase it at Whole Foods or Harris Teeter (in the herb section)
- Order online through Instacart
To make the recipe below, a half-bunch of sorrel from Whole Foods will suffice.
If you happen to savor this soup, develop a fondness for it, and wish to make it frequently, the most cost-effective method to acquire sorrel is to cultivate your own perennial sorrel plant from seeds and enjoy a bountiful harvest throughout the late autumn, year after year.
Read related article How to grow sorrel
The recipe I’m sharing today is my lean and quick version of Ukrainian sorrel soup, also known as Eastern European sorrel soup, green soup, or green borsch.
If you’re a meat-eater, you can use chicken, beef, or turkey broth, and optionally, pre-cooked chicken or beef sausage.
For a vegetarian option, you can use vegetable or mushroom broth or just plain water. The vegetarian version of this soup can also be served cold on a hot summer day.
Give it a try! It has a bright, spring-like flavor. You won’t be disappointed
SORREL SOUP
| Servings: | 4 |
| Servings Size : | 1.5 cup |
| Ready in: | 40min |
| Good for: | Lunch |
Ingredients
- 6 cups of chicken broth (use vegetable or mushroom broth for vegetarian version (see notes below the recipe)
- 1/2 cups of wild rice blend
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 1 large potato, peeled and cut in strips
- approximately 1.5 – 2 oz of sorrel leaves (with no stems) from your garden or farmer’s market, thoroughly washed and cut in strips
- 2 sprigs of fresh dill, chopped
- 1 lean precooked sausage, can be smoked (I like to use Gilbert’s Chicken Bratwurst craft sausages), diced
- 1 hard boiled egg, diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp of sour cream
- salt and pepper for seasoning
Cooking Tip
To neutralize the sourness of sorrel, add a little bit of sour cream to the sorrel soup at the end of cooking time. The older, larger (and more sour) sorrel leaves you are using – the more sour cream you will need to add to “kill” overly acidic taste.
Step by Step Instructions
- Pour water or broth in the pot. Add rinsed wild rice/white rice mixture. Bring to a boil. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes
- Add carrot, potato, bay leaf, (and sausage if you wish). Continue to cook on low heat for next 10 minutes. Do not cover soup with a lid.
- Add sorrel. Continue to cook 1 minute.
- Add sour cream and stir the soup. Add cubed boiled egg. Turn the heat off.
- Discard bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Add fresh chopped dill.
- Let soup stand at least 10 minutes to develop flavor before serving.
- Serve with freshly baked bread topped with spring salad or with garlic toasted sandwiches
Additional notes on product and tools used in the recipe
1. Sorrel seeds to start your sorrel patch.
I started to grow my sorrel from organic sorrel seeds from Ukraine (sold on Amazon). If you would rather prefer U.S. garden sorrel seeds – try Green de Belleville variety. David’s garden seeds offers non GMO red veined sorrel seeds.
Read related: How to grow sorrel.
2. Wild rice blend – hands down HT Trader’s organic wild rice mixture from Harris Teeter grocery store, works the best for me for this recipe. This blend contains American basmati white rice, brown rice, wild rice, and red rice. Delish!!!
3. To make quick yet tasty broth I use Better Than Bullion organic chicken, beef, turkey, vegetable, or mushroom bullion. Just add a half tablespoon to the boiling water for the Sorrel Soup recipe. You can obtain Better Than Bullion in your local grocery or buy from Amazon.com.
4. Egg cutter helps to dice boiled egg quickly in perfect and unified pieces. It takes just 3 passes.
5. I like to serve soup in a bowl with a handle. It makes it easy to eat it with a sandwich. And everything tastes better from an attractive bowl!
Double handle soup bowls set
(offered by Amazon)
Have you ever tried sorrel soup? How did you like it? Share in the comments.
And if you found this article useful – be so kind to share with friends.
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