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Chlodnik (Cold Polish Beet Soup)

June 6, 2016 by Lois Britton 64 Comments

 My friend, Gosia, recently shared her recipe for Chlodnik, a cold beet soup that is a summer staple here in Poland. This soup is so cool and refreshing on a hot, humid day, and our mutual friend Yvonne summed it so so well, “you can just taste how fresh and healthy it is.”

Chlodnik, Poland's cool, creamy beet soup for summer! #polishhousewife #pinksoup #polishsoup #polishrecipe #souprecipe #beetsoup #healthysoup PolishHousewife.com

If you see someone eating Chlodnik, the color will get your attention. It’s a bright, vibrant pink from the combination of beets and dairy. The color isn’t one that you usually find in food, certainly not in savory.

creamy beet soup topped with half a hard boiled egg and chopped dill and chives

Like Polish housewives everywhere, I tried my hand at this soup last summer, but I’ll be making this version from now on; it’s quick and easy, and ever so fresh tasting.  Gosia not only shared her recipe, but she also invited several of us to her home for a day of traditional Polish cooking.  Memories that I’ll always treasure.

Smacznego!

Lois

(Amazon pays me a few cents for purchase made via these links)
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Chlodnik, Poland's cool, creamy beer soup for summer!

Chlodnik (Cold Polish Beet Soup)

★★★★★ 5 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 45 mins
  • Yield: 7-8 1x
  • Category: Soup
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A colorful, healthy, cold soup for summer


Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 or 5 young, tender beets, with tops if possible
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cucumbers, peeled and grated
  • 6 radishes, grated
  • 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
  • 2 green onions (white and green parts), chopped
  • 4 cups plain yogurt
  • 4 cups kefir or buttermilk
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 3 hard boiled eggs, quartered

Instructions

  1. Prepare the beets by removing and dicing the stems up to the leaves
  2. Add the chopped stems to a large soup pot
  3. Peel and grate the remaining beet roots, add to the pan
  4. Add enough water just to cover the beets, add salt
  5. Simmer until tender, about 15 minutes
  6. Cool the beet mixture
  7. Add the cucumbers, radishes, dill, green onions, yogurt, kefir, and sour cream.
  8. Season with salt and pepper
  9. Chill and serve garnished with hard boiled egg

Notes

Now that I know the proper way to make this, I usually substitute two jars of grated beets for the whole beets, and simply combine all of the ingredients and chill – 10 minutes max prep time.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @PolishHousewife on Instagram and hashtag it #polishhousewife

 

 

Chlodnik (Cold Polish Beet Soup)

Lois Britton

An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com,  she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.

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Filed Under: Easy, Polish, Polish Soups, Soup, Vegetables

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yana Greenman

    July 22, 2014 at 1:30 am

    Thank you for a great and easy (!) recipe.
    In this hot weather this was the only soup I could think about, so obviously I looked in the Polishhousewife.com and it was Wonderful! Even my picky 5 years old ate it.( He was so exited to add all the vegetables and eggs by him self so he forgot to resist 🙂

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      July 22, 2014 at 1:49 am

      Oh, Yana, I’m so impressed that your children eat chlodnik! I don’t think mine would have been that adventurous. Great trick getting him involved in the preparation. 😉

      Reply
  2. Jacek

    July 29, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    Yeah,

    One of thlose amazing flavored soups I grow up with .
    Mom was good making them on hot days… Tried…get recipe from Basia .,

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      July 30, 2014 at 1:26 am

      Flavorful and colorful, Jacek. Glad I could remind you of your mom’s cooking!

      Reply
  3. Maria

    June 11, 2015 at 5:58 am

    I am from Cyprus and I came to Lublin, Poland with my husband this week on a business trip. We had this soup last night in the old town and we loved it!! I will make it as soon as we get back to Cyprus because it’s super tasty and very refreshing for the very very hot summers of our island! Thank you for the recipe!! 🙂

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      June 15, 2015 at 6:46 am

      Hi Maria,

      It’s my pleasure to supply the recipe! I think you’re very adventurous to try this bright pink soup, and you’re right– it’s perfect for summer! Let me know how yours turns out.

      Reply
  4. cindy

    July 6, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    so – the stems are cooked right with the beets and served in the soup? I’m anxious to try this – my daughter is having her first baby this August – might be a good recipe to make them for August weather

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      July 6, 2015 at 5:05 pm

      Yes, Cindy; the diced stems get cooked with the grated beets. I think it would be perfect for August. It keeps for several days in the fridge. I love cooking once and having several meals. Best wishes to your growing family!

      Reply
  5. I HATE POLICH

    October 20, 2015 at 1:07 pm

    this soup is from lithuania. NOT FROM POLISH

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      October 23, 2015 at 12:27 pm

      Yes, I’m aware of the origin.

      Reply
      • robert mroz

        April 9, 2016 at 9:45 am

        It’s not just Lithuanian or Baltic region. It is extremely common national dish in Slovian countries of Eastern Europe. Each of them probably think of it as their own national dish. It’s Eastern Europe dish.

        Reply
        • polishhousewife

          April 9, 2016 at 11:31 pm

          You make a good point, Robert!

          Reply
          • Evelina

            August 29, 2017 at 12:17 am

            Actually, if you’ll read old history books o culinary heritage you’ll learn that this soup originates in Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Back then Lithuania was a huge state that included territory of present-day Belarus, parts of Ukraine, Poland and Russia, so it makes a lot of sense the soup is now popular in all these countries.

    • Laurie Kane

      July 3, 2017 at 7:49 am

      Idiot.

      Reply
      • Yasya

        June 29, 2021 at 2:27 am

        LOL

        Reply
    • Yvonne

      August 5, 2018 at 7:26 am

      Wow, haters show up even on cooking websites. Pathetic

      Reply
      • polishhousewife

        August 5, 2018 at 11:51 am

        Nothing is immune

        Reply
    • Yasya

      June 29, 2021 at 2:26 am

      You should be reported for your hate speech, troll.

      Reply
  6. Suzanne

    July 21, 2016 at 2:38 pm

    Can you pulse the peeled beets in a food processor to grate them, or will texture be wrong?

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      July 26, 2016 at 8:53 am

      Hi Suzanne,

      If your processor has a grating blade, that would be perfect. I think you could process them with the steel (knife) blade; you’ll just need to be very careful not to process too much. Make sure you stop when there’s still some texture left. Let us know how it turns out!

      Reply
      • Suzanne Guida

        July 26, 2016 at 12:40 pm

        I used the old fashioned box grater and it worked fine of course. Since I was only grating a few beets it seemed more work to use the food processor. I also had concerns about controlling the texture.

        ★★★★★

        Reply
        • polishhousewife

          July 26, 2016 at 12:48 pm

          I think the box grater is the classic tool in a Polish kitchen. When I was growing up, we used it to grate cheese. At my Polish friends house, they used it to make bread crumbs from a stale baguette, something I wouldn’t have thought of.

          Reply
  7. David

    August 7, 2016 at 3:44 pm

    Regardless of its origin (I agree that many countries have a similar soup) , I love beet soup like this. I have never had a recipe, though, so am so glad to have yours now! Thanks, Lois!

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      August 9, 2016 at 7:07 am

      My pleasure, David!

      Reply
  8. Elizabeth Beaudoin

    September 16, 2016 at 6:46 am

    I can the leaf/beet/broth part of the soup and add a tablespoon of vinegar to each quart that I can. We have very hot springs here in Ottawa so I have the chlodnik at the ready before my beets are mature which is usually in August. I find that cooking the beets separately, dicing them and combining them with the leaves and broth works best for canning.

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      September 19, 2016 at 12:02 pm

      Thanks for sharing this, Elizabeth!

      Reply
    • Bonnie

      September 29, 2018 at 5:06 pm

      Elizabeth, how long do you prices the quarts? Do you pressure can or hat water bath. In so glad you commented because I was working they how I would can it! Thank you so much. And thank you for the great recipe.

      Reply
  9. Mary

    January 1, 2017 at 11:22 pm

    Years ago a friend’s mother made a soup that looked like chlodnik – the pink color and it had small dumplings. I thought it was the most incredible thing I had ever tasted. But as I recall it was not cold – it was served warm or hot. Does this have to be served cold?

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      January 2, 2017 at 8:33 am

      It was probably barszcz. Some people stir a little yogurt into the hot soup which would give you the pink color. I’ve made barszcz with kroket, but many people serve it with filled dumplings, something similar to pierogi.

      https://polishhousewife.com/homemade-barszcz-krokiety/

      Reply
  10. Dolly

    June 3, 2017 at 7:37 pm

    I absolutely hate the regular hot Russian Borscht but this was delicious, better than my old favorite cold soup, gazpacho. I made this with fresh beets and the jarred beets and cannot tell the difference. I used some big Daikon from market in my 2nd batch….just as good as regular radish. It is also very pretty, my granddaughter thought it was a dessert and insisted on trying some….she was quite surprised and upset it wasn’t, lol! I wish I had a photo of her face.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      June 4, 2017 at 6:40 am

      I’m glad to hear you like it, Dolly!

      Reply
  11. Jillian

    July 21, 2017 at 7:57 am

    I tried this soup recently on a trip to Warsaw and it was amazing. I’d like to try it at home. Does this recipe freeze well?

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      July 21, 2017 at 8:25 am

      I haven’t tried freezing it, Jillian. All of the dairy makes me think that it might be better to scale down the recipe and make a smaller batch instead.

      Has anyone had success freezing chlodnik?

      Reply
  12. Jean

    December 2, 2017 at 6:19 pm

    My family loves this soup. My husband immigrated from Lithuania in 1951 where this is a summer staple. We have been married 50 years so my children and now my grandchildren can’t wait for a hot summer day to enjoy “salta barscia” or otherwise known as “pink soup”.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      December 3, 2017 at 4:00 pm

      It’s so good for you; that’s great that your family loves it!

      Reply
  13. Jane Hayes

    August 10, 2018 at 11:09 pm

    Hi Lois, I’ve just returned from a wonderful tour around Poland and was looking for a recipe for a good beet soup, so felt lucky to find your website. Some of the versions of beet soup I saw in Poland, had meat in them, although I did find a good vegetarian one in Krakow, which tasted as if it had many of the ingredients you list in your recipe. It was blended smooth, served with a dash of cream cheese on top. Whilst that was delicious, I’m looking forward to trying your recipe with the chopped beets. …now I just need to buy some beetroot! Many thanks, Jane

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      August 11, 2018 at 5:43 am

      Hi Jane! I’m so glad to hear about the culinary side of your trip to PL and hope you’ll enjoy the soup. Thanks for taking the time to comment. All the best!

      Reply
  14. Linda

    February 16, 2019 at 8:32 am

    Hi, My Mom used to make a similar soup with red beets and sour cream. Does anyone know a recipe like that? She served it warm. I believe she had potatoes in it too. Never had a written recipe but I loved it and would like to make it. Any help would be appreciated!

    Reply
    • Shimon

      September 16, 2020 at 5:33 pm

      Probably, you refer to barsc czerwony. Borsh, in Russian

      ★★★★★

      Reply
  15. Shimon

    September 16, 2020 at 5:47 pm

    Polish food is so delicious! This recipe fits well for a hot day. I just use to cook it in a somewhat different way. First, I use to cook 4 beets together, 2 for barsc and 2 for this one. Then, I mix the other ingredients and it’s ready. Quite easy and so tasty, thanks for sharing, and smacznego.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  16. Theresa Tribble

    August 1, 2021 at 8:10 pm

    I like your recipe. I had never used the beet greens, but I cook the beets in their skin and just peel it off and grate on a box grater. My family used a bit of water to thin it and I cooked the beets until they started to run so they did not boil. I will try the buttermilk and yoghurt although we used sour cream and a bit of sour salt (citric acid) for the tartness and the usual dill, cukes and scallions. I sometimes add a bit of cornstarch to keep it a bit thicker and my kids loved it when they were small and still ask for it as middleagers!! Great for hot days for sure.

    Reply
  17. Cliff

    August 4, 2021 at 3:46 pm

    I come from a polish background and am very excited I found your recipes! I just made the dish and it’s tasty and bright thank you for posting.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      August 6, 2021 at 2:49 pm

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Cliff. Thanks for your kind words!

      Reply
  18. Heather Thorpe

    September 10, 2021 at 12:39 pm

    Is this a lot like Beet Borcht soup? I love that soup…grew up on it and so did my kids

    Reply
    • polishhousewife

      September 21, 2021 at 8:46 am

      Both are full of beet flavor. My barszcz recipe is very garlicky and this is not.

      Reply
  19. Max

    May 29, 2022 at 4:02 pm

    Really enjoyed this. Ended up adding juice of a lemon to make a little brighter (might just be the quality of English beetroot which needed it!) Next time would cook the beetroot in stock to up the savouriness even further.

    Reply
  20. polishhousewife

    June 27, 2016 at 5:42 pm

    Thanks for sharing, Maren!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Trio of Cold Soups for Summer says:
    May 7, 2014 at 11:32 pm

    […] back to the soups, we made a cold Polish beet soup, Chlodnik. This soup’s most notable feature is its bright pink color. It combines cooled beets and […]

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  14. 2018 Tian Shan travel: Part 4 - Mountain Villa says:
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    […] That pink soup – I do not remember exactly what it was. It might have been borscht, although it looks more like chłodnik. […]

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