Cold Beet Soup Holodnik – Холодник (Свекольник)
When I was a little girl, I visited my grandparents very often in Baranovichy, Belarus. Every spring they would plant a large garden. I would help them sort through the packets of seeds and then drop them into the warm, tilled soil. I was so excited to watch as the little green leaves would sprout through the ground, looking for sunshine.
During the summer, the bountiful garden would feed us many delicious meals. As soon as the beets were big enough to pull, we would make Cold Beet Soup, which we called Holodnik in our family. Holodnik literally translates to “cold soup”.
It is the perfect dish to enjoy on a hot summer day. Full of refreshing, garden vegetables, crunchy cucumbers, sweet beets, lemon juice and fresh herbs, this is one of the most authentic meals of my heritage. We always served a bowl of potatoes on the side. It is especially perfect with new potatoes, dug up from the same garden. Garnished with caramelized onions and bacon, this is one of my husband’s favorite summer meals. You can also garnish the potatoes with melted butter, minced garlic and fresh dill and chives.
Yields: 6 servings
Ingredients:
6-7 cups water
1-2 beets (1 large or 2 medium beets), roasted
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
4 cucumbers, chopped
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped, How to Hard-Boil Eggs Perfectly
fresh herbs, dill, chives, minced
sour cream, for garnishing
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the beets, cut off the tops, drizzle with a little bit of oil, season with salt and completely cover in aluminum foil. Roast for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the beets. 
The beets should be soft. I always check for doneness by piercing a wooden skewer through the beets. If the skewer peirces easily through the beets, they are done. Roasting beets intensifies their flavor and sweetness. It also leaves all the vitamins in the beets, unlike cooking them, since a lot of the nutrients will be lost in the water.
Roasted beets are also very easy to peel. When they are cool enough to handle, the skin easily rubs off using paper towels or your hands. You can also use a paring knife. 
Grate the beets on a box grater or cut the beets into very thin julienne slices. 
Combine the beets in the water with lemon juice. Adding lemon juice not only adds a refreshing note to the soup but will also keep the color of the beets a bring, vivid color. Bring to a boil. Season with salt. 
Cool down the soup, refrigerate until completely cold. You can make this ahead of time, or, if you’re in a hurry, fill the sink with ice and place the pot of soup right in the ice, which will hurry up the cooling.
To see how to hard boil eggs, click here. When ready to serve, cut the eggs in half or chop the hard boiled eggs. 
Chop the cucumbers also. Seed the cucumbers by scooping out the seeds with a spoon, if the seeds are large. 
Add the eggs, cucumbers and fresh herbs to the soup. We Russians always garnish this soup with sour cream. You can add a spoonful of sour cream to each bowl or add the sour cream to the whole soup. Serve with a bowl of boiled new potatoes.
- 6-7 cups water
- 1-2 beets (1 large or 2 medium beets), roasted
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 cucumbers, chopped
- 6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- fresh herbs, dill, chives, minced
- sour cream, for garnishing
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Wash the beets, cut off the tops, drizzle with a little bit of oil, season with salt and completely cover in aluminum foil. Roast for 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the beets.
- The beets should be soft. I always check for doneness by piercing a wooden skewer through the beets. If the skewer pierces easily through the beets, they are done.
- Roasted beets are also very easy to peel. When they are cool enough to handle, the skin easily rubs off using paper towels or your hands. You can also use a paring knife.
- Grate the beets on a box grater or cut the beets into very thin julienne slices.
- Combine the beets in the water with lemon juice. Adding lemon juice not only adds a refreshing note to the soup but will also keep the color of the beets a bring, vivid color. Bring to a boil. Season with salt to taste.
- Cool down the soup then refrigerate until completely cold. You can make this ahead of time, or, if you're in a hurry, fill the sink with ice and place the pot of soup right in the ice, which will hurry up the cooling process.
- Meanwhile, hard boil the eggs. When ready to serve, cut the eggs in half or chop the hard boiled eggs.
- Chop the cucumbers also. Seed the cucumbers by scooping out the seeds with a spoon, if the seeds are large.
- Add the eggs, cucumbers and fresh herbs to the soup.
- We Russians also garnish this soup with sour cream. You can add a spoonful of sour cream to each bowl or add the sour cream to the whole soup.
- Serve with a bowl of boiled new potatoes.
16 Comments
Leave a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Galina
This looks Amazing and very good!!! 🙂
Lena
Wow, looks beautiful, almost unreal… I will have to try it!
Liliya
I LOVE holodnik! Its a summer staple. It’s funny how we love it with potatoes…done exactly the same way!! The only thing we do differently is add Russian bologna (molochnaya kolbasa) and split the lemon juice with vinegar. And, well I prefer mayo :-/ Looks great 🙂
olgak7
We Slavic people sure have similar taste buds! My Mom makes Okroshka with Russian bologna and she also eats Borsch with mayo:).
lana
do you add buttermilk? i couldnt find it in the recipe.
olgak7
Lana,
I don’t add buttermilk. I like to use sour cream. I add a spoonful to the bowl after I serve it. I don’t add it to the soup before serving.
Nina
It’s such a great idea to roast beets because I use to cook by boiling in the water approximately hour. Thanks, Olga.
Please add this idea to your tips.
olgak7
Glad you liked it, Nina!
Tallya
I love how you roasted beets for this… doing this next time I make holodnik! I always make it with sour cream and buttermilk for the liquid, I love it that way! Sometimes add a bit of water as well, and when in a hurry, I use canned beets and add in the liquid from those as well. Your pics of this are gorgeous!
olgak7
It certainly is a convenient way to roast beets. I love it.
Thanks for the compliment; I really appreciate it.
alina
we also add rediska, and lots of green onions, I love it with rediska.
olgak7
Radishes sound like a great idea. They are so crisp and refreshing.
demelzabunny
Yeah, I always made this by boiling the beets w/chopped onions. Roasting them looks like a wonderful idea. And we also add chopped scallions to the individual bowls, along with the chopped cucumbers and hard-boiled eggs. And also chopped fresh dill. Making this yourself is just so easy and is so much better than the stuff you can buy in bottles.
You know, Russians actually call this “kholodni borsh” – cold borsht! To be eaten, of course during hot weather; hot borsht, made with meat and more vegetables, for cold weather.
Luba Nagornaya
Olga, I love this recipe thank you so much for sharing! I didn’t realize you’ve been to Baranovichi, I was born there and lived there for 8 years before moving to the United States. Small world 🙂
olgak7
Small world, for sure! Yes, I loved Baranovichi. I have so many wonderful memories from there.
Around the Web | What's on the Plate
[…] Reading her post about moving and cooking in a hot weather reminded me of this soup. We’ll be going to Poland in few weeks so either I need to make sure to have some there or […]