Golden Beet Soup

Golden Beet Soup is a great variation to the more popular Borsch from red beets. This soup is hearty and filling, but also very healthy, light and brothy.

Golden Beet Soup is a staple in our home now. Not only is it very hearty and filling, like a good soup should be, especially in the winter, but it's also brothy (my personal favorite), light, healthy and tastes phenomenal.

Beets are a no-brainer for a Belarusian. It's an ingredient I grew up with and something our family ate regularly. Borsch will always be one of my favorite soups. Not only did we buy it year round, but we also grew it in the garden. We ate beets in soups and in salads and even used the beet greens. However, it was always red beets that we were so intimately acquainted with. When I saw some beautiful golden beets at the grocery store one day, they ended up coming home with me.

I'm a soup fiend, so that was my first approach to these beauties. I also didn't want a Borsch copycat, so I gave it a bit of a different spin. With a broth, "vegetably" concoction in mind, I browsed through the rest of the produce aisle and picked up a few other things that seemed like a good combination in my mind. Served with a dollop of sour cream, this is a great beet soup. If you love vegetable soup, give this one a try.

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• leeks (if you don't have leeks, you can use an onion instead)
• carrots
• celery
• garlic
• golden beet(s)
• chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• water
• potatoes, (gold potatoes are the best, but other potatoes can also be used)
• bell pepper
  • use any kind of sweet bell pepper, orange, yellow or red; you can also add some hot peppers to give the soup some heat.
• zucchini
• salt, ground black pepper, to taste
• fresh herbs (parsley, dill, green onion) minced
• sour cream, to serve with the soup, optional
• lemon juice, optional

What Are Golden Beets?

Golden beets are another variety of beets. They are very similar in taste and texture to the more commonly available red beets. Golden beets have a dark yellow/orange color on the outside and are bright yellow on the inside. I think they have a slightly less earthy flavor than red beets. They are delicious in salads and soups. You can use them in most recipes for red beets.

How To Make Golden Beet Soup

1. Saute the leeks. In a dutch oven or a heavy bottomed large pot, cook the leeks, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste, for about 3 minutes, until they are tender.
2. Add the carrots, celery and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for another 3-5 minutes, until the carrots have softened.
3. Now, add the beets, season with salt and pepper, cook for another 3-5 minutes, until they are starting to soften.
4. Pour in 1 cup of chicken broth, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, covered for 10-15 minutes, until the beets have softened even more. Since they take a lot longer than the potatoes to cook through, this will give them a head start in cooking, so they finish cooking at the same time. The broth should mostly become absorbed by all the vegetables.
5. Next, pour in the remaining 5 cups of broth and the water. Adjust the amount of water depending on how thick/thin you like your soup to be. Bring to a boil.
6. Add the potatoes, reduce to a simmer and cook the soup for about 5-7 minutes. Add the bell pepper and continue cooking just until the potatoes and beets are both cooked through.
7. Lastly, add the zucchini and cook for 3-5 minutes.
8. Garnish the soup with fresh herbs. You can also serve the soup with sour cream, just like traditional Borsch. If you're not serving the soup with sour cream, it might be a good idea to add a Tablespoon or two of freshly squeezed lemon juice at the end, for a bright note of acidity.

Leftovers reheat really well, so make sure to make a big pot and you can enjoy it two days in a row, or make it in advance for a convenient and very nutritious meal to serve to your family or guests.

Technically, you can just dump in all the vegetables, broth and water into the pot and cook until the potatoes and beets are tender and cooked through. That would work. However, sautéing the aromatics in the beginning gives so much more flavor to the soup. Also, I like every separate vegetable to be cooked perfectly, not some to be hard and others mushy.  Since different vegetables cook at different rates, adding them just at certain time points is crucial to achieving perfection in every bite. You are the boss of your soup, so it's totally up to you. I won't be standing over your shoulder shaking my head and judging:).

More Delicious Soups

• Traditional Red Beet Borsch
• Vegetarian Borsch
• Garden Vegetable Soup
• Potato Salmon Soup
• Minestrone Soup
• Belarusian Cold Beet Soup

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