Polish cold beet soup (chlodnik) is a delicious, refreshing soup popular in Poland during warmer months. It contains both beets as well as beet greens and is super quick and easy to make. You might also like Polish cold cucumber soup.
Polish chlodnik cold beet soup is a refreshing vegetarian dish, great to make on a hot day. As it's summer and we are expecting a heat wave here in the UK any day now (!) I thought I'd introduce this delicious cold beetroot soup with yogurt on my blog.
Making this easy beet soup involved a visit to Unicorn, a vegetarian grocery shop in Manchester, UK. This is the only place I know where beet greens don't get chopped off! Visiting this shop is a treat in itself, as it stocks a large variety of organic locally sourced fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs as well as lots of fabulous hard to come by products.
Why I love this soup
I usually make 'healthy' adjustments to traditional Polish recipes but this beetroot soup is really nutritious and simply perfect the way it's always been prepared.
What I love most about chlodnik, apart from the taste, is that it contains both the beet roots as well as greens! Beet greens are very underrated despite being full of goodness and flavour. Together with the beets they create a wonderfully rich, delicious dish, full of flavour as well as colour. And nothing gets wasted!
This soup is super nutritious and low in fat and perfect served on a hot day. Try it!
If like me you love green beets check out also this simple beet greens vegetable soup.
How to make easy Polish cold beet soup: step-by-step
This healthy chlodnik soup requires a bit of chopping and grating but is very easy to make.
1.Start by finely chopping the beet greens (stems and leaves) and grating the beets (peeled).
2. Place in a pot, add the water (or vegetable stock), lemon juice, cover and bring to the boil. Then simmer for 5 minutes, remove from the heat and set aside to cool completely. You won't have to do any more cooking!
3. Whilst the soup is cooling prepare the rest of the ingredients. So grate the radish and cucumber, chop the herbs and garlic.
4. Then simply toss these into the beet mixture, add the yogurt, seasoning, stir and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes (up to 4 hours) before serving. Serve chilled.
Top tips
- Use either water or vegetable stock (if you use the latter do not season until the soup is ready).
- You can use either Greek or natural yogurt, combined with kefir or buttermilk if you like. I do not recommend sour cream or creme fraiche as they have a much higher fat content.
- Chill for at least 20 minutes (up to 4 hours) before serving.
- Storing: refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Not suitable for freezing.
Serving suggestions
This Polish cold beetroot soup is traditionally served with hard boiled eggs. You can also enjoy it on its own or with hearty rye or pumpernickel bread. This soup makes a great starter, perfect to serve at a summer party.
If you like cold soups you might also like cold cucumber soup with peas and my quick fruit soup recipe.
You might also like
- Simple Borscht Recipe (Vegetarian Barszcz)
- Creamy Beet Soup with Kale & Fennel
- Polish Borscht Recipe (Christmas)
You may also like this collection of over 12 creamy vegan soups.
Keep in touch!
How has your chlodnik soup turned out? Let me know int the comments below, thanks!
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Recipe
Cold Beet Soup (Polish Chlodnik)
Ingredients
- 2 small beets with their greens or use 1 medium beet and greens from 2 beets
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1⅔ cups (400 ml) water or vegetable stock
- 3¼ cups (750 g) natural/Greek yogurt you can combine it with buttermilk/kefir
- 3-4 tablespoons dill finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons chives finely chopped
- 10 radishes coarsely grated
- 1 cucumber 15cm/6in long, peeled, coarsely grated
- 1 garlic clove crushed
- Season to taste if using water add approx. 1.5 tsp fine sea salt plus pepper to taste
- Serve with hard boiled eggs optional
Instructions
- Once the beet mixture has cooled add the remaining ingredients, season to taste and stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (up to 4 hours) before serving.
Notes
- Use either water or vegetable stock (if you use the latter do not season until the soup is ready).
- You can use either Greek or natural yogurt, combined with kefir or buttermilk if you like. I do not recommend sour cream or creme fraiche as they have a much higher fat content.
- Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
- Storing: refrigerate for up to 3 days.
- Not suitable for freezing.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is automatically generated and should be considered as an estimate.
**A note about baking: If using a fan-assisted oven refer to your appliance's instructions and adjust the temperature accordingly.
Lisa Jean says
Great Summer soup! I watched Grandma make cold soups like this often with her garden beets, cukes, dill, ….💕. Her lady friends helped each other adjust to a new country & shared dishes they valued from their Eastern European, Baltic homes. I added small slices of garlic, lamb chops. Thank you for sharing!
Monika says
Likewise:) Glad you enjoyed it.
John says
Just met my Local Organic Vegetable Grower for the first time this year.
I have a few bunches of Baby Beetroot, Radishes, a very Large Lettuce, Onions and Day Old Eggs.
This soup looks ideal to have with a Flatbread or Lettuce Leaf Bed loaded with Saute Onion, Mushroom and Grilled Fish (Whitebait) or Shish Meat/ Kofta.
The soup was a reminder of a Raita, but loaded with other goodies, this is what the Soup reminded me off.
No wastage from the purchases being made goes a long way with the new attitude that was adopted last year after the first meeting with the Vegetable Grower at the end of the Summer. It is good to have got back on the journey of using very locally produced food.
Ruta says
This is not Polish soup this is Lithuanian
Chef Ken says
I'm working on hybrid cold beet soup recipe to suit my preferred ingredients using this recipe as the baseline.
When you say you dont recommend using sour cream because of a higher fat content, is that a concern about fat content dietarily, or does sour cream separate or not mix well or something?
Thanks
Monika says
Hi Ken. As this is a healthy recipe blog I always try to recommend healthier alternatives, in this case yogurt or kefir rather than sour cream. But it's perfectly ok to combine kefir/buttermilk with sour cream for a richer soup. Good luck with your recipe:)
Chef Ken says
Thanks for clarifying. That's what I was thinking.
Pat says
Great recipe! Love the radishes. 🙂 To Kasia, my family originated in Europe, but I'm still American. Soup doesn't have citizenship, though!
Monika says
Glad you liked it:)
Kasia says
And again misleading about it being Polish. It’s Lithuanian.
Chef Ken says
My searches return primarily "polish" for "Chlodnik"
Monika says
The word 'chlodnik' is Polish but the recipe originates in Lithuania where it is still made today and has a completely different name. So Poles have given this Lithuanian dish their own name.
Chef Ken says
That's a good clarification. I guess people of the different countries are very territorial about their food. To me, comparing Poland and Lithuania is like comparing Maryland to Virginia. It's all the same region and this is just a cold borscht. Maryland and Virginia have their specific "claims to culinary fame" though, so I get it. It's about the specific tweaks. There are certainly hams made in Maryland and crab-cakes in Virginia but the inverse claims the best...or something...
Kasia being hung up on the origin of this soup made me look for more info. Hard to believe no one thought of eating a cold beet soup before the Lithuanians apparently had an epiphany. It's really all about the name or word used in the specific language and the other ingredients beyond the beets that make it a country specific dish.
For me, it's cold beet soup and I'll do what I want with it! ;>) Wish I had gotten in to this earlier in the year. I've been stuck on gazpacho for a summer soup, which I have tweaked to my perfection. A little late in the season but I still want to start playing with this soup "concept".
Wikipedia's summary:
"Chłodnik litewski, or "Lithuanian cold soup", blended with sour cream or yogurt, and sprinkled with chives, as served in Poland. The same soup is known in Lithuanian as šaltibarščiai, or "cold borscht"."
It doesn't even have its own category and falls under sub category of "Cold Borscht" in the English Wiki. Like you said, its basically just a word.
Monika says
I agree that it's just cold beet soup but I wouldn't go as far as saying that Polish and Lithuanian foods are pretty much the same. Yes, this specific Lithuanian recipe has been incorporated into Polish cooking but the cuisines of both countries are quite different actually.
Debbie says
This is a close variation to my grandmother and my great aunts recipe. I haven’t made it many times. It is a must for the summer. I’d like to know if you can freeze this before putting in the sour cream?
Monika says
Once the mixture has cooled completely you could freeze it. I am assuming you want to freeze it to use later? You'd need to defrost it before adding in the yogurt.
Agnieszka says
Delicious Polish ( chłodnik )cold soup.
Monika says
Thank you! My favourite summer soup.
Kasia says
Not Polish-Lithuanian.
Lisa says
Looks incredible and divine!! So yumm 🙂
Monika says
Thanks! Glad you like it:)
Mandy Mazliah says
This looks lovely. I don't think I've ever tried beetroot soup before but must give it a try soon. I love using the beetroot greens too, I make a very nice beetroot curry that blends then into the sauce
Monika says
Thanks Mandy! I am never bored with beetroot and putting it in a curry dish sounds marvelous:) And the greens too!
Krystyna says
This soup is a "must" on a warm/hot summer day. It's one of my favorite's by the way! Some people may find the pink color strange, but, believe me, once you dip into it, it's "heaven in the mouth" (an old Polish saying: "Niebo w gebie!"). So --- smacznego!!! And a nice warm "Dziekuje slicznie" to Monika for posting this classical and delicious Polish recipe! Greetings from Lyon!!
Monika says
Thank you Krystyna! I am a huge fan of beetroot in general and this soup certainly does it justice.