Cold Beet Soup (Polish Chlodnik)

Cold beet soup in purple bowl with spoon in front, boiled eggs, chives and white cloth in background.

Polish cold beet soup (chlodnik) is delicious, refreshing and super quick and easy to make. It contains both beets as well as beet greens so nothing gets wasted!

Course Lunch, Soup

Cuisine East European, Polish, vegetarian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

Cooling time 20

Total Time 25

Servings -8 servings

Calories 89kcal

Author Monika Dabrowski

Ingredients

2 small beets with their greens or use 1 medium beet and greens from 2 beets
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
1⅔ cups water or vegetable stock
3¼ cups 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

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Peel the beets and grate (coarsely). Finely chop the greens (leaves and stems). Place all in a large pot, add the water or vegetable stock, lemon juice, cover and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.
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