Craving some Polish comfort food? Try any of these 25 Polish soups that feature delicious and authentic flavors from Poland!
If it’s comfort food you want, these Polish soups are sure to hit the spot!
And like most cuisine coming from Poland, these soup recipes represent an integral part of the country’s culture.
You may not know it, but most Polish recipes are traditional and are passed down from generation to generation, with some tweaks are done in between.
Aside from soups, these traditional recipes include stews, pickled dishes, and the ever-popular pierogi.
This means that when you eat Polish food, you’re enjoying something that previous generations have enjoyed in the past as well.
Now, when you’re in Poland, dinner is often served between 3 to 4 in the afternoon, and it usually has two courses.
And at dinner, the first course is always soup.
Now, there are many soups to choose from in Poland.
These include vegetable soups, soups with grains, and even Duck Blood Soup.
A lot of the soups they make in this country are served hot, but there are a few that are served cold, like the Chlodnik.
They also have soups that they serve on special occasions, like #3, which is served on Christmas eve and Easter.
They also have soups that use another food that’s popular in the country, which is pickles.
Sounds interesting?
If you’re curious as to what these Polish soups are, let’s jump right in!
Let’s start off this list with a recipe that’s simple yet hearty.
As with most recipes from Poland, there’s a basic recipe, and then there’s the version that each family has.
This soup can be cooked with noodles, rice, or both, depending on your taste.
Here’s another traditional Polish soup that you can try at home.
Before you attempt this recipe, however, know that you need to prepare the rye starter 5 days ahead of time.
One of the more well-known Polish soups you will find on any list is this one.
Served on Christmas eve and Easter, this soup, which is made using beetroot (hence the red color), has been around since the 1200s.
If it’s a hearty and filling soup you want, you can’t go wrong with this one.
Lots of families have made their own version of this soup, with some adding different kinds of proteins and vegetables to it.
You can try to do the same with the version you make!
This is a soup recipe that can be made using either dried or canned beans.
It’s also a recipe that makes great use of leftover ham, so keep this one in mind when you have lots of ham in the fridge after Christmas.
This Polish vegetable soup is a fantastic dish to try when you have lots of veggies in your fridge and pantry.
It’s also a wonderful way to use any vegetables that need to be used before they wilt away.
Here’s another soup that you can make using any leftover ham you may have.
This time, instead of using beans, you add split peas to the mix.
Another soup you can serve on Easter (or any day you want, for that matter) is the white version of the famous borscht.
This dish features items traditionally added to a Polish Easter basket.
These include bacon, cheeses, butter, ham, eggs, and Polish sausage (also known as Kielbasa).
Lots of countries have recipes that use the blood of livestock in them, and Poland is one of them.
This duck blood soup can be served on top of egg noodles, with potato dumplings, or simple, boiled potatoes.
If you like gazpacho, then you’ll surely love this cold red beet soup from Poland.
This simple dish is served with a mélange of cold vegetables in it, such as radish, cucumber, and green onions.
Do you love nibbling on dill pickles?
If you do, then this dill pickle soup is the perfect one for you to try.
This is another Polish soup that can be tweaked to suit your taste.
Some people serve it with a few florets left whole, while others want their soup to be totally creamy.
One of the most traditional soup recipes you will find on this list is this one!
Not only is this Polish chicken noodle soup a part of the country’s culture, but it also packs quite a wallop in the “food with lots of flavors” department.
Poles love pickled food, and aside from dill pickles, they usually have sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) on the menu too.
Here’s a recipe that makes use of pickled cabbage, which you can serve with some toasted bread on top.
This soup is one that may take some time to cook, but the end result is totally worth it!
After two hours or so of cooking, you’ll have one of the most flavorful Polish soups on your table.
While this dish is supposed to be made with wild mushrooms, you can substitute these with whatever mushrooms you can find near you.
Some great choices include porcini, cremini, oyster, and portobello.
For a soup that’s great during the autumnal months of the year, you should give this one a try.
It’s different from other pumpkin soups because the pumpkin is baked before it’s turned into soup!
This gives it a smokier and toasted flavor as compared with pumpkin soups that use plain pureed or boiled pumpkin.
One ingredient you will find commonly used in Polish cuisine is the humble potato.
This takes center stage and is used as the base for this creamy soup.
For added flavor and texture, you can sprinkle cheese, fried onions, and croutons on top before serving.
If you enjoy eating kielbasa (Polish sausage), you should make this soup for dinner!
While there are many different kinds of kielbasa available–smoked, fresh, and dried–this recipe calls for the smoked kind.
Other ingredients you can find in this dish include potatoes, spinach, and lots of other veggies.
Here’s a spring and summer soup that Poles love to make when sorrel is in abundance!
Sorrel, which is kind of like spinach, has a sour, lemony taste that permeates throughout this dish.
Also added to this dish are aromatics like allspice and bay leaves, which amp up the flavor even more.
Another ingredient that Polish people love to use in their recipes is dill.
This herb, which has a grassy and citrusy flavor, is added liberally to this soup.
The potatoes in this soup also play a big part, giving it a lot of substance and making it filling.
Horseradish is often used as a condiment, but can you put it in a soup?
Apparently, it can be the main flavoring in a soup, as is evidenced by this dish, which also features kielbasa, potatoes, and Rosol (chicken broth).
You can also top this with some hard-boiled eggs to make it super satisfying.
Polish fruit soup can be cooked any time of the year using almost any fruit that’s in season!
This recipe uses strawberries, but Poles are known to use other fruits in this soup, like rhubarb, cherries, and other berries.
This can be served as is or with some pasta added in to make it more filling.
While this dish is sometimes called a stew, it’s still considered a soup because of the amount of liquid in it.
This soup can be made using any type of fish, but white fish is generally favored here.
As with most soups from Poland, this recipe also uses lots of potatoes and bacon or ham.
Let’s close this list up with a recipe that’s made for Christmas.
This dish is made using gingerbread soaked in apple juice and sprinkled with dried fruits.
Originally, this was made with lots of Polish beer, but it has been replaced by a non-alcoholic liquid instead so that the entire family can enjoy it.
The bottom line
These Polish soups are not exactly your run-of-the-mill soups, as you can very well notice.
These are, however, considered comfort food by those who grew up eating them.
Most of these recipes have been passed down from grandmothers and mothers to their kids, with the current generation looking to pass these on to their own kids as well.
If you’re in the mood for food that’s considered part of a culture’s heritage, try any one of these soups at your next meal.
Who knows, you might even make it your own and pass on your own spin on these recipes to your kids too.
Authentic Polish Soups
Craving some Polish comfort food? Try any of these 25 Polish soups that feature delicious and authentic flavors from Poland!
Ingredients
- Pomidorowa (Tomato Soup)
- Zurek (Sour Rye Soup)
- Barszcz Czerwony (Red Beet Borscht)
- Krupnik (Barley Soup)
- Fasolowa (Bean Soup)
- Zupa Jarzynowa (Vegetable Soup)
- Grochowka (Split Pea Soup)
- Barszcz Bialy (White Borscht)
- Czarnina (Duck Blood Soup)
- Chlodnik (Cold Borscht)
- Zupa Ogorkowa (Cucumber/Pickle Soup)
- Kalafiorowa (Cauliflower Soup)
- Rosol (Chicken Noodle Soup)
- Kapuśniak (Sauerkraut Soup)
- Flaki (Beef Tripe Soup)
- Zupa Grzybowa (Wild Mushroom Soup)
- Zupa Dyniowa (Pumpkin Soup)
- Zupa Kartoflanka (Potato Soup)
- Kielbasa Soup (Polish Sausage Soup)
- Barszcz Szczawiowy (Sorrel Soup)
- Zupa Koperkowa (Dill Potato Soup)
- Chrzanowa (Horseradish Soup)
- Zupa Owocowa (Fruit Soup)
- Zupa Rybna (Polish Fish Soup)
- Moczka (Gingerbread Soup)
Instructions
- Skim through our Polish Soups list.
- Select the recipe you’re looking for.
- Prep the ingredients as instructed.
- Spill your thoughts on our Facebook page!