Kholodnyk is a Ukrainian chilled beet borshch made with cooked beets, beet cooking liquor, beet kvass, kefir, smetana, cucumber, radishes, spring onions, dill, hard-boiled eggs, and boiled new potatoes. This version serves eight and is chilled until stone cold before serving.

What can I use instead of beet kvass in kholodnyk?

Use brine from fermented beets as the best substitute for beet kvass in kholodnyk. Sauerkraut brine also works for clean acidity. Lemon juice can sour the beet base in a modern kitchen, but fermented beet brine gives the chilled beet borshch a rounder, deeper flavor.

Can I use yogurt instead of kefir for chilled beet borshch?

Use prostokvasha or thin plain yogurt instead of kefir for chilled beet borshch. Avoid thick Greek-style yogurt unless you loosen it with extra cold beet cooking liquor, because dense yogurt makes kholodnyk heavy instead of bright, drinkable, and refreshing.

Why do I leave the tails on beets for kholodnyk?

Leave the tails on whole beets while simmering kholodnyk because intact beets hold their deep ruby color better. The beets should simmer quietly in salted water until a knife slides in easily, then cool before you slip off the skins and grate them.

How cold should kholodnyk be before serving?

Serve kholodnyk properly cold, after chilling the finished soup for at least a few hours. The bowl should feel cold before you taste it. Warm or lightly chilled kholodnyk tastes muddled, while stone-cold beet borshch tastes bright, sour, creamy, and dill-scented.

How long does homemade kholodnyk keep in the fridge?

Homemade kholodnyk keeps for 2 days in the refrigerator. Store the chilled beet borshch covered and stir it before serving because the kefir and smetana settle slightly. Hard-boiled eggs and boiled new potatoes can be prepared ahead and kept chilled separately.

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Kholodnyk (холодник, chilled beet borshch)

Name: Kholodnyk (холодник, chilled beet borshch)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 4 h 15 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Ukrainian
Ingredients: 1 kg small beets, scrubbed, tails left on; 2 litres cold water; 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste; 1 tablespoon sugar or honey, optional; 250ml beet kvass, or brine from fermented beets; 750ml kefir, prostokvasha, or thin plain yogurt; 250ml smetana, plus more to serve; 3 small cucumbers, diced; 8 radishes, thinly sliced; 6 spring onions, finely sliced; 1 large bunch dill, finely chopped; 4 hard-boiled eggs, halved or chopped; 600g new potatoes, boiled and cooled; 1 tablespoon unrefined sunflower oil, for the potatoes; Black pepper, to taste

Created by

The shocking thing is the color: cold beet-crimson soup, sharpened with beet kvass and softened with soured milk, eaten when the kitchen is too hot to light.

Soups & Stews

Ukrainian

Comfort Food

Outdoor Dining

Make Ahead

30 min

Active Time

45 min cook•4 hr 15 min total

Yield8 servings

The bowl arrives pink enough to make the table go quiet. Not polite pink. Beet-crimson turned cloudy with soured milk, green with dill and cucumber, cold enough that the spoon sweats in your hand. This is summer borshch for the days when lighting the stove feels like an insult.

Kholodnyk means the cold one, and it behaves exactly like that. You cook the beets gently, then cool their liquor instead of throwing it away, because that ruby water is the spine of the soup. Beet kvass gives the sourness depth, kefir or prostokvasha gives it body, and the chopped cucumber, radish, spring onion and dill make it eat like a garden that fell into a bowl.

The one thing that decides the dish is balance. Add the soured milk slowly into the cold beet base, tasting as you go, until the color blooms and the sharpness softens but doesn't disappear. Aunt Nadia wrote only, "make it lively," which is very helpful if you already know. Now you know: it should taste cold, sour, grassy, and sweet from the beets, never milky and flat.

Make a big pot. It sits in the fridge better than we do in August, and the next day the dill has spoken to everybody.

Kholodnyk, also called kholodnyi borshch, belongs to the summer kitchens of Ukraine, especially in central and northern regions where beet broth, beet kvass, cucumbers, herbs and sour milk made a cooling meal before refrigerators were common. Older household versions often used young beets with their tops, while later city versions leaned on kefir, smetana and hard-boiled eggs for speed and richness. Its relatives appear across neighboring cuisines, but the Ukrainian bowl keeps the borshch logic: beet first, sourness from fermentation when you have it, dill without apology.

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Ingredients

small beets

Quantity

1 kg

scrubbed, tails left on

cold water

Quantity

2 litres

sea salt

Quantity

1 teaspoon, plus more to taste

sugar or honey (optional)

Quantity

1 tablespoon

beet kvass or brine from fermented beets

Quantity

250ml

kefir, prostokvasha, or thin plain yogurt

Quantity

750ml

smetana

Quantity

250ml, plus more to serve

small cucumbers

Quantity

diced

radishes

Quantity

thinly sliced

spring onions

Quantity

finely sliced

dill

Quantity

1 large bunch

finely chopped

hard-boiled eggs

Quantity

halved or chopped

new potatoes

Quantity

600g

boiled and cooled

unrefined sunflower oil

Quantity

1 tablespoon

for the potatoes

black pepper

Quantity

to taste

Ingredient	Quantity
small beetsscrubbed, tails left on	1 kg
cold water	2 litres
sea salt	1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
sugar or honey (optional)	1 tablespoon
beet kvass or brine from fermented beets	250ml
kefir, prostokvasha, or thin plain yogurt	750ml
smetana	250ml, plus more to serve
small cucumbersdiced	3
radishesthinly sliced	8
spring onionsfinely sliced	6
dillfinely chopped	1 large bunch
hard-boiled eggshalved or chopped	4
new potatoesboiled and cooled	600g
unrefined sunflower oilfor the potatoes	1 tablespoon
black pepper	to taste

Equipment Needed

•A large pot for the beets
•A box grater
•A big glass or enamel bowl for chilling
•A whisk

Instructions

1
Cook the beets
Put the whole beets in a large pot with the cold water and salt. Bring to a quiet simmer, not a rolling boil, and cook until a knife slides in without a fight and the kitchen smells sweet and earthy, not raw. Leave the tails on; they keep the color inside the beet instead of bleeding it all away.
2
Save the liquor
Lift the beets out and keep every drop of the cooking liquor. When the beets are cool enough to handle, slip off the skins and grate them coarsely. Stir the grated beets back into the ruby liquor, then let the whole pot cool completely.
Do not drain the beets into the sink. That liquid is not waste; it is the body of the soup.
3
Sour the base
Stir in the beet kvass and taste. It should wake up at the sides of your tongue. If your beets are a little flat, add the sugar or honey, not to make it sweet but to put the beet back on its feet. Chill until properly cold.
4
Whisk in dairy
Whisk the kefir with the smetana in a bowl until smooth, then stir it slowly into the cold beet base. Watch the color bloom from ruby to deep raspberry. Taste before you add it all; some kefir is sharper than others, and kholodnyk should be bright, not chalky.
5
Add the garden
Fold in the cucumbers, radishes, spring onions and most of the dill. Grind in black pepper and adjust the salt. The spoon should move through little crisp things, and the smell should be beet, sour milk and dill in that order.
6
Serve stone cold
Chill the soup for at least a few hours, until the bowl feels cold before you taste it. Serve with hard-boiled eggs, more dill, a spoon of smetana if you like, and boiled new potatoes on the side dressed with unrefined sunflower oil and salt. Enough for eight guests or one hungry Ukrainian.

Chef Tips

•Beet kvass gives the cleanest sourness. If you don't have it, use brine from fermented beets or a little sauerkraut brine; lemon juice works in a modern kitchen, but it doesn't have the same roundness.
•Use kefir, prostokvasha, or a thin plain yogurt. Thick Greek-style yogurt makes the soup heavy unless you loosen it with extra beet liquor.
•The chopping forgives you. The chilling does not. Kholodnyk needs to be properly cold, otherwise it tastes confused.
•Serve the potatoes separately if you want the cleanest bowl. Some families dice them straight into the soup, which is a bit more filling and completely welcome.

Advance Preparation

•Cook the beets and chill the beet liquor the day before if you can; cold beet base makes the soup come together cleanly.
•The finished kholodnyk keeps for 2 days in the fridge. Stir before serving, because the dairy settles a little.
•Hard-boil the eggs and boil the potatoes ahead, then keep them chilled until the table is set.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 650g)

Calories

315 calories

Total Fat

14 g

Saturated Fat

6 g

Trans Fat

0 g

Unsaturated Fat

7 g

Cholesterol

115 mg

Sodium

750 mg

Total Carbohydrates

38 g

Dietary Fiber

6 g

Sugars

18 g

Protein

11 g

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Kholodnyk (холодник, chilled beet borshch)

The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.