Dill Pickle Soup (Polish Zupa Ogórkowa)

Dill pickle soup is a traditional Polish soup made with fermented cucumbers and potatoes. It’s one of my favorite Polish soups! It’s tangy, rich, creamy, and slightly sour, but in a really pleasant way! If you haven’t tried it yet, you’re missing out!

This is an authentic Polish recipe, just how it’s made in Poland! If you make this recipe you will try the real-deal dill pickle soup.

Ingredients

Below you will find information about the ingredients and how to prepare the recipe. For the measurements and detailed instructions scroll down to the printable recipe card.

Here’s what you need to make this easy recipe:

Cucumbers in brine (ogórki kiszone in Polish) – Make sure to use cucumbers in brine and NOT dill pickles. Yes, I know this recipe is called dill pickle soup, but how should I call it? Cucumbers in brine soup? Ogórki kiszone soup? 😉 Jokes aside – This soup is a traditional Polish recipe, called “zupa ogórkowa” which can be directly translated to cucumber soup.

Cucumbers in brine are cucumbers that are naturally fermented and have a pleasantly sour flavor. On the ingredient list you should see only cucumbers, water, and salt (there can also be spices). Dill pickles are pickled with vinegar and have a more sharp sour flavor. If using those, your soup may come out too sour or the flavor will be off. Cucumbers in brine taste so much better than dill pickles, if you haven’t tried them yet, you must!

Ogórki kiszone are one of the staples of Polish cuisine and one of the fermented goods that Polish people love, like sauerkraut (kapusta kiszona). You can find cucumbers in brine in Polish, Jewish, Ukrainian, or Russian deli or order them online.

This recipe has more pickles in it in comparison to other recipes simply because:

1. They are the ‘real’ pickled cucumbers, which means they’re pleasantly sour and not sharp/vinegary-sour. The soup tastes distinctively like pickled cucumbers and this is how it should taste!
2. We’re cooking the cucumbers in butter, which mellows their sour taste and enriches their flavor.

If you have any fermented cucumbers left, you can make this herring salad with cucumbers in brine, eggs, and apples or another Polish classic – vegetable salad (sałatka jarzynowa).

Broth for the dill pickle soup: Polish soups are almost always made from scratch. Polish people don’t really buy store-bought broths simply because they’re not really available in stores and the cooking culture in Poland is that you make a lot of things from scratch!
Dill pickle soup is most often made with a chicken or spare ribs-based broth. I prefer it with chicken broth – it’s naturally sweeter which balances the cucumbers’ sourness.

If you use store-bought chicken broth (low-sodium), the soup will also be very delicious, I’m often making it this way.

How to make dill pickle soup step by step

make homemade chicken broth

This step is optional. You can use store-bought broth and omit this section completely. But if you wish to make the soup from scratch, like it’s made in Poland, you need to:

Peel 2-3 large carrots, a piece of parsley root, and a piece of celeriac. Cut into 2-3 bigger pieces. Cut 1/3 of a leek in half and wash it thoroughly.

You can use other chicken parts to make the broth but I like to use chicken wings or the carcass and neck of a chicken, since they have lots of bone and cartilage and not much meat. I prefer to use more meaty parts of chicken like thighs and breasts for other dishes when the meat doesn’t have to be boiled. You can add more chicken wings for a richer broth, but I think this amount is just enough.

Add about 8 chicken wings to a big pot and pour in 8 cups of cold water. Cook over medium heat until the water is simmering, but it shouldn’t come to a rolling boil, it should just simmer (you should see a couple of small bubbles on the surface of the water). When the water is simmering you will see grey foam/lumps on the surface. Skim them off with a slotted spoon or with a small mesh strainer to get a clear soup (this is optional). You could also just skim the biggest pieces and leave smaller ones.

You can use frozen meat to make the broth. You don’t have to defrost it, you can add frozen meat directly into the pot (this is why the meat looks a little weird in the pot, it’s just frozen).

When the water with meat is simmering add all the vegetables and spices (3 bay leaves, 3 allspice berries, 10 black peppercorns), season very lightly with salt. Bring again to a simmer. Cover partially and cook over low heat (the soup should only simmer) for about 1-1 1/2 hours.

Strain the broth. You can discard all the vegetables (you can leave 1 carrot for the soup if you wish). When the meat is cold enough to handle, separate it from the bones and skin and discard them (you can keep the meat and add it later to the soup).

The broth for this soup is very often made with spare ribs in Poland. I’m not a fan of this soup made with spareribs, I prefer chicken, but if you wish to make it with spareribs: use 1 lb (450g) lean spareribs and cut them into smaller pieces. Everything else stays the same.

Make the soup

STEP 1: Grate 1 lb (450g) cucumbers in brine on the big holes of a box grater. Squeeze the grated cucumbers with your hands and reserve the liquid (you should have about 1/2 cup of the brine, add another 1/2 cup of the brine from the jar with cucumbers, you should have 1 cup of liquid/brine in total). After you have squeezed out the water you should have about 1 2/3 cups of grated cucumbers.

STEP 2: Grate 1 medium carrot on the small holes of a box grater, cut 1 lb (450g) potatoes into small cubes (about 1/2-inch / 1.5 cm), finely chop 1 medium onion.

STEP 3: Heat 1 Tbsp of butter in a big pot, add the onion and carrot. Cook over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes or until the onion is soft.

STEP 4: Heat 2 Tbsp of butter in a medium pan and add the cucumbers, cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add them to the pot.

STEP 5: Add 6 cups of broth to the pot.

STEP 6: Add the potatoes to the pot.

STEP 7: Add the sauteed cucumbers to the pot, bring to a boil, and cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

STEP 8: Add about 1 cup of cucumber’s brine/juice (this is about 1/2 cup juice that you’ve squeezed out of the cucumbers + about 1/2 cup brine from the jar). Add it gradually and taste the soup making sure it’s not too sour or not enough sour for you. Take the soup off the heat.

STEP 9: Temper the cream: pour 1/3 cup (80ml) of heavy cream into a cup, add a couple of tablespoons of soup, stirring after every added tablespoon, then add the tempered cream into the pot.

STEP 10: Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 2 Tbsp of chopped dill.

Enjoy!

Storing and freezing tips

You can store this soup in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat it very gently, it should not come to a full boil otherwise the cream can curdle. For this same reason, this soup can not be frozen. You can freeze it before adding the cream.

More delicious Polish soup recipes

• Żurek Soup (Sour Rye Soup)
• Polish Christmas Eve Mushroom Soup
• Rosół Soup (Chicken Noodle Soup)
• Barszcz Soup (Beet Soup)
• Polish Tomato Soup
• Chłodnik Soup (Cold Cucumber Soup)

All my Polish soup recipes can be found here: Polish soups.

Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!