Polish Potato and Dill Pickle Soup

A traditional Polish potato and dill pickle soup (Zuppa Ogórkowa), with sour cream and carrots. Hearty, easy and delicious and perfect with sandwiches.

Why you’ll love this dill pickle soup recipe

If you love dill pickles, you’ll love this soup! Even if you just like dill pickles, you will love this soup :) It may sound a little odd and gimmicky at first read, but this traditional soup (Zuppa Ogórkowa) is a classic in Poland.

This Polish dill pickle soup is both hearty and delicious, combining potatoes, onion and carrots, with sour cream and dill, for a lovely creamy and satisfying soup. Enjoy on its own or as a great side for sandwiches.

Key Ingredients

Potatoes – Russet potatoes (baking potatoes) are the best option for this soup, as they soften quickly and break apart a bit as they cook, contributing to the thickness of the soup. While you can use other potatoes here, the texture of the soup may not be the same and it may take longer for the potatoes to soften.

Sour Cream – a full-fat sour cream is best for this soup, as the higher fat content minimizes curdling when it is added to hot soup.

Dill Pickles – you will need jarred dill pickles, as you will need both the pickles and the dill pickle juice (the pickle brine) from the jar for this soup. Look for nice Polish dill pickles.

Fresh Dill – fresh dill is especially nice in the soup, so I would recommend it if you can. Otherwise, you can use dried dill, using about 1/3 of the amount specified.

Step-by-Step Photos: How to make dill pickle soup

First Steps: Gather and prepare the ingredients. Start the soup by melting a pat of butter. Add the onions and carrots and cook, stirring regularly, for 4-5 minutes. Add the cubed potatoes and cook another couple of minutes. Add the chicken broth and dill pickle juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are very tender.

Finish the soup: Blend the soup with an immersion blender (or in small batches in a blender). Add the sour cream mixture, the shredded dill pickles and dill. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve with fresh dill, chopped dill pickles and/or a dollop of sour cream.

Cook’s Notes

• You can puree the soup as little or as much as you like, for a chunkier or smoother finished soup. If you need to use a blender, be sure to blend in small batches and place a tea towel over the top while blending. Don’t over-fill the blender, as the steam can cause the lid to dislodge. Blend just about 1 cup at a time.
• To prevent the sour cream from curdling in the soup, always use full-fat sour cream (lower fat sour cream is more prone to splitting) and make sure to is at room temperature when added to the soup. I like to stir a spoonful of the warm soup into the sour cream mixture to warm it a bit more, before adding to the soup. Add in small amounts and whisk well after each addition. Avoid boiling the soup after adding the sour cream.
• Be sure to taste your soup at the end of cooking and adjust seasoning as needed, adding more salt and freshly ground pepper. If you feel like it needs a little more dill flavour, you can also stir in another tablespoon of pickle juice. Keep in mind though that if you are garnishing the soup with fresh dill and/or chopped dill pickles, more dill flavour will be added through the garnishes.

Variations

1. Add pan sautéed slices of kielbasa.
2. Use garlic dill pickles to add some garlic flavour to your soup.

Making ahead, storing and freezing

You can easily make this soup ahead and re-heat to serve. It shouldn’t thicken in sitting in the refrigerator, but if it does a bit, thin with a splash more chicken broth.

Keep any leftover dill pickle soup in the refrigerator for about 3 days, or freeze for longer storage.

What to serve with Dill Pickle Soup

Dill Pickle Soup makes a great side soup with something like a Reuben Sandwich or make some Pretzel Bun and make some pastrami sandwiches.

Get the Recipe: Polish Potato and Dill Pickle Soup

A hearty and delicious Traditional Polish soup, with potatoes, carrots, sour cream, dill and dill pickles.

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Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Total Time: 1 hr

Yield: 4 servings

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Ingredients

Soup:

• 2 Tablespoon butter
• 1/2 cup onion, diced, about 1 med onion
• 1 cup carrot, grated, well packed, about 1 large carrot
• 3 cups russet baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 3-4 Tablespoon dill pickle liquid, from the jar
• 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup dill pickles, grated
• 1/2 Tablespoon fresh dill, chopped

Garnish Options:

• 1/4 cup dill pickle, finely diced
• 1/2 Tablespoon fresh dill
• Dollop of sour cream

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Instructions

 

• Take the sour cream out of the fridge before you start, so that it will come to room temperature before it is added to the soup.
• In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter, then add the onions and carrot. Sauté for about 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add the potatoes and 1/2 tsp each salt and the 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes.
• Add the broth and dill pickle liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently, for about 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are very soft (time will depend on how small or large the potatoes were chopped).
• Use an immersion blender in the pot to purée about half the soup, leaving some chunks (or transfer about half the soup in batches to a blender and purée until smooth, then return to the pot).
• In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream and flour. Drizzle in about 1 Tbsp of the warm soup and whisk in (to warm the sour cream mixture a bit). Gradually add dollops of the sour cream mixture into the soup, whisking really well after each addition until blended, until all the sour cream mixture has been added. Stir in the shredded pickles. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, for 5 to 10 minutes or until warmed and slightly thickened. Stir inthe fresh dill. Taste the soup and and season to taste with additional salt and pepper.
• Serve soup with additional fresh dill for garnish, some diced dill pickles and/or a dollop of sour cream.

Notes

Grate the carrot and dill pickles with a box grater.

If you don't have fresh dill on hand, you can use dried dill. Use about 1/3 of the amount specified for dried dill. 

Refrigerate leftovers up to 3 days or freeze up to 3 months.

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Course: Soup

Author: Jennifer

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 244kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 30mg, Sodium: 1435mg, Potassium: 855mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 5752IU, Vitamin C: 27mg, Calcium: 87mg, Iron: 2mg

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