Cuisine: The Polish Palate
•
Course: Soups Light Meals
•
Diet: High-Satiety, Probiotic, Comfort Food

Zupa Ogórkowa (Traditional Polish Dill Pickle Soup)

A robust, tangy, and deeply savoury pork and root vegetable broth, finished with grated salt-fermented cucumbers, their sharp brine, and tempered sour cream.
Prep time 20m
Cook time 1h 40m
Total 2h
Yield 6
Per serving:
326 kcal
24g Carbs
12g Protein
18g Fat
By Adam Dworak

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Ingredients

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Kitchen Kit

  • Large Heavy-Bottomed Pot
  • Frying Pan
  • Box Grater
  • Chopping Board
  • Chef's Knife
  • Whisk
  • Small bowl
Person grating a pickle into a pot of soup | Cook & Keeper - Zupa Ogórkowa - Traditional Polish Dill Pickle Soup

Method

  1. Chuck the pork ribs, water, exactly half of the sea salt, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and allspice berries into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Set it over a high heat and bring to a boil (factor in a good 20 minutes for this volume of cold water to come up to a rolling boil). Skim off any grey scum that rises to the surface. Drop the heat, cover partially, and let it gently simmer for 45 minutes to build a rich, foundational meat broth.
  2. While the broth ticks away, prep your veg. Peel and dice the potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Coarsely grate the carrots,
    parsley root, and celeriac. Finely slice the leek.
  3. After 45 minutes, fish the pork ribs out of the pot and set them aside on a board to cool slightly. Chuck the diced potatoes, grated roots, and sliced leek directly into the simmering broth. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the potatoes are just tender to the bite.
  4. Coarsely grate the salt-fermented cucumbers, making sure to reserve the brine left in the jar. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté the grated cucumbers for 5 to 7 minutes until they soften, steam dry slightly, and release their sharp, earthy aroma.
  5. Shred the cooled pork meat off the bones, discarding the cartilage and bones. Tip the shredded meat and the sautéed cucumbers into the soup pot. Now, pour in roughly 150ml of the cloudy brine straight from the pickle jar—this is the soul of the dish, so adjust the volume based on how sharp you like it. Simmer everything together for another 10 minutes to marry the flavours.
  6. In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream with the plain flour until completely smooth. Temper this mixture by slowly whisking in two ladles of hot soup from the pot. Pour the warmed cream mixture back into the soup, stirring continuously. Simmer for just 2 minutes to cook out the raw flour. Taste the broth—the pickles and brine contain a lot of hidden salt, so only adjust with the remaining half of the sea salt if it truly needs it.
  7. Turn off the heat entirely. Bash the fresh dill through with your knife, scatter it into the pot, and give it one final stir before ladling into warm bowls.
Chef's Note & Storage
Fridge 3 days. The sour profile deepens and improves overnight. Reheat gently on a medium-low flame—do not let it boil fiercely, or the sour cream may split.
00:00
Bowl of soup on a kitchen counter with bread and pickles | Cook & Keeper - Zupa Ogórkowa - Traditional Polish Dill Pickle Soup

The Sour Soul of Polish Comfort

There is nothing quite like a proper Zupa Ogórkowa. It is the ultimate testament to the magic of lactic fermentation, taking the humble, salt-fermented cucumber and transforming it into a broth that is at once rich, sharp, and deeply restorative. This is not the place for vinegar-pickled gherkins; you must use traditional ogórki kiszone. When sourcing your pickles, guard the jar's liquid with your life—do not drain it down the sink. That cloudy, acidic brine is the literal lifeblood of the soup. Built upon a slow-simmered base of bone-in pork ribs and sweet root vegetables, the sharpness of the pickles cuts through the fat, creating a brilliantly balanced bowl. It is peasant cooking at its absolute finest—resourceful, robust, and completely unforgettable.

CHEF'S SECRET: Never add the pickles or their brine until the potatoes are fully cooked. The high acidity of the zakwas (brine) prevents the starch in the potatoes from breaking down, leaving them stubbornly hard no matter how long you boil them. Boil the potatoes in the sweet broth first, then introduce the sour element.

❖

The Flavour Base

To extract the deepest flavour from your pickles, coarsely grate them and gently sauté them in a knob of butter before they hit the soup. This extra step evaporates any harsh rawness and sweetens the fermented profile, adding a deeply savoury, almost golden layer to the final pot.

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Zupa Ogórkowa (Traditional Polish Dill Pickle Soup) - Cook & Keeper
Cuisine:The Polish Palate
Course:Soups, Light Meals
Diet:High-Satiety, Probiotic, Comfort Food

Zupa Ogórkowa (Traditional Polish Dill Pickle Soup)

By Adam Dworak

A robust, tangy, and deeply savoury pork and root vegetable broth, finished with grated salt-fermented cucumbers, their sharp brine, and tempered sour cream.

Prep 20m
Cook 1h 40m
Total 2h
Yield 6
Person grating a pickle into a pot of soup | Cook & Keeper - Zupa Ogórkowa - Traditional Polish Dill Pickle Soup

Kitchen Kit

  • •Large Heavy-Bottomed Pot
  • •Frying Pan
  • •Box Grater
  • •Chopping Board
  • •Chef's Knife
  • •Whisk
  • •Small bowl
Per serving:
326 kcal
24g Carbs
12g Protein
18g Fat

Ingredients

  • 2000 ml Water
  • 500 g Pork Ribs
  • 400 g Ogórek Kiszony (Sour Brined Cucumber)
  • 500 g Floury Potatoes
  • 150 g Carrots
  • 100 g Parsley Root
  • 100 g Celeriac
  • 100 g Leek
  • 30 g Unsalted Butter
  • 150 g Sour Cream
  • 15 g Plain Flour
  • 15 g Fresh Dill
  • 2 pcs Bay Leaves
  • 4 pcs Allspice Berries
  • 12 g Sea Salt
  • 10 pcs Black Peppercorns

Method

Step-by-step instructions.

Chef's Note:
Fridge 3 days. The sour profile deepens and improves overnight. Reheat gently on a medium-low flame—do not let it boil fiercely, or the sour cream may split.
Bowl of soup on a kitchen counter with bread and pickles | Cook & Keeper - Zupa Ogórkowa - Traditional Polish Dill Pickle Soup
  1. Chuck the pork ribs, water, exactly half of the sea salt, black peppercorns, bay leaves, and allspice berries into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Set it over a high heat and bring to a boil (factor in a good 20 minutes for this volume of cold water to come up to a rolling boil). Skim off any grey scum that rises to the surface. Drop the heat, cover partially, and let it gently simmer for 45 minutes to build a rich, foundational meat broth.
  2. While the broth ticks away, prep your veg. Peel and dice the potatoes into bite-sized chunks. Coarsely grate the carrots,
    parsley root, and celeriac. Finely slice the leek.
  3. After 45 minutes, fish the pork ribs out of the pot and set them aside on a board to cool slightly. Chuck the diced potatoes, grated roots, and sliced leek directly into the simmering broth. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the potatoes are just tender to the bite.
  4. Coarsely grate the salt-fermented cucumbers, making sure to reserve the brine left in the jar. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté the grated cucumbers for 5 to 7 minutes until they soften, steam dry slightly, and release their sharp, earthy aroma.
  5. Shred the cooled pork meat off the bones, discarding the cartilage and bones. Tip the shredded meat and the sautéed cucumbers into the soup pot. Now, pour in roughly 150ml of the cloudy brine straight from the pickle jar—this is the soul of the dish, so adjust the volume based on how sharp you like it. Simmer everything together for another 10 minutes to marry the flavours.
  6. In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream with the plain flour until completely smooth. Temper this mixture by slowly whisking in two ladles of hot soup from the pot. Pour the warmed cream mixture back into the soup, stirring continuously. Simmer for just 2 minutes to cook out the raw flour. Taste the broth—the pickles and brine contain a lot of hidden salt, so only adjust with the remaining half of the sea salt if it truly needs it.
  7. Turn off the heat entirely. Bash the fresh dill through with your knife, scatter it into the pot, and give it one final stir before ladling into warm bowls.

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History

The Sour Soul of Polish Comfort

There is nothing quite like a proper Zupa Ogórkowa. It is the ultimate testament to the magic of lactic fermentation, taking the humble, salt-fermented cucumber and transforming it into a broth that is at once rich, sharp, and deeply restorative. This is not the place for vinegar-pickled gherkins; you must use traditional ogórki kiszone. When sourcing your pickles, guard the jar's liquid with your life—do not drain it down the sink. That cloudy, acidic brine is the literal lifeblood of the soup. Built upon a slow-simmered base of bone-in pork ribs and sweet root vegetables, the sharpness of the pickles cuts through the fat, creating a brilliantly balanced bowl. It is peasant cooking at its absolute finest—resourceful, robust, and completely unforgettable.

CHEF'S SECRET: Never add the pickles or their brine until the potatoes are fully cooked. The high acidity of the zakwas (brine) prevents the starch in the potatoes from breaking down, leaving them stubbornly hard no matter how long you boil them. Boil the potatoes in the sweet broth first, then introduce the sour element.

❖

The Flavour Base

To extract the deepest flavour from your pickles, coarsely grate them and gently sauté them in a knob of butter before they hit the soup. This extra step evaporates any harsh rawness and sweetens the fermented profile, adding a deeply savoury, almost golden layer to the final pot.