Cold Summer Soup – Russian “Okroshka”
Cold Summer Soup also known as Russian Okroshka, is creamy, crunchy and delicious, and perfect refreshed and recharged soup for the summer.
Making a comfort soup at home can be very enjoyable and rewarding. We have a big list of soup recipes on our blog for you to look at. Among our popular soups are Instant Pot Creamy Tomato Soup, Slow Cooker Corn Chowder with Bacon and Creamy Tortellini Soup.
Cold Summer Soup – Russian Okroshka
This is a recipe for Russian cold summer soup, or otherwise called “okroshka”. Its a soup that I always ask my mom to make for me, and her version always turns out better. Probably love is the extra ingredient that she uses. This is the soup that associates with summer, with all the trips I took to my grandparents,. Also, all the sunny, beautiful days I spent running around, coming home exhausted and eating a bowl of the most refreshing soup ever.
This cold summer soup is the type of comfort food you want to reach for during hot summer days. It’s cold and tart taste will refresh you right away. In addition, the crunchy flavorful summer veggies add so much texture and flavor, that its impossible not to ask for seconds. I usually add some meat to this soup, for extra protein. However, many times I make a vegetarian version by skipping the meat. Don’t worry, it’s equally delicious, so go ahead and give it a try the way you prefer.
This soup is very filling, from all that load of veggies, creamy from the eggs and sour cream. It definitely has a unique taste, but if you like tart and refreshing soups you must try this. I will go ahead and say that this summer cold soup is so much better than gazpacho. Gazpacho can be a little bland, but this soup is piled up with fresh, beautiful summer veggies that just give it so much flavor. And it requires minimal stove time!
Russian Okroshka
Ingredients
- 8 cups cold water boiled and cooled to room tempreture
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 3½ Tbsp vinegar divided
- 2½ tsp salt
- 1/2 cup green onion finely chopped
- 1 lb. organic ham diced
- 4 medium potatoes peeled and diced into cubes
- 4 hard-boiled eggs diced
- 4 medium cucumbers diced
- 6 large radishes diced
- 1/2 cup dill throughly washed and chopped
Instructions
- Place diced potatoes into a medium pot and cover with water. Add 1 Tbsp vinegar and bring to a boil, continue boiling for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are just cooked.
- Drain potatoes and carefully rinse with cold water to cool down.
- In the meantime, boil the eggs and cool them in ice cold water.
- On a cutting board dice the 2 whole eggs and 2 egg whites (set 2 yolks aside), cucumbers, radishes and ham. Chop the dill and green onions and place everything in a large pot.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together sour cream and remaining 2 egg yolks until combined, add the 8 cups of boiled cooled water, remaining 2½ Tbsp of vinegar and 2½ tsp of salt, whisk gently until combined. Pour the mixture into the pot over the rest of the ingredients. Gently stir to combine.
- Let the veggies soak all the flavors for 2-3 hours before serving.
- The soup must be kept if the refrigerator and served cold.
- This is the type of soup that gets better and better the second day!