In a Polish house, soup isn’t a starter. It’s the meal. Dinner in my family has always begun with a bowl of something steaming, and Sunday without rosół on the stove simply doesn’t feel like Sunday.
The most popular Polish soups are rosół (clear chicken soup), barszcz czerwony (red beet soup), żurek (sour rye soup), zupa grzybowa (mushroom soup), zupa ogórkowa (dill pickle soup), krupnik (barley soup) and kapuśniak (sauerkraut soup). What makes them different from most Western soups is the sour note — Poles build flavour with pickle brine, sour rye starter, sauerkraut and a spoon of sour cream instead of cream and stock cubes.
Every soup below is one we cook in our own kitchen, the way Babcia taught us, and I’ve written down the small things that actually matter — which ones need a real sour base, which ones freeze, and which ones taste better the next day. Here are 28 Polish soups worth making from scratch.
The Icons — Soups Every Pole Grew Up On
If you only ever cook seven Polish soups, make these. Every single one of them was on our table growing up, and they still are.
1. Rosół (Polish Chicken Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 2 reviews
The Sunday soup. A clear golden broth simmered for hours with chicken, root vegetables and lubczyk, served over fine noodles. My mother started it before church and it was ready when we got home.
2. Barszcz Czerwony (Red Beet Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 4 reviews
Deep ruby, clear as tea, sharp and sweet at once. We drink it from a mug at Christmas and serve it with uszka. Never boil it once the beets are in — that’s the whole secret.
3. Żurek (Sour Rye Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 2 reviews
Poland’s most distinctive soup: a fermented rye starter, white sausage and a halved boiled egg. Tangy, smoky and filling. It tastes like Easter morning in our house.
4. Zupa Grzybowa (Mushroom Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 5 reviews
Made with dried wild mushrooms, which is what gives it that dark, almost meaty depth you can’t get from fresh ones. This is the Christmas Eve soup in half of Poland, ours included.
5. Zupa Ogórkowa (Dill Pickle Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 3 reviews
Creamy, tangy and strangely addictive — grated sour pickles and a splash of their brine do all the work. It’s the soup friends are most surprised to fall in love with.
6. Krupnik (Barley Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 11 reviews
Thick with pearl barley, carrots and potatoes, the definition of Polish comfort food. It thickens overnight into something closer to a stew, which is honestly how I like it best.
7. Zupa Pomidorowa (Tomato Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 3 reviews
Every Polish child’s favourite, and nothing like canned tomato soup — it’s made on real chicken broth and poured over rice or noodles. My kids ask for it weekly.
Hearty Everyday Soups
The weekday workhorses: cheap, filling, and built from whatever the pantry and garden had. These are the ones that stretch a chicken into three dinners.
8. Kapuśniak (Sauerkraut Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 3 reviews
Sour, smoky and deeply warming, made with sauerkraut and a piece of smoked meat. Rinse the kraut if you like it milder — we never do.
9. Grochówka (Split Pea Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 4 reviews
The soup Polish army field kitchens are famous for: thick, smoky, spoon-stands-up hearty. Perfect for a cold day, and it feeds a crowd for almost nothing.
10. Barszcz Biały (White Borscht)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 3 reviews
Żurek’s gentler cousin, made with wheat flour sour instead of rye. Milder, creamier, and the one I make when I want Easter flavours without the punch.
11. Zupa Ziemniaczana (Potato Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 1 review
Humble, creamy and done in half an hour with things you already have. A little marjoram at the end is what makes it taste Polish rather than generic.
12. Zupa Fasolowa (Bean Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 1 review
Thick white bean soup with smoked sausage and a good hit of marjoram. This is what my grandfather ate after a day outside, and it still works that way.
13. Zupa Jarzynowa (Vegetable Soup)
The gentle everyday soup with cream stirred through at the end — the one Polish mothers make when someone’s been ill. It’s proof soup doesn’t need meat to be satisfying.
14. Zupa Kalafiorowa (Cauliflower Soup)
Creamy, mild and quietly one of the most-cooked soups in Poland. It comes together in about thirty minutes, which is why it appears on our table so often.
15. Zupa Koperkowa (Dill Soup)
A whole soup built around fresh dill, with potatoes and sour cream. It sounds odd until you try it, and then you understand why Poles put dill on everything.
Cold Polish Soups for Summer
Yes, cold soup is a proper meal in Poland — from June onwards it’s what we actually eat. If you want more of them, we have a whole guide to Polish cold soups.
16. Chłodnik Litewski (Cold Beet Soup)
Shocking pink, ice cold, made with young beets, kefir and radishes. It looks like a dessert and tastes like the best possible thing on a 35-degree day.
17. Chłodnik Ogórkowy (Cold Cucumber Soup)
Cucumber, dill and soured milk blended cold — five minutes of work, no stove. This is my go-to lunch through all of July.
18. Zupa Owocowa (Fruit Soup)
Sweet fruit soup served over pasta, which confuses everyone who didn’t grow up Polish. It was the highlight of summer holidays at my grandmother’s.
Seasonal & Spring Soups
Poland eats by the calendar, and these four track the year — sorrel in spring, young beets in June, pumpkin in October, horseradish at Easter.
19. Zupa Szczawiowa (Sorrel Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 2 reviews
Tart, green and served with a halved boiled egg. Sorrel grows wild all over Poland, and picking it was a proper spring job when I was small.
20. Botwinka (Young Beet Soup)
Made with the whole young beet — leaves, stems and all — so it’s earthy and fresh at once. Strictly a June soup, and worth waiting for.
21. Zupa z Dyni (Pumpkin Soup)
Velvety, lightly spiced and not sweet the way American pumpkin dishes are. It’s what we make the week the mornings turn cold.
22. Zupa Chrzanowa (Horseradish Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 1 review
Creamy with a horseradish kick, served at Easter with sausage and egg. Bracing, unusual, and completely delicious with the leftover Easter ham.
Rich, Old-School & Adventurous
The soups that show Polish cooking at its most old-fashioned. A couple of them will raise eyebrows — they’re also some of the best.
23. Zupa Gołąbkowa (Stuffed Cabbage Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 2 reviews
Everything you love about gołąbki, without the rolling. All the flavour of the classic in a fraction of the time — a genuine weeknight fix.
24. Kwaśnica (Highlander Sauerkraut Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 1 review
The Tatra mountains’ famous soup: sauerkraut and smoked pork ribs, sour and powerful. Order it in Zakopane and you’ll want the recipe.
25. Barszcz Ukraiński (Ukrainian Borscht)
The thick, chunky borscht with beans, cabbage and potatoes — a full meal rather than a clear broth. Don’t confuse it with the Christmas barszcz.
26. Flaki (Tripe Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 1 review
Poland’s beloved peppery tripe soup, heavy on marjoram. It’s a genuine delicacy here, and the recipe walks you through cleaning and timing properly.
27. Czernina (Duck Blood Soup)
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 from 4 reviews
The most notorious Polish soup — sweet-sour, dark, served with noodles and dried fruit. My great-grandmother made it, and it deserves its place in the record.
28. Zupa Mleczna (Milk Soup with Noodles)
Warm milk with soft noodles — the breakfast soup Polish kids were raised on. Comfort in its simplest possible form.
More Soup-Night Essentials
The little extras that turn a bowl of soup into a proper Polish dinner:
- Uszka (Little Dumplings for Barszcz)
- Kołduny (Meat-Filled Soup Dumplings)
- Polish Cold Soups Guide
- Sourdough Rye Bread
- Homemade Sauerkraut
- Kopytka (Potato Dumplings)
Polish Soup FAQ
What is the most popular soup in Poland?
Rosół — a clear chicken soup served over noodles — is Poland’s most popular soup and the traditional Sunday starter. Barszcz czerwony (red beet soup), żurek (sour rye soup) and pomidorowa (tomato soup) come next.
What is the national soup of Poland?
Żurek, the sour rye soup made from fermented rye starter and served with white sausage and boiled egg, is widely considered Poland’s national soup. Barszcz czerwony is the other strong claimant, especially at Christmas.
Why are Polish soups sour?
Traditional Polish cooking builds flavour with fermented ingredients rather than rich stocks: sour rye starter (żur), sauerkraut and its juice, dill pickle brine, and soured cream or kefir. The sourness cuts through heavy winter food and preserved ingredients through long Polish winters.
What do Poles serve with soup?
Most Polish soups are served over something starchy — fine noodles, rice, potatoes or barley — plus a spoon of sour cream and fresh dill. Bread on the side is dark rye, and clear barszcz is often served with uszka dumplings or simply drunk from a mug.
Can Polish soups be frozen?
Broth-based soups like rosół, barszcz, kapuśniak, grochówka and krupnik freeze very well for up to three months. Soups finished with sour cream or milk — jarzynowa, koperkowa, chłodnik — separate when frozen, so freeze the base and stir the dairy in after reheating.
Which one are you starting with? Tell me in the comments — and if you’re building a proper Polish menu, our guide to traditional Polish food has the mains, or pair any soup here with pierogi and finish with something from our Polish desserts list. Smacznego!
