Recipe ~ Instant Pot Borscht ~ Comfort, Colour, and a Bowlful of History

As always, if you just want the recipe without the story behind it, click here,.

There’s a reason borscht has survived centuries and borders: it’s not just a soup — it’s a ritual in red. Earthy beets lend their jewel-toned magic, beef bones infuse the broth with richness, and the tang of lemon ties it all together in a single, steaming spoonful that feels like home, no matter where you’re from.

The rest of the bone broth waiting to go in the pot

This version honours that old-world heart while embracing the speed of modern life. The Instant Pot turns what once demanded an entire afternoon of simmering into a meal that comes together in just about an hour and forty minutes, start to finish - tender beef, sweet-savoury vegetables, and that unmistakable crimson glow that makes the kitchen smell like nostalgia itself.

I first tasted borscht at a large camping event back in the early 2000s, and it was so delicious that I just had to have the recipe. So I did what any food-obsessed camper would do — I begged very prettily, full on, shameless, big, brown puppy eyes engaged, until the chef caved.

What I got was a 300-serving recipe, complete with measurements in grams and litres, written in that mysterious shorthand of professional cooks who assume everyone owns a compact car sized cauldron and a crew. From there, the challenge was scaling it down to a non-insane, household version and translating everything into regular, USA-style kitchen logic.

This involved more math than any meal deserves, but I wanted that, exact borscht - not a simplified version, not a “close enough.” So I sat down and did the math (with lots of help from Google and conversion calculators!), scaling everything down precisely before buying a single ingredient. The first time I made it, it was exactly as I remembered it from the event.

For years after, I made it the traditional way: slow, aromatic, and all-consuming — the kind of recipe that fogs up all the windows, and makes the house smell like comfort itself. I made a few tweaks to the recipe over the years, to make it more to my exact tastes, budget, and to make it a little healthier (and even more delicious, IMO!) too. It was worth it every time, but let’s be honest - a meal that takes all day to coax into perfection isn’t exactly weeknight-friendly.

Enter the Instant Pot. With a few order of operations and timing adjustments, I finally managed to capture that same deep, ruby richness without sacrificing an entire afternoon to the stove gods. It’s the same flavour I fell in love with, just with modern magic doing the heavy lifting, and allowing just enough time to shape, rise, bake, and cool a nice loaf of crusty, slow fermented, no knead bread to serve alongside every bowl. (That recipe will be coming soon!)

So here it is: the evolution of my borscht. Same flavour, less waiting — because life’s too short to stand watch over a pot all day… unless you want to.

Serve it the traditional way, with a dollop of sour cream or thick Greek yogurt and a scatter of fresh dill, and you’ll swear it’s been cooking since sunrise.
(But your Instant Pot and I will know the truth.)

Instant Pot Borscht

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 Hour, 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour, 40 minutes
(Cook time includes IP coming to pressure and release time)
Yield: 6-10servings
Method: Instant Pot

Equipment

• Instant Pot or other pressure cooker.

Ingredients

• ~3 lbs Bone in beef shank (can sub bone in beef chuck, beef short ribs, or oxtail)
• 2-3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 Med-Lg onions, chopped or sliced
• salt & pepper for meat 
• 1 tsp paprika
• 5 Cups beef stock or bone broth
• 0.5 lb carrots, chopped or sliced
• 3-4 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 Med head red cabbage, chopped or shredded
• 1 lb beets (about 4 cups), chopped or sliced
• 2 15oz cans diced tomatoes
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• 3 tsp white sugar
• 2-4 large potatoes, sliced or large diced (optional)
• Sour cream or Greek yogurt for garnish/to mix in
• fresh dill for garnish (optional)

Directions

1. Salt and pepper both sides of meat well.
2. Brown meat & onion with paprika in oil on sauté. 
3. Remove meat from pot.
4. Add broth & deglaze pot w/wooden spoon.
5. Return meat + remaining beef stock to pot.
6. Set for 30 minutes on high pressure, and allow 15 mins natural release. 
7. Remove meat again, add remaining ingredients except lemon juice to broth & set for 5 minutes w/quick release.
8. While veg is cooking, cut/shred beef into bite sized chunks.
9. Return beef to pot along with lemon juice and stir well.
10. Serve with a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt in each bowl.
11. Yum yum!!

Notes

• Using homemade bone broth instead of instant significantly improves the depth and richness of flavour!!
• This goes very well with slabs of rustic, crusty, buttered bread!

• This can be made vegan or vegetarian by omitting the meat and sour cream, and just using vegetable broth. 

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