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Polish-style dill pickle soup

Name: Polish-style dill pickle soup
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 25 g butter; 150 g onion, finely chopped; 150 g carrots, cut into small dice; 500 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm cubes; 1 litre reduced-salt vegetable stock; 200 g drained unsweetened dill pickles, coarsely grated; 2 tablespoons pickle brine, divided; 120 g full-fat sour cream; 10 g fresh dill, finely chopped; ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Grated dill pickles run through a creamy potato and carrot soup. Cook the potatoes first, then stir in the sharpness and sour cream.

PolandPolish-inspired

Inspired by Polish zupa ogórkowa. Our one-pan version uses vegetable stock and sour cream; the guide explains the choice of fermented cucumbers.

Explore the recipe’s roots

Aleksandra: Dill Pickle Soup (Polish Zupa Ogórkowa)

By PickleRadio editorialUpdated 18 September 2026

Jump to recipe

Creamy dill pickle soup with potato cubes, carrots, grated pickles and chopped dill in a ceramic bowl

In this guide5 sections

Equipment options for this recipe

Use suitable kitchen equipment you already have. If something is missing, these examples explain what to check before choosing.

OXO Good Grips Etched Coarse Grater
Makes the cucumber shreds in tzatziki, coarse carrot in coleslaw and grated pickles in the soup. An existing grater with a suitable coarse face does the same job.
Before choosing: Check that you are choosing the coarse model, not a fine zester. This is for the coarse vegetable preparation; use a separate fine grater or crush the garlic where the recipe says to.
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Grate the pickles for this bowl

Grated pickles give this Polish-inspired soup little sharp threads in every spoonful. It is a useful choice when a jar has plenty of small pieces left, or the cucumbers are too uneven for neat sandwich slices. The potatoes provide the body; the sour cream rounds off the broth at the end.

Use a coarse grater and catch the pickle juice in a bowl. You will measure the brine separately, which gives you control over a particularly salty jar. A medium saucepan of about 3 litres is large enough for this quantity without crowding the rim.

Yield: 4 servings. Prep time: 15 minutes. Cook time: 30 minutes.

Choose a fermented cucumber

For this soup, choose fermented dill cucumbers, often labelled ogórki kiszone. In Aleksandra’s guide to choosing pickles for zupa ogórkowa, she favours a jar of cucumbers, water, salt and seasonings without added vinegar. That is her flavour preference. Check for “fermented” on the label; “dill pickles” alone does not describe the process. Our linked fermented dill pickle recipe includes vinegar, and its formula should be followed unchanged.

Our version uses vegetable stock and one saucepan: the grated pickles go straight into the soup after the potatoes soften, followed by sour cream off the heat. An unsweetened vinegar pickle can give a sharper flavour. Keep the measured brine addition and the final taste check in the method; avoid pouring in extra jar liquid before tasting.

Ingredients

25 g butter
150 g onion, finely chopped
150 g carrots, cut into small dice
500 g potatoes, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm cubes
1 litre reduced-salt vegetable stock
200 g drained unsweetened dill pickles, coarsely grated
2 tablespoons pickle brine, divided
120 g full-fat sour cream
10 g fresh dill, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Method

Melt the butter over medium-low heat. Cook the onion and carrots for 7 minutes, stirring often, until the onion looks translucent. Avoid browning it deeply.
Add the potatoes and stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. Test a potato with a fork: it should crush readily before you continue.
Check that a potato cube crushes readily before adding the pickles.
Stir in the grated pickles and 1 tablespoon of brine. Simmer for 5 minutes. Press a few potato pieces against the side of the pan to thicken the broth lightly.
Stir in the coarse pickle shreds and press a few potato pieces against the pan.
Take the pan off the heat. Put the sour cream in a bowl and whisk in three separate spoonfuls of hot broth. Stir this warmed mixture back into the soup.
Warm the sour cream with spoonfuls of broth before stirring it into the soup.
Add the dill and pepper. Taste, then use the remaining tablespoon of brine only if you want a sharper finish. Serve immediately. If it needs warming, use low heat and stir gently instead of bringing it back to a vigorous boil.

Keep some potato texture

A fully blended version loses the contrast between soft potato and grated pickle. Mash only a few cubes and check the spoon before doing more. If the soup seems thick after standing, loosen your serving with a little hot water, then taste again.

Full-fat sour cream is the easiest starting point for a smooth finish. Whisking hot broth into it gradually makes it easier to distribute through the pan. Add it with the heat off and keep the finished soup below a hard boil.

If you want a broth with more chew, choose barley and mushroom pickle soup. Our fermented dill pickle guide makes an unsweetened jar for this soup; start it well before the day you plan to cook.