Okroshka

Article by Liza Zeneski 

When I was a kid growing up in Russia, I was absolutely obsessed with okroshka soup. For me, okroshka wasn’t just food—it was summer itself. It meant school was out, homework was done, and the long, lazy days ahead were filled with sun, lake trips just outside the city, bonfires, and evenings listening to some boy I liked strumming my favorite song on his guitar under a sky that never quite got dark. St. Petersburg is known for white nights during summer months – the sun doesn’t set completely, resulting in a twilight state that lasts the whole night. Magical. It's amazing how just one bite of this soup can transport me right back there.

My family had a tiny plot of land just outside the city. It was my great grandmother’s love child. She spent countless hours there, tenderly tending to her vegetables, and every time she came back with a harvest, she’d make this soup. Okroshka was her way of capturing summer in a bowl—fresh, crisp, tangy, and cool.

What Is Okroshka?

Okroshka is a cold Russian soup made from summer’s best ingredients: crunchy cucumbers, radishes, boiled potatoes, eggs and ham folded topped with a chilled creamy broth. Classically, people pack okroshka for picnics. Just stash the filling in one container and the broth in another, press against ice packs and combine the two into bowls when you’re ready to eat.

Ingredients In Okroshka

• Boiled, cubed Yukon gold potatoes

• Chopped hard boiled eggs

• Diced ham (though really any cured meat will work, including bologna or kielbasa)

• Chopped radishes

• Sliced scallions

• Chopped dill

• Kefir and seltzer or kvas

The Soup Base: Kefir and Seltzer Versus Kvas

The soup base can be made from either kefir diluted with seltzer water or kvas, a soda-like drink made from fermented rye bread. When my family served this soup, we’d always have a bowl of the veggie mix on the table, and bottles of both kefir and kvas on the side. It was a "choose your own adventure" dish. This version uses kefir, which gives the soup a creamy tang and a clean finish. If you’re curious to try it with kvas, just make sure to look for sour kvas—specifically made for okroshka. You can find it online, and trust me, it’s worth the search.

How to Serve and Eat Okroshka

This soup is meant to be enjoyed ice-cold, so be sure to keep both the filling and the liquid well-chilled until serving. Bring the potato mixture and kefir mixture to the table in separate bowls; to keep each cold throughout the meal, you can place each bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice. To serve yourself, heap up a mound of the potato mixture into your bowl and pour the soup base over it, customizing with more or less of each to your taste.

How to Store Okroshka

You can partially make Okrosha ahead of time by preparing and combining the potatoes, eggs, ham, cucumbers, radishes, scallions and dill in a large bowl. When ready to eat, season the mixture with salt and prepare the soup base by combining the kefir and seltzer. If you happen to have leftovers, store the filling and base separately, but keep in mind the soup base is best when eaten immediately due to the fizzy seltzer.