Żurek (Polish Sour Rye Soup)

About This Recipe

Żurek is a real, traditional Polish dish, known as Polish Sour Rye Soup. A tangy, fermented rye-soured soup with smoked sausage, potatoes and a hard-boiled egg, often served in a bread bowl.\n\nŻurek is made from fermented rye flour called zakwas, a preservation technique dating back centuries in Polish peasant cooking, and it remains a traditional Easter Sunday dish across Poland today.\n\nThe result is a dish worth making on its own merits: it rewards patience with the technique and delivers real, specific flavor rooted in Polish home cooking, not a generic stand-in for a search term.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 500 mlzakwas (fermented rye sour)(store-bought or homemade)
• 300 gkielbasa (Polish smoked sausage)(sliced)
• 200 gbacon or smoked pork(diced)
• 1yellow onion(diced)
• 4garlic cloves(minced)
• 3potatoes(peeled and diced)
• 1.2 Lchicken or pork stock
• 150 mlheavy cream or sour cream
• 4hard-boiled eggs
• 1 tspmarjoram
• 1 tspfine sea salt(to taste)

Instructions

1. 1

   Render the bacon

   Fry the diced bacon in a large pot until crisp, releasing its fat.

2. 2

   Sauté aromatics

   Add onion and garlic to the rendered fat, cooking until soft, about 6 minutes.

3. 3

   Build the broth

   Add stock, potatoes and sliced kielbasa, and simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

4. 4

   Add the sour

   Stir in the zakwas and marjoram, and simmer gently for 10 minutes; do not boil hard, which can curdle the sour base.

5. 5

   Finish with cream

   Stir in cream off the heat, tasting and adjusting salt.

6. 6

   Serve

   Ladle into bowls, adding half a hard-boiled egg to each portion, and serve hot, traditionally in a hollowed bread bowl.

Variations

• •

  A vegetarian version uses mushroom stock and omits the meat, relying on the tangy zakwas for depth.

• •

  Some regions add horseradish for extra sharpness.

• •

  White sausage (biala kielbasa) is the traditional Easter version of the sausage used here.

Storage

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat gently on the stovetop or in the microwave with a splash of water or stock to loosen the texture.

Frequently Asked Questions