Help me save a tomato-beet soup

December 25, 2021 4:48 PM

I made a tomato-beetroot soup (from The Minecrafter's Cookbook) and it was just okay. I'm someone who loves beets, and it was too beet-y for me, much less my kids who thought it was basically going to be a pinker tomato soup. Help me repurpose it!

There are lots of beetroot soup recipes on the internet; this one is primarily diced tomatoes, tomato paste, canned beets, and stock. No celery/onion/carrot was included in the original recipe.

It made a ton and we didn't like it enough to do the leftovers justice, and there are a LOT of leftovers. I'd like to use it as a base for some other kind of soup(s) that might disguise the flavor a bit. What would you add? Assume we have the basics on hand or can easily get them; slight preference for vegetarian options but nothing's off the table.

posted by peanut_mcgillicuty to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

Not at all vegetarian, but I might make these short ribs to add to it, and also some sour cream, and call it a borscht. The caramelized onions in that recipe might also be good, and the cheesy toasts on top are not borschty, but I bet they'd add to the experience all the same.
posted by shadygrove at 4:57 PM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

I endorse the borscht approach. Potatoes fried in garlic; a dash of balsamic vinegar; crème fraîche.
posted by feral_goldfish at 5:05 PM on December 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

You could try to make it a cream-of-beet soup by adding a cup of mashed potatoes and blending it all together.
posted by missmobtown at 5:43 PM on December 25, 2021

You might turn it into the base for a (probably hot pink) baked potato soup. Or you could riff on this pasta sauce - probably the more ricotta the better.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:49 PM on December 25, 2021

More generally, adding acid often makes the beets more palatable to non-beet-enthusiasts. Sour cream or yogurt, but try a dash of any vinegar or tangy sauce you like in a half cup of soup to see how you go.
posted by clew at 6:27 PM on December 25, 2021 [4 favorites]

Cabbage soup with cabbage, sauerkraut, carrots and onion, plus a protein of choice like maybe kielbasa or maybe white beans. Use sauerkraut liquid and some garlic plus dill for seasoning, maybe cut it further with vegetable stock, maybe cook a starch in it like barley or rice to soak up the expanded amount of liquid.
posted by Mizu at 7:42 PM on December 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

Beets are really sweet and benefit from acid, like vinegar, and maybe some heat. I'd maybe try some smoothies, if you like them.
posted by theora55 at 7:56 PM on December 25, 2021

Best answer: Every time I have too much of a thing I don't like much, and try to improve it by adding things I like, it just ends up a waste of the new additions. I would discard it, feeling bad about the waste but knowing I was preventing more of the same. If you're committed to trying things, do it in single-serving batches.
posted by donnagirl at 7:07 AM on December 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

nth-ing: Rebalance the sweet with sour/acid and heat. Try cider vinegar or white wine vinegar will help if your don't want additional sweetness from balsamic vinegar.
posted by k3ninho at 9:05 AM on December 26, 2021

From my partner: Freeze smaller portions of the beet soup and then you can add it to new soups, but you're not dealing with as much of the beetiness at one time.

I do think borscht is your best bet. I think that shadygrove's short ribs onion soup recipe would be delicious with some of your beet soup added.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 5:36 PM on December 26, 2021