Polish Żurek Soup with Smoked Meats
A festive, hearty dish traditional to Poland. Żurek is a national traditional Polish soup. It is often prepared for holidays. Its secret is that it is made with a sour rye starter.
Updated : 20 August, 2026
Easy
About 30 min.
Ingredients
500 milliliters
Ready-made sourdough starter
2
Onions
500 grams
Smoked ribs
500 grams
Smoked sausage
500 grams
Smoked chicken quarters
6
Laurel leaf
5
Chicken eggs
100 grams
Sour cream
1 tablespoon
Allspice
1 tablespoon
Dried marjoram
to taste
Salt
to taste
Ground black pepper
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
At the first stage, prepare the broth. Place all the ingredients for the broth into a pot or cauldron. After bringing it to a boil, simmer the broth for about 15 minutes. While the broth is cooking, hard-boil the eggs and cut the smoked cured meat and sausage into thin strips.
Step 2
Finely chop the onion and eggs.
Step 3
Fry the smoked meats with the onion in a pan until lightly browned.
Step 4
After the broth has boiled, remove the ingredients used for flavoring the broth.
Step 5
Add the fried smoked meats with onion to the broth and cook for about 5 minutes. At this stage, do not forget to add the marjoram, salt, and pepper.
Step 6
Then add the sour rye starter to the soup, stir, and let it come to a boil.
Step 7
Once it boils, reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Add the eggs and sour cream. Sour cream should not be added to boiling broth.
Step 8
After stirring the soup, it can be served. Traditionally, Poles serve this soup in a bread bowl with the crumb removed. Enjoy!
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