No matter how extraordinary pickle soup sounds to you, you absolutely have to try it! The sourness from pickles and tender texture of barley in a broth are a perfect combination. These ingredients were meant to be combined. This soup is really like all other average soups.

Basics for this one are familiar to you already. You have a broth: choose the type of meat that you like or use a vegetable one. You can’t go wrong with sautéed vegetables. They are the second staple. You just simply add one more ingredient to the skillet: pickles. And the final touch will be grain. Pearl barley is used in a classic recipe from Slavic cuisine. However, you can substitute it with any other grain. For example, rice will be a perfect fit.

Ingredients for Rassolnik Pickle Soup:

500 g chicken;
300 g potato;
1 carrot;
3-4 pickles;
1 onion;
80 g barley;
2 tbsps. tomato paste;
2 l water;
30 ml oil;
fresh parsley (or any other fresh herb of your choice);
salt, pepper to your taste.

How to cook dill pickle soup with barley at home:

There are several ways to minimize cooking time of this soup. You can presoak barley before cooking. Take a deep bowl for barley and fill it with water. Leave it in water to soak for several hours (3 hours max). Do not overdo this step, as your barley can turn sour. Make sure that you rinse barley several times after soaking. On the other hand, you can simple precook barley beforehand for the soup.

Take a large pot, place chicken in there, cover with water and put it on the high heat. When water boils lower the heat to minimum for broth to simmer. You should boil chicken for 40 minutes in the long run. Remember, to keep your soup clear you need to skim off any impurities that will appear at the top.

When you have had chicken cooking for 20 minutes, add rinsed barley. Let it cook together with chicken meat for additional 20 minutes.

At this time, let’s make sautéed vegetables for our soup. Onion will be the first one to go. Peel the onion and then chop it. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan on the medium-high heat and add chopped onion. Sauté onion for 2 minutes until translucent and soft.

Peel carrot and grate it using coarse side. Add grated carrot to the onion and let them cook for additional 2 minutes.

Chop or grate pickles before adding to the mixture of onion and carrot in the skillet.

In 3 minutes, add tomato paste. I noticed that if you add several tablespoons of broth to the mixture, tomato paste would spread evenly over all the vegetables in the skillet. Let the mixture simmer for 3 minutes at least.

Once, I did not have tomato paste and skipped the step where you add it. So, I only had sautéed onions and carrots with pickles. Rassolnik soup was still tasty with even lighter and tender taste.

When 40 minutes of chicken cooking pass, take it out from the broth. Let it cool down little bit, separate meat from the bone and shred it into small pieces.

Cut peeled potato into small cubes. Add it to the broth and wait for broth to reboil before adding shredded chicken.

Potato should be cooked in 15 minutes or so. When you fill that it is almost ready, pour out sautéed vegetables from the skillet into the broth. Before adding any salt or pepper, wait for the soup to reboil again. When you added all the flavours that you wanted, wait for 3 minutes for them to unfold. Check the taste of your broth. If everything is perfect, cover pot with a lid and take it from the stove.

Let the pickle soup with barley sit for 10-15 minutes. Served best with sour cream and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.

Have a nice meal!

Hope that you noticed that I try to cook simple recipes that are easy to follow. They tend to have inexpensive ingredients that are easy to find. Moreover, I truly believe that it is useful to include recipes from all around the world into your kitchen. Share this recipe with your friend, if you liked it. If you have any question on how to cook perfect dill pickle soup with chicken, leave them in the comment section below.

Print Recipe

Rassolnik Pickle Soup Recipe

The sourness from pickles and tender texture of barley in a broth are a perfect combination.

Prep Time3 hrs

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time4 hrs

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Russian

Keyword: chicken soup with pickles and barley

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 59kcal

Ingredients

500 g chicken
300 g potato
1 carrot
3-4 pickles
1 onion
80 g barley
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 l water
30 ml oil
fresh parsley (or any other fresh herb of your choice);

Instructions

There are several ways to minimize cooking time of this soup. You can presoak barley before cooking. Take a deep bowl for barley and fill it with water. Leave it in water to soak for several hours (3 hours max). Do not overdo this step, as your barley can turn sour. Make sure that you rinse barley several times after soaking. On the other hand, you can simple precook barley beforehand for the soup.
Take a large pot, place chicken in there, cover with water and put it on the high heat. When water boils lower the heat to minimum for broth to simmer. You should boil chicken for 40 minutes in the long run. Remember, to keep your soup clear you need to skim off any impurities that will appear at the top.
When you have had chicken cooking for 20 minutes, add rinsed barley. Let it cook together with chicken meat for additional 20 minutes.
At this time, let’s make sautéed vegetables for our soup. Onion will be the first one to go. Peel the onion and then chop it. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan on the medium-high heat and add chopped onion. Sauté onion for 2 minutes until translucent and soft.
Peel carrot and grate it using coarse side. Add grated carrot to the onion and let them cook for additional 2 minutes.
Chop or grate pickles before adding to the mixture of onion and carrot in the skillet.
In 3 minutes, add tomato paste. I noticed that if you add several tablespoons of broth to the mixture, tomato paste would spread evenly over all the vegetables in the skillet. Let the mixture simmer for 3 minutes at least.
When 40 minutes of chicken cooking pass, take it out from the broth. Let it cool down little bit, separate meat from the bone and shred it into small pieces.
Cut peeled potato into small cubes. Add it to the broth and wait for broth to reboil before adding shredded chicken.
Potato should be cooked in 15 minutes or so. When you fill that it is almost ready, pour out sautéed vegetables from the skillet into the broth. Before adding any salt or pepper, wait for the soup to reboil again. When you added all the flavours that you wanted, wait for 3 minutes for them to unfold. Check the taste of your broth. If everything is perfect, cover pot with a lid and take it from the stove.
Let the pickle soup with barley sit for 10-15 minutes. Served best with sour cream and a sprinkle of fresh herbs.