Spiced Pink Beetroot Soup
Okay, this is a really old Nigella Lawson recipe. I think I actually saw her make it on TV a long time ago and I recently became obsessed with finding the recipe. Honestly, I'm not even sure if this recipe still properly exists on the internet anymore, but thank God I have a copy of it because this soup is so delicious.
So this soup is basically roasted beetroot blended with stock, lime juice, spices, and sour cream. Sounds simple. Is simple. But somehow it becomes this shocking pink soup situation that honestly feels ridiculous the first time you make it.
Because obviously beetroot is red. It stains everything red. Your chopping board, your hands, your kitchen towel, your entire life. Everything. So logically you think this soup is going to be red.
No. The second you blend in the sour cream, it turns this insane fluorescent pink colour. Like properly shocking pink. Neon pink. And honestly, because of this soup, I associate beetroot with pink now, not red.
The flavour is also just really lovely. Earthy from the beetroot, bright from the lime, warm from the cumin and coriander. And somehow even though it's blended smooth, it still feels really light.
Nigella chilled hers and added scallions into the soup while it sat chilling in her fridge. I never really did that part. And the funny thing is this soup works hot or cold. Cold, it's refreshing and almost feels like some strange elegant café soup situation. Hot, it becomes comforting and earthy and warming.
Most of the time though, I would pour it into a bottle or jug and stick it in the fridge. And then the next thing I know, I'm standing there drinking beetroot soup directly out of the bottle like some kind of pink soup goblin. Use a glass bottle. I used a plastic one once and the flavour soaked into the plastic and cleaning it afterwards was deeply annoying.
Ingredients
- 2 large or 3 medium raw beetroot
- Juice of 1 lime
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 7 cups heated vegetable stock
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sour cream
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Wrap each beetroot in foil and roast for 1½ to 2 hours until tender.
- Let them cool slightly until you can handle them. Peel the beetroot — the skins should rub off quite easily once roasted. Cut into chunks.
- Add the beetroot into a blender or food processor with lime juice, cumin, and coriander.
- Blend while slowly adding the heated stock. Season with salt and pepper.
- Blend again until completely smooth and drinkable.
- Add the sour cream and blend once more until the soup turns gloriously pink.
- Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve hot or chill before serving cold.
Use gloves when peeling beetroot unless you want aggressively pink hands.
This soup should be smooth and drinkable, not chunky.
The soup works beautifully both hot and cold.
If storing in the fridge, use a glass bottle or container if possible.
The pink colour becomes even brighter once chilled.
Roasting the beetroot makes it sweeter, deeper, and less watery than boiling it. The cumin and coriander give warmth without making the soup feel heavily spiced, while the lime juice lifts the earthiness of the beetroot so the soup stays bright.
And the sour cream is what transforms both the flavour and the colour. It softens the beetroot, makes the soup creamy without becoming heavy, and turns the entire thing that completely absurd but beautiful pink.
Mostly directly from the fridge bottle honestly. Or poured into mugs and teacups because it's really more of a sipping soup than a spoon soup.
And somehow every single time I opened the fridge for just one sip, several more sips happened afterwards.
Honestly? Nothing much. This is one of those recipes where Nigella genuinely got it right the first time.
Though maybe next time I'll actually use a proper glass bottle instead of ruining another plastic container with beetroot flavour forever.
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