Pickle Lovers Are In Store For A Creamy Delight With Dill Pickle Soup

Being in a chillier part of the world, it makes sense that preserved foods are pretty central to Polish cuisine. Chief among these, placing well above smoked sausages and jarred deli wares (in our opinion), is the humble pickle. If you've never had a fresh pickle from a Polish deli, it's a life-changing experience — perfectly crisp and crunchy, with a clean, salty brine and a generous amount of dill. The bright, zesty flavor is perfect for cutting through heavy meat and potato dishes.

Such perfect pickles don't deserve to be relegated to the status of a sandwich's plus-one, which is what makes pickle soup (zupa ogórkowa) such a brilliant idea. This comforting Polish classic pulls pickles into the limelight, making them the centerpiece of the meal. It's creamy but light in body, decidedly tangy, and loaded with fresh dill for an herbaceous zing.

If you don't have any good Polish delis around, or you're just looking to connect with your inner babcia by getting busy in the kitchen, it's not terribly difficult to reproduce your very own big, steaming bowl of pickle soup. (Or a big icy bowl — zupa ogórkowa can also be served chilled, and believe us, it's delicious that way, too.)

What would any Eastern European dish be without potatoes? Paltry, that's what. While pickle soup has a light, broth base, it's made heartier with the addition of potatoes, along with carrots and often celery. Sour cream is typically used to add some creaminess without undermining the tartness, and sometimes flour is added to thicken up the consistency a bit. And naturally, a healthy amount of pickle juice is included to lend the soup that distinctive taste. It's a little bit like if the experience of drinking pickle juice straight from the jar in the fridge grew up into a full meal with a well-rounded flavor palate.

Most often, pickle soup that you find at delis or restaurants will have been made with chicken stock, but if you're making your own, all you need to do is replace the chicken with vegetable stock to make it vegetarian friendly. It can even be made vegan relatively easily — the soup traditionally calls for sour cream and butter, but all you need to do is swap those out with store-bought non-dairy alternatives and it should be safe for any veggie-forward or lactose-intolerant guests.

While many of us tend to associate soup with the fall and winter months, as a bone-thawing meal to fend off the chilly weather, pickle soup is one of those rare soups that you'll find yourself craving year-round. It's not uncommon in Poland to eat zupa ogórkowa even during the heat of the summer, though probably served chilled. The sour, zingy, and herbaceous flavors are well-suited to warmer days, and when served in the form of a cold, lightly creamy soup, they're incredibly refreshing.

Pickle soup makes for a lovely light meal when served on its own, or better yet, with some good, crusty bread (a staple in any Polish household). But it's also a great side, and it accompanies Polish food particularly well. Since many of the best-known, most well-loved Polish dishes tend to be on the heavier side, with fatty and starchy components (think pierogi and kielbasa), a fresh, tangy soup balances those features out.

If you're looking for another good Polish dish to make alongside your pickle soup, but don't want to spend hours forming pierogi by hand, here's a pro tip: Kopytka are a different kind of potato dumpling that are much less labor-intensive and tedious to make but satisfy a similar craving since they're made with mostly the same ingredients. Nothing like a wholesome, starchy dish to go with tangy, delicious pickle soup.