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Polish

Żurek

Non-vegetarian

A tangy, smoky Polish soup soured with fermented rye starter, made with sausage, bacon and potatoes, scented with marjoram and garlic and served with a halved boiled egg.

Żurek is a Polish soup from Poland, ready in about 1 hour and made with rye flour, pork sausage and dried marjoram. It serves 4 and is rated intermediate to cook.

Start cooking
Bowl of żurek sour rye soup served with sausage and bread
Photo: Ken Eckert / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-4.0
Prep
20 min
Cook
40 min
Total
1 h
Serves
4
Level
Intermediate
Calories
587

Plus 4–5 days to ferment the rye starter (skip with bottled żur).

Ingredients

4 servings

For the sour rye starter (zakwas)

For the soup

To serve

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    For the starter, whisk the rye flour (opens in a new tab) into the lukewarm water in a clean jar and add the garlic (opens in a new tab) and bay leaf (opens in a new tab). Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for 4–5 days, stirring daily, until pleasantly sour-smelling.

    • 5 min

    Food safety: Discard the starter if it grows fuzzy mould or smells unpleasant rather than sour.

    Eggs being whisked in a bowl
    How it looks · Photo: Kampus Production on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    In a large pot, fry the bacon (opens in a new tab) and onion (opens in a new tab) until golden. Add the water, sausage (opens in a new tab), allspice (opens in a new tab) and bay leaves (opens in a new tab) and simmer for 20 minutes. Lift out the sausage and slice it.

    Food safety: Fresh sausage must be cooked through before serving.

    Onions frying golden in a pan
    How it looks · Photo: Magda Ehlers on Pexels

  3. Step 3

    Add the potatoes (opens in a new tab) and simmer until tender. Stir the starter well and pour it in (strain out the garlic (opens in a new tab)), then return the sausage (opens in a new tab).

    • 15 min
    • medium-low heat

  4. Step 4

    Add the crushed garlic (opens in a new tab), marjoram (opens in a new tab), salt and pepper (opens in a new tab) and simmer for 5 minutes. Temper the sour cream (opens in a new tab) with a ladle of hot soup and stir it in, with horseradish (opens in a new tab) if you like.

    • 5 min
    • low heat

  5. Step 5

    Meanwhile hard-boil the eggs (opens in a new tab): 10 minutes in simmering water, then cool, peel and halve. Serve each bowl with halved eggs.

    • 12 min
    • medium heat

About this dish

Origin
Poland · Well documentedMore food from Poland
Dish
Lunch · Dinner · Breakfast · Soups · Main courses
Cooking method
Fermented, Simmered
Taste
sour, smoky, garlicky, herby
Diet
No nut ingredients · High-protein
All labelsNon-vegetarian · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Beef-free · High-protein
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Festive & celebration · One-pot
Cook more with
Rye flour · Pork sausage · Dried marjoram · Garlic · Bay leaves · Bacon
Techniques
Simmering · Tadka (tempering) · Fermentation

Allergens

  • Contains: Milkfrom sour cream, prepared horseradish
  • Contains: Eggsfrom prepared horseradish, egg
  • May contain: Wheatfrom rye flour, pork sausage
  • Contains: Glutenfrom rye flour, pork sausage
  • May contain: Mustardfrom prepared horseradish
  • May contain: Sulphitesfrom pork sausage, prepared horseradish

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

587 kcal per serving

Calculated

1 serving ≈ 700 g · recipe makes 4

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 17%
  • Carbohydrate 25%
  • Fat 57%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy587 kcal84 kcal
Protein25.1 g3.6 g
Carbohydrate37.4 g5.3 g
Net carbohydrate32.7 g4.7 g
Sugars4.2 g0.6 g
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre4.7 g0.7 g
Fat37.5 g5.4 g
Saturated fat13.8 g2 g
Trans fat0.3 g0 g
Cholesterol269 mg38 mg
Sodium1288 mg184 mg
Salt equivalent3.2 g0.5 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
862 mg
Calcium
143 mg
Iron
4 mg
Magnesium
70 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
116 µg
Vitamin C
24 mg
Vitamin D
—
Vitamin B12
1.4 µg
Folate (DFE)
—

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: prepared horseradish.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Taste before adding all the starter — strength varies; add gradually until the sourness is to your liking.

Serve with

  • Serve in a hollowed-out round bread loaf for a festive presentation.

Food safety

  • Ferment the starter in a clean jar with boiled, cooled water; it should smell pleasantly sour. Discard it if mould grows or it smells putrid.
  • Cook fresh white sausage until no pink remains (71 °C).

Storage

  • Refrigerate soup (without eggs) for up to 3 days. Keep leftover starter in the fridge for a week.

Reheating

  • Reheat gently until steaming; do not boil after adding the sour cream.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

The liquid foundation

For the soup

Used in steps 1, 2, 3, 4

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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