Romanian beef soup is one of the most popular ciorba recipes in Romania. You will find it in every Romanian restaurant, and in every household. My mom used to make it every other week or so, when I was growing up. The Ciorba de Vacuta – which in Romanian actually translates as “Little Cow Soup” – is so flavoursome, packed with vegetables and served with heaps of sour cream.

The beauty of making this soup is that you can use any vegetables you have in your fridge. Everyone has their own family recipe for this beef soup, so it’s normal for it to taste slightly different from restaurant to restaurant. It’s even better if you are invited to a Romanian’s house for dinner, to taste the proper homemade beef soup. So make some friends whilst you’ve visiting the country, or just follow my recipe below, for a flavoursome, hearty, soup that will warm up your cold winter evenings.

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The Ingredients for the Romanian Beef Soup Recipe

A wooden board on a kitchen counter with a carrot, two potatoes, one onion cut in half and a bunch of green beans on it. On the left top there is a large long red pepper. On the right there is a black bowl with pieces of beef.

The best cut for this recipe is beef shin. Even better if you can get it on the bone, as this will give an extra layer of flavour to the soup. When it comes to vegetables, you can use whatever you like best. Traditionally, this recipe requires root vegetables. I am not a fan of all root vegetables, so I added onions, carrots, potatoes, and celery in my soup, but you can also add parsnips, celeriac, or parsley root.

In Addition, I also added green beans as well as red pepper. Whilst I can’t say I love raw red peppers, when it comes to the Romanian soups, I feel that they can’t be missed. They bring to the soup that extra crunch, as well as that light citrus fresh flavour.

You can also add frozen peas, cauliflower, and even courgette to this soup. They all work nicely.

When it comes to the herbs I chose for the Romanian beef soup, I went for what I already had at home: dill and thyme from the garden, and dried lovage which I bought from the Romanian shop.

How to Make the Romanian Beef Soup Recipe

A stainless steep pot filled with water, the meat at the bottom, and the root vegetables at the top.

The Romanian beef soup recipe takes some time to cook, because of the meat. The beef shin needs to cook through until tender. Nobody likes tough meat. You use the entire piece of meat, or cut it in cubes. I did the latter, because it cooks faster. You can also cook the meat separately, in a pressure cooker, and make the stock separately. I don’t have a pressure cooker so I used the classic hob to cook this delicious Romanian soup.

Firstly, I added the bite size chunks of meat into about 5L of cold water, and brought it to boil over a medium heat. I made sure to remove the foam that formed on top. Whilst removing the foam is not essential, the soup will be cloudy if it’s left in. It can be removed easily using a perforated spoon leaving you with a clear, beautiful broth.

A stainless steep pot with a lot of different vegetables in it, simmering slowly.

The beef meat will take around 40 minutes to part cook, on a low-medium heat. This is the moment when I added the root vegetables, except for the potatoes. I let everything simmer for another 15 minutes or so, until the carrots started to soften. Then I added the chopped potatoes, peppers, and the green beans cut in half. I let everything simmer for another 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, I put the bors in another small pot, and brought it to boil.

When all the vegetables were cooked, I added a can of chopped tomatoes. I poured the bors, and then brought it to boil one more time. Then, I added salt, to season, and tasted the soup making sure that it’s perfect. The last step was to add all the herbs. I chose to add a generous amount of dill, some thyme from the garden, and some dried lovage.

I served the soup hot, with a large dollop of sour cream in the middle.

Notes and Tips:

A side view of the blue bowl with the soup in it. It sits on a white tea towel with yellow stripes. You can see the red soup inside, with the pieces of meat and some vegetables popping above the surface.

You can use whatever vegetables you like in this Romanian beef soup. I always use what I already have in the fridge, a great time to make a tasty soup and avoid wasting the vegetables that might not be as crisp to eat fresh, but are perfect to be boiled in the soup.
The same thing applies with herbs. Use what herbs you like best. I love dill in this soup because it gives it an earthy flavour. Lovage is also great for this soup because of its unique flavour.
If you choose not to cut the beef, or if you are using shin on the bone, you will need to boil the meat for longer than 40 minutes. Depending on the age of the meat in terms of how old the cow was. The boiling time can be between 1 – 2 hours.
If you are using beef on the bone, just before the soup is ready, take it out. Let it cool down for a little bit, then cut the bone off and chop the meat into bite size pieces. Then, add it back into the soup.