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    Home » Recipes » Soups

    Fish Head Soup - Ukha

    Author: Peter · Published: Feb 7, 2024

    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

    Ukha (Уха) is Russian fish head soup, made in a rustic, wood fire tradition, but this recipe is easily made in the kitchen too! A rustic and nourishing soup, steeped in tradition and full of flavor (and a tiny bit of vodka).

    Rustic Russian Fish Head Soup, Ukha (Уха), in a bowl beside a cast iron pot it was cooked in, beside a creek
    fish head soup ingredients
    chopped potatoes and fish

    Why You'll Love This Recipe

    • Fish Bone Broth - made with real fish bones and fish head, this ensures a fully nutritious fish broth full of minerals and vitamins, you'll taste the difference
    • Tradition and Fun - Russian culinary tradition that's been passed down the generations, each spoonful is a bite of history
    • Fun and Adventure - it's fun and adventurous to cook soup over a fire - even if you are making it in the kitchen, plus you'll get to level up your cooking skills by cooking with a fish head

    Ingredients

    • Fish Head - large Salmon/Trout frame bones, including head and tail
    • Soup Base - onion, carrot (optional) whole peppercorns, water
    • Potatoes - for carbs and comfort
    • Fish Fillets - boneless and skinless salmon and perch pieces
    • Aromatics - bay leaves, fresh dill, green onion, salt and pepper
    • Vodka - you're not really surprised, are you?
    ukha fish head broth over a fire
    ukha soup on a wooden spoon

    How to Make Fish Head Soup

    Fish Head Broth

    1. Make Fish Broth - in a large pot, put the Salmon frame and head, onion, 1 teaspoon of salt and whole peppercorns and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Skim off any impurities.
    2. Strain - place cheesecloth inside a colander (over a large bowl) and strain the soup. The cheesecloth ensures the broth is clear and free of impurities. Discard the Salmon bones.

    Fish Head Soup

    1. Boil Potatoes - return fish stock to the pot and add the chopped potatoes and bay leafs. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
    2. Add Fish - cut the boneless Salmon and Perch pieces into chunky 2" pieces and add to the soup. If the pieces are cut too small and thin, they will fall apart. Cook for about 10 minutes.
    3. Season - add chopped dill, optional vodka, season with salt and pepper according to taste. This recipe loves black pepper.
    4. Garnish - sprinkle with chopped green onion or parsley.
    cooking fish head soup broth
    straining ukha in a cheesecloth

    Ideas for Fish Head Soup

    • Creamy Fish Soup - add heavy cream into the soup for a rich and creamy flavor
    • Spicy Soup - add a hot chili pepper or chili flakes for a spicy kick
    • Add Vegetables - boost flavor by adding leeks, tomatoes, celery or parsnips
    • Add Chicken - you read that right! When cooking the fish broth, add a chicken drumstick to boost your broth flavor
    • Add Firewood - I'm not making this up - according to tradition: if cooking over fire, just before serving, dip a piece of charcoal wood into the soup for a smokey flavor

    Recipe Tips and FAQs

    • Add Different Fish - when using Salmon or Trout (fatty fish), add a white flesh fish to balance the fish flavors like Perch or Cod
    • Adjust Water - as fish bone broth starts to boil down, add extra water if needed
    • Extra Fish - be generous and add extra fish fillets for a meaty soup
    • Clearer Broth - use only fish heads and tails, that results in clearer broth as the meaty parts of the fish frame will slightly cloud the broth.
    • Easy Fish Soup - make a fish soup ready in 20 minutes. Sauté onions and celery, add water, diced potatoes, bay leaf and seasonings. Cook for 10 minutes, add fish pieces and cook until fish is ready.
    ukha fish soup
    peter's food adventures campfire cooking soup

    Best Fish for Fish Head Soup

    Traditionally made with river and lake fish like trout, salmon, perch, walleye. However, when making fish broth you can use any fish, including ocean fish. As the fish heads cook, the fish flavors create a tasty broth rich in nutrients.

    How to Clarify Fish Broth

    The best Fish Head Soup is served as a clear broth, without impurities. Straining through cheesecloth is the easy method for a clear broth. Alternatively, whisk 2 egg whites until they are foamy, mix with some cold water, and pour into your boiling broth. Turn off heat and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth. The impurities bind to the egg whites, resulting in a clear broth.

    Rustic Russian Fish Head Soup, Ukha (Уха), in a bowl beside a cast iron pot it was cooked in, beside a creek

    Storage

    Place in an airtight container and keep refrigerated. Best enjoyed within 3 days.

    Can I Freeze Fish Head Soup?

    Yes. Allow soup to fully cool and pour into freezer safe container. Freezes for 3 months for best flavor. Defrost in refrigerator and re-heat on stove in pot.

    Fish Soup Serving Suggestions

    Traditionally served with Kulebayaka (salmon pie). Alternatively serve with Cabbage Piroshki, a Cabbage Pie, or with a crusty loaf of bread.

    bowl of fish head soup

    Fish Recipes You Have to Try!

    • Salmon Kulebyaka - traditionally served with Russian Fish Soup
    • Lohikeitto - Creamy Finnish Salmon Soup
    • Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl
    • Salmon Gravlax with Beets
    • How to Eat Caviar
    • Baked Sturgeon
    • Imitation Crab Salad
    • Boiled Crawfish - Russian Style

    It might be a bit cliche, think of a Russian fisherman, fishing with his buddies, cooking Ukha over a fire, and flavoring themselves and the soup with a bit of Vodka. Not that different from an Italian Nonna adding in red wine into the Lasagna Meat Sauce. So it's up to you, to Vodka or not to Vodka? Bon Appetit! Приятного аппетита!

    Rustic Russian Fish Head Soup and Fish Broth made with Salmon or Trout, Perch and of course the fish heads with potatoes and dill, enjoyed in Russia for hundred of years - Authentic Ukha Fish Soup (Уха)

    Fish Head Soup - Ukha

    Ukha (Уха) is Russian fish head soup, made in a rustic, wood fire tradition, but this recipe is easily made in the kitchen too! A rustic and nourishing soup, steeped in tradition and full of flavor (and a tiny bit of vodka).
    4.93 from 14 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Cook Time 1 hour hr
    Total Time 1 hour hr
    Course Soup
    Cuisine Eastern European, Russian
    Servings 4 people

    Ingredients
      

    Fish Head Broth

    • 1 large Salmon/trout frame bones, including head and tail
    • 1 onion peeled and cut in half
    • 1 carrot optional
    • 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
    • 12 cups water

    Ukha Fish Soup

    • 3 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
    • 3 bay leaves
    • 1 lb (500g) Salmon and Perch fillets boneless and skinless
    • 1 shot Vodka optional
    • bunch of dill
    • chopped green onion as garnish optional
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Instructions
     

    Fish Head Broth

    • Make Fish Broth - in a large pot, put the Salmon frame and head, onion, 1 teaspoon of salt and whole peppercorns and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Skim off any impurities.
    • Strain - place cheesecloth inside a colander (over a large bowl) and strain the soup. The cheesecloth ensures the broth is clear and free of impurities. Discard the Salmon bones.

    Ukha Fish Soup

    • Boil Potatoes - return fish stock to the pot and add the chopped potatoes and bay leafs. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.
    • Add Fish - cut the boneless Salmon and Perch pieces into chunky 2" pieces and add to the soup. If the pieces are cut too small and thin, they will fall apart. Cook for about 10 minutes.
    • Season - add chopped dill, optional vodka, season with salt and pepper according to taste. This recipe loves black pepper.
    • Garnish - sprinkle with chopped green onion or parsley.

    Video

    Keyword Fish Head Soup, fish soup, ukha
    Rustic Russian Fish Head Soup and Fish Broth made with Salmon or Trout, Perch and of course the fish heads with potatoes and dill, enjoyed in Russia for hundred of years - Authentic Ukha Fish Soup (Уха)
    Rustic Russian Fish Head Soup and Fish Broth made with Salmon or Trout, Perch and of course the fish heads with potatoes and dill, enjoyed in Russia for hundred of years - Authentic Ukha Fish Soup (Уха)
    Rustic Russian Fish Head Soup and Fish Broth made with Salmon or Trout, Perch and of course the fish heads with potatoes and dill, enjoyed in Russia for hundred of years - Authentic Ukha Fish Soup (Уха)

    ©PetersFoodAdventures.com *originally posted September 2016, updated February 2024

    Excerpt from the Classic Soviet Cookbook - The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food (1952) - "Stalin's Cookbook"

    The most delicious fish soup is made from live fish (sterlet, perch). Fish soup can also be cooked from walleye or various small fish, with the exception of crucian carp and tench. To give the ear the necessary stickiness, small fish – ruffs and perches – should be cooked without peeling off their scales, gutted, thoroughly washed. In addition to the gills, the gills must also be removed from the perches, otherwise the broth will get a bitter taste.

    Put the prepared fish in a saucepan, pour cold water, add the peeled roots, onion, salt and cook at a slow boil for 40 minutes to an hour. After that, strain the broth.

    In order to get a transparent soup, it is necessary to draw off (lighten) with powdered or granular caviar. To do this, grind 50 g of caviar in a mortar, gradually adding a spoonful of cold water, until a dough-like mass is obtained. Dilute the crushed caviar with a glass of cold water, add a glass of hot fish soup and, stirring, pour in two batches into a saucepan with hot fish soup.

    After the first part is poured in, the soup should boil, and only then can the rest be poured in. When the soup boils again, remove the lid from the pan and cook at a low boil for 15-20 minutes.

    When the soup is ready, it must be removed from the heat and allowed to stand for 10-15 minutes so that the sediment settles to the bottom of the pan. After that, strain gently. The finished fish soup is served with kulebyaka. You can put the juice of boiled fish in a bowl with fish soup.
    For 1 kg of fish – 1 piece of onion, leek, parsley and celery, 2 ½–3 litres of water.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jen

      June 19, 2022 at 12:50 am

      5 stars
      This was a huge hit at my house!

      Reply
    2. Toni

      June 19, 2022 at 12:37 am

      5 stars
      I love how comforting this is!!

      Reply
    3. Andréa Janssen

      June 17, 2022 at 8:45 pm

      5 stars
      Looks really delicious.Thank you for sharing.

      Reply
    4. Natalie

      June 17, 2022 at 8:03 pm

      5 stars
      Loved your fish soup Peter! Delicious as always, thanks!

      Reply
    5. Sue

      June 17, 2022 at 7:14 pm

      5 stars
      Vodka optional? Never! LOL

      Reply
    6. Jerika

      June 17, 2022 at 6:38 pm

      5 stars
      Can't wait to try this Fish Head Soup.:) I'm adding it to my list. Yum! Thanks!:)

      Reply
    7. Angela

      June 17, 2022 at 4:53 pm

      5 stars
      Authentic Fish Soup! I love not wasting anything in the kitchen and this soup is the example!

      Reply
    8. Rebecca

      June 17, 2022 at 4:31 pm

      5 stars
      Great recipe, we were gifted a lot of salmon that we have in the freezer so this will be a great one to try.

      Reply
    9. pascha_уха

      April 04, 2022 at 10:03 pm

      5 stars
      how would i reheat this soup without making the fish chunks too tough? i'm planning on bringing some to pascha but the problem is of course church service is around 3.5 hours long. i'm afraid if i leave it out in say a crock pot on "warm" the fish will get tough. what do you recommend? could i cook it all beforehand, remove the fish, leave everything else on "warm", and then return the fish from the church's fridge to the crockpot on "warm" setting a few minutes before serving? please advise on what is best to do! thank you.

      Reply
      • Peter Kolesnichenko

        April 05, 2022 at 12:03 am

        oh... tough one but I think you got it! Yes, I would cook it all in advance, as the fish chunks don't take long to cook. Remove the fish pieces and keep the broth on warm in slow cooker and drop them in before you're ready to serve. I would also add a bit of extra freshly chopped dill before serving in the slow cooker, makes it taste more fresh (but I am dill obsessed). When adding the fish back in, I would put the slow cooker on high, just for 2 minutes to make sure the cold fish is heated through. Hope that helps and hope everyone enjoys it!

        Reply
    10. Amy

      August 24, 2017 at 5:24 am

      5 stars
      Are the 500 grams of salmon fillet from the salmon frame (where the head and tale came from) or is it an additional fillet bought separately. Thanks!

      Reply
      • PetersFoodAdventures

        August 24, 2017 at 7:24 am

        Hi Amy! Great question, sorry if it wasn't clear. I didn't catch this salmon and bought the salmon frame separately from the salmon fillets. So if you buy or catch a whole salmon, don't buy additional fillets for the soup.

        Reply
        • Amy

          August 27, 2017 at 3:20 am

          5 stars
          Thanks for clarifying. You have a great blog and everything I've tried so far is absolutely delicious! 🙂

          Reply
          • PetersFoodAdventures

            August 27, 2017 at 8:10 am

            Wow, thanks so much for the compliment! So glad you enjoyed it!

            Reply
            • Amanda

              September 02, 2019 at 9:08 am

              Can you believe I have the Book of Tasty and Healthy Food, translated into English? Lol I bought it off Amazon, and I love it!

              Do you think this would work with just salmon fillets? I don’t have a whole fish but I do have fillets.

              PS I wrote a comment on another post (watermelon jam recipe) and said I was making your Vatrushka recipe. They were delicious! Love this site!

            • Peter's Food Adventures

              September 02, 2019 at 10:48 am

              Hey Amanda! I didn’t know there was a version in English! I need to check it out. This recipe would work with salmon fillets for flavor but they would likely fall apart when making the broth. Ideally broth needs bones, even if it’s not fish heads!
              Thanks for the feedback on the vatrushka recipe, so glad you love it!!! Thank you!

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    Peter's Food Adventures - where you'll find Russian recipes, Slavic and International favorites with some fun travel and cooking videos. A Russian Food Blogger.

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    Are you looking for a little inspiration in the kitchen? Let me show you how to create tasty meals for your family!

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