This Is the “Big Holiday Tradition” Recipe That Kristen Bell’s Family Makes Every Year

When she appeared on Baking It: Maya Rudolph and Amy Poehler’s Celebrity Holiday Special on NBC, actress Kristen Bell introduced audiences to a recipe that goes back at least two generations in her family. Fortunately for those interested in seeing what she’s cooking up, the Veronica Mars alum made it available.

Revealing her unique Pickle Soup recipe to Today, Bell noted that this traditional Polish dish might not be for everyone. “Pickle soup is a big holiday tradition in my Polish family,” she wrote. “My grandmother passed this recipe down to my mother who passed it down to me. Don’t knock it till you try it!”

To make this Polish delicacy, add butter to a pan, then sauté onion, carrots, and celery. From there, your Crock-Pot will take on the heavy lifting.

The next steps involve adding in chicken or vegetable broth, both pickle juice and chopped dill pickles, cubed frozen potatoes (Kristen suggests square or Southern-style hash browns), the sautéed veggies, and a bag of mixed vegetables. (The latter of which the actress recommends being a blend of peas, carrots, and corn with green beans being avoided.)

A tablespoon of sugar and both salt and pepper to taste are then added to your mixture, allowing the concoction to cook for 4 hours, or until your vegetables are soft. Close to the end of that cooking time — or even once it has elapsed completely — you’ll prepare the ingredients that will give this pickle soup its creamy texture.

Combine milk, sour cream, and flour in a small bowl, beating the mixture until smooth. Add in a small amount of soup to temper this likely cool mixture then stir all the soup into your Crock-Pot, making sure to continue stirring until it’s been blended in completely.

If you leave the soup in the Crock-Pot, make sure to set the temperature low enough to keep it warm without the risk of boiling it and causing it to curdle.

Check out the full recipe here.