Our 30 Best Beet Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular way to eat beets? ›

Roasted with goat cheese.

– The classic, all-time favorite preparation. Roast beets until they are tender and juicy, then eat them with some spicy greens and piquant goat cheese. Add some hazelnuts and you're in heaven.

Steaming beets is a healthful cooking method because they retain most of their vitamins and minerals—they're not boiled out in water—and stay incredibly vibrant. Plus, steaming small beets or beet quarters is quick and easy for weeknights.

Roasting beets deepens their natural sugars while tempering bitterness. Bake whole, wrapped beets at 400°F for 60-75 minutes until easily pierced by a fork. Allow to cool before peeling and juicing. Incorporating roasted beets creates a smoother, mellower, almost nutty-flavored blended juice.

TIPS FOR cooking beets

Size matters: tiny beets might be ready in 10 minutes where large ones might take up to 40. Keep checking whichever method you're using. Don't remove the beet skin before cooking. It's really not necessary and it's much easier to do so after cooking.

Eating beets raw or juicing and roasting them may be more beneficial than boiling them. Beetroots, commonly known as beets, are a vibrant and versatile type of vegetable. They're known for their earthy flavor and aroma. Many people call them a superfood because of their rich nutritional profile.

Some foods that mix well with beets include goat cheese, arugula, walnuts, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar. Other complementary ingredients include orange, dill, horseradish, and sour cream. Beets also pair well with meats such as chicken, fish, and pork.

Beets are a weekly ritual around here. Usually we boil them and toss them in a sweet sour vinaigrette and keep them in the refrigerator to eat all week. The vinegar in the dressing "pickles" the beets, helping them last longer in the fridge.

My favorite way to cook beets is to roast them, which gives a sweeter, richer, and deeper flavor than boiling does. Another advantage is that they don't bleed as much, especially if they're roasted whole. Incidentally, to get beet stains off your hands, wet them, rub them with coarse salt, then wash with soap.

First, wash and scrub the beets thoroughly to remove any dirt. Cut off the greens if attached. Make sure to leave about one inch of the stem to prevent them from releasing too much red color into the water. Do not peel the beets before boiling, unless you want to boil them cubed.

You can also grate raw beets to add flavor and texture to recipes like veggie burgers and falafel. Or you can cook them whole and purée them for a silky sauce, soup, or dip—including the most gorgeous hummus you've ever seen.

How do you take the bitterness out of beets? ›

Beetroots can taste bitter due to compounds like geosmin and saponins. To reduce bitterness when eating them as a vegetable, choose young beetroots, peel and cook them, combine with other flavors, blanch them, or remove the skin before cooking. 2nd method you can boil beetroot to reduce bitterness before cooking.

Water has no flavor and salting draws out the water. I have found that slow-roasting beets in salt allows the water to escape, but leaves behind the color and flavor and nutrients. The result is a more intensely flavored vegetable. This technique also works well with other root vegetables such as carrots.

Beets are often roasted, as their natural sugars create a tasty caramelization when baked at high heat. They can also be eaten raw. There are a couple of ways to make beetroot juice. You can first chop and roast the beets, then pulse them in a blender.

The beets will not spoil if left at cool room temperature for a few days, but they do best when refrigerated for up to 10 days. If they turn soft, discard them.

Can My Dog Eat Fresh Beets? Fresh beets are, in fact, the best option, and you can feed them to your dog either cooked or raw. As with all vegetables, raw beets will have the most nutritional bang for your buck. Organic beets are the safest choice; they're grown without pesticides and other chemicals.

Both the beetroot and greens can be eaten raw. Trimmed, washed, and peeled raw beets are often used in salads, slaws, and Russian borscht (a traditional cold beet soup). Washed and chopped beet greens can be used in salads or pureed for smoothies.

Raw beets contain more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than cooked beets (yes, you can eat beets raw!). Like many vegetables, the longer you cook beets—especially in water—the more the colorful phytonutrients leach out of the food and into the water.

We Recommend. Eating raw beets isn't just possible, it may be the more nutritious choice. "Raw beets provide the most nutritional benefit, as they lose antioxidant concentration once they are cooked," says registered dietitian Whitney Stuart, RDN, CDE.