If it weren’t for the combination of my culinary profession and my current job, selling vegetables, I would never have given beets a second glance beyond a pre-coronavirus salad bar.
Instead, I have cooked and eaten more beets in more ways than most, and I can say now that I like them.
If you Google “beet recipes for beet haters,” you will come up with some great recipes, but, in the end, they still taste like beets.
So, while I know I won’t convince anyone to love beets, I’ve got to try.
And, of course, if you love beets, these recipes are for you.
Here are the ground rules.
Beets are a robust flavored vegetable, combine them with other intense flavors. Sour flavors like vinegar or lemon juice balance the sweetness, and walnuts and goat cheese complement the earthiness.
Cook beets whole and peel them after cooking, or peel and cut them first and then cook. The main difference is the cooking time. Whole beets can take more than an hour to cook in the oven.
With any method, red beets will leave your cutting board a deep shade of magenta. The good news is that the pigment in beets is water-soluble, and with soap and water, you will get things cleaned up. If you have gold beets, they still dye everything, but it is a little less obnoxious.
People say that gold beets taste less like dirt, but in my opinion, the color just makes a visual suggestion that you are eating something other than beets.
The Recipes
Whole Roasted Beets
This is how I learned to cook beets at work, I still use this recipe repeatedly at home.
- 2–3 beets, cleaned
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2–3 tablespoons water
- salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 375 °F. In a baking dish with a lid or a baking dish, you can cover tightly with foil, place the beets, rosemary, balsamic, oil, water, salt, and pepper. Cover tightly and bake for 45–60 minutes or until the beets can easily be pierced with a knife. Remove from the oven and let cool. Remove the beets from the cooking liquid, and peel. Slice the beets and store them in the cooking liquid.
Sliced Roasted Beets
This method will yield a firmer beet slice than roasting them whole with liquid, and caramelizes them for a slightly different flavor dimension.
- 2–3 beets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Peel the beets and cut in half and then into ¼ inch half-moons. Place the slices on a parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Lightly toss and arrange in one layer. Bake for 20–25 minutes until tender.
Once they are cooked make a salad.
Either way that you cook them, I like beets in a salad with walnuts, goat cheese, and balsamic vinegar. You can add lettuce and a little shaved onion, but most of the time, I just eat the beets with the walnuts and goat cheese. (I do tend to eat a lot of vegetables with walnuts and goat cheese.)
Try them raw.
The crunch makes them like a carrot.
Spicy Beet and Apple Salad
- 1–2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2–3 beets
- 1 apple
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt to taste
In a mixing bowl, combine the garlic, red pepper flakes, and lemon juice. Remove any beet greens and peel the beets. Using a box grater, shred the beets and the apple together. Combine with the garlic mixture and add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Stir well, and if possible, let sit for 30 minutes or more before eating.
Here are two more complicated recipes worth the effort.
Mix lemon and sugar with beets to make this Beet Marmalade. It’s a perfect appetizer with fancy crackers and goat cheese.
To confirm my suggestion for mixing intense flavors with beets, this Roasted Beet Recipe with Indian Spices does the trick.
Storage and Preparation
When you buy fresh beets, take off the greens and save them. You can cook them like spinach or kale or eat them raw if they are tender.
If you don’t like beets (and live with someone who does and might have brought them home), you will probably like the greens. Beet greens taste like spinach and not so much like beets.
Use beet greens within a week. The beetroots will last in the fridge for a long time when wrapped loosely in plastic.
Beet Trivia
There are purple, pink striped (Chioggia), yellow (usually called gold), and white beets.
White beets are used for making sugar, most of the sugar in the store is from beets instead of sugarcane, unless it says explicitly “Cane Sugar.”
I can guarantee that you won’t change from a beet hater to a beet lover, but when you learn to cook and eat beets, you might find that they will grow on you.