The most common beet you’ll come across at the supermarket is the striking red beet with its garnet red color, but you’ll also find golden beets, and the reddish-pink and white Chioggia beet, which is more commonly known as the candy cane beet. This root veggie is rich in antioxidants, folate, and manganese, making it an excellent addition to healthful meals. Bonus: The veiny, leafy tops are edible and can be simply sautéed like any other leafy green. Despite their beauty and adaptability, beets have the tendency to scare off home cooks. If you’re one of them, consider these three simple solutions: Shop for small to medium beets, which tend to be more tender than larger ones (and they cook quicker as well), inject flavor from herbs and spices, and peel beets after cooking by gently rubbing off the skin with a paper towel. Ta-da! Now you can get to cooking that gorgeous bunch of beets.To prepare beets, cut away the greens to reserve for sautéing, then give the beets a good wash. The size of the beets will affect the cooking time. Beets should cook until they’re tender when pierced with a fork. Beets turn silky when cooked. Toss beets into a salad or top off a grain bowl, serve as an appetizer with ricotta, feta, or yogurt, blend into a colorful dip or use as a spread on a sandwich. Beets pair well with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh and woody herbs. And fun fact: Beets can be thinly sliced and enjoyed raw.
If meal-prepping, cooled beets can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days.
Roasting
Roasting concentrates the beet’s sweet and earthy flavor. All you need is a hot oven and aluminum foil for this popular cooking method.
Oven-Steaming
For cooking batches between one to four pounds of beets, steam-roasting is a go-to and prevents the root vegetable from drying out.
Steaming
For cooking batches of one to four pounds of beets, steam-roasting is a go-to and prevents the root vegetable from drying out.
Boiling
Quick and easy. Keep about 1 inch of the stem attached to the beet to prevent loss of nutrients as it boils.
Grilling
The best way to grill beets is in a neat foil package, much like roasting in the oven. This ensures beets stay tender and prevents them from drying out and turning chewy if sliced and grilled. Any size beets work, but this is when small beets really pay off.
Sautéing
Quickly cooking beets in a hot pan allows for an extra dose of flavor, plus other veggies or beet greens can come along for the ride. It’s a great method to give new life to pre-cooked and leftover beets, or trim and peel beets with a Y-shaped vegetable peeler then thinly slice into half-moons. Quickly cooking beets in a hot pan allows for an extra dose of flavor, plus other veggies or beet greens can come along for the ride. It’s a great method to give new life to pre-cooked and leftover beets, or trim and peel beets with a Y-shaped vegetable peeler, then thinly slice into half-moons.
Cooking in an Instant Pot
If you can, take advantage of the efficiency of an Instant Pot. It shaves off time when cooking beets and keeps them smooth and tender.
Air Frying
Using an air fryer essentially roasts beets, but saves you a significant amount of time. The catch is that, unlike most other cooking methods, it’s preferred to peel the beets before cooking. Peel using a vegetable peeler (Y-shaped peelers are heaven-sent), and then chop beets into equal-sized pieces for even cooking. To avoid stained hands, use disposable gloves or peel beets with hands submerged in cool water.
