How to Eat Beets in So Many Delicious Ways

Underappreciated, that's beets. This humble root vegetable is readily available, versatile, and has a deliciously sweet and unique flavor. If you've heard how good for you they are or just want to know how to eat beets or try some new preparations, you're in the right place. We're beet fans and want you to know they deserve more attention. Each variety, from red to gold to Chioggia, is earthy and sweet, with slightly bitter green tops that can be cooked and enjoyed as well. Beets can be eaten cooked or raw–they take to being roasted or sautéed at a high heat just as well as they do being grated raw in a salad or slaw. We're sharing the best ways to enjoy this versatile vegetable in all of its colorful glory.

Why We Love Beets

Beyond their delicious flavor, there are so many reasons we are beet aficionados!

They Are Versatile: There are seemingly endless ways to use beets. They can be roasted, steamed, and even candied to bring out their natural sweetness. Their crunchy texture makes them perfect for serving raw, as well. Not only that, but there are also beet tops, an often overlooked leafy green that you should never let go to waste. 

They Are Good for You: Beets are also jam-packed with healthy vitamins and minerals—they are anti-inflammatory and are rich in antioxidants, Vitamins A, C, and K, potassium, manganese, iron, and folate to boot. 

They Last a Long Time: Finally, like other root vegetables, loose beets are often stored in a root cellar for many months (sometimes up to a year!) before you ever see them in the grocery store. Once you take them home, raw and unwashed beets can often stay fresh in the crisper of your refrigerator for another month or so. (Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the beet greens, which need to be eaten within a few days.)

Types of Beets

Beets come in various shapes, sizes, and colors. You can buy individual loose beets the size of your fist or smaller bunches with the leaves still attached. You can even find adorable bunches of baby beets that are roughly the size of a golf ball. The varieties that are most commonly available at supermarkets are red, gold, and Chioggia.

• Red: These are the best-known and most ubiquitous—their flavor is unmistakably earthy, sweet, and full-bodied. 
• Gold: Gold beets are still earthy, but their taste is much milder overall, and they lean toward a more nutty flavor profile. 
• Chioggia: This pretty striped variety is much more sweet and has a slightly peppery flavor akin to radishes.

How to Eat Cooked Beets

Most of us are most familiar with cooked beets. Maybe you’ve enjoyed a simple salad of cooked beets, a bowl of borscht, or seen the packaged boiled beets in the produce aisle at the grocery store. There are many different ways to cook them—some you’re probably familiar with, and others may be a pleasant surprise.

Roasted

Beets are naturally quite sweet, so they pair well with ingredients that enhance that sweetness.

• One of the easiest and most delicious ways to eat beets is to peel and chop them, then simply roast them in the oven seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• They're even better dressed with a sweet, acidic dressing made with red wine vinegar, orange juice, and honey after roasting. Roasted beets tossed with crumbled blue cheese and buttery toasted walnuts are a classic, as is pairing them with goat cheese. 
• Turn those roasted beets into a whole other dish by adding them to a vibrant green salad. 
• You can also roast beets underneath a chicken or beef rib roast, just like you would with potatoes. The vegetables will soak up the flavors from the pan drippings, making them even tastier.

Steamed

Steaming beets is easy and mess-free—and they come out super flavorful every time. The beets take a steam bath in salted water, which permeates every inch of the vegetable. It works well whether you use cubes, wedges, or rounds. You can use them most of the same ways you’d use roasted beets, but the soft flesh can also be mashed and blended into other recipes.

How to Use Steamed Beets: 

• In soups like borscht, gazpacho, or our all-time favorite–a creamy concoction made with lots of fresh ginger. 
• For homemade dips, like this one with smooth tahini or this vibrant muhammara made with walnuts, garlic, and pomegranate molasses. 
• Make prepared horseradish with steamed beets. Blitz them in the food processor with fresh horseradish, sugar, salt, and vinegar, and you’ve made your own condiment for shrimp cocktail and more. 
• Steamed or boiled beets can even be used for sweet recipes. When blended, they bring out the cocoa flavor in chocolate cake. They can also add a subtle sweetness and fun pink color to smoothies.

Baked

The next time you’re craving something crunchy, we recommend crispy beet chips. Slice peeled beets ultra-thin (a mandoline is a great tool for this task) and bake them with a drizzle of oil. They’re a healthy snack, and you can polish off a whole tray and feel good about it.

Seared

You might not have tried this technique with beets; it is a little out of the ordinary, but it’s also a delicious and unique way to prepare them. When cut into pucks and seared in a hot pan, beets develop a crisp, golden brown crust while their interiors remain tender and soft. Their bright red color and meaty texture might have you thinking you’re cutting into a fillet steak.

Pickled

The sweet, earthy flavor of beets is a great partner for acidic ingredients—and pickled beets are perfect for cheese and charcuterie platters—as well as for snacking.

• Follow a more traditional method or brine wedges or whole baby beets with flavorings like coriander seeds, ginger, orange peel, and habanero pepper.
• Opt for a quick pickle.
  

Candied

Yes, beets are naturally sweet, so playing up their sugary flavors makes sense. Candied beets are made using a similar technique to that for beet chips. The paper-thin slices are simmered in a sugar syrup and then baked in the oven at a low temperature until dried and crisp. They come out just as sweet as candied carrots, and make a fun decoration for cakes, cupcakes, and pavlovas.

How to Eat Raw Beets

Get some color and crunch by eating beets raw.

Julienned

Hone your knife skins and cut raw, peeled beets into thin matchsticks.

• Use them in a salad alongside other crunchy fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, jicama, or celery root.
• Julienned beets also add a nice earthy element to crunchy coleslaw—use a combination of red and gold beets for more color.

Shredded

Use the large holes on a box grater to shred raw beets. The smaller pieces provide a touch of crunch, but they’re small enough that you don’t have to work too hard to chew. It’s a lot like eating a raw shredded carrot salad. Another bonus: Shredded beet salads can be made a day or two ahead and enjoyed as a side dish throughout the week. They’re great tossed with:

• Rice vinegar, lime juice, and fresh herbs.
• Lemon juice, honey, and lots of spices like cumin, coriander, and cinnamon.

Juiced

Raw beets can be juiced just like any other fruit or vegetable. Our favorite way to enjoy beet juice is mixed with fruit juices, such as apple and lemon to get a nice balance of flavors.

How to Eat Beet Greens

If your bunch of beets comes with greens attached, don't toss them! Beet greens are edible and delicious. They have a bittersweet flavor that mellows significantly when cooked. You can use them pretty much anywhere you’d use another leafy green like spinach, kale, or Swiss chard.

• Give the leaves and stems a quick sauté with sliced garlic and tomato paste.
• Stir them into nourishing vegetable soups.
• Stew them like collard greens.

Tips for Handling Beets—and Avoiding Stains

If you’re keen to avoid beet stains, the simplest way is to use gold beets instead of red. You can wear disposable gloves to peel and slice either cooked or raw beets—this will keep the red pigment from staining your fingers. But ultimately, you’ll have to use a cutting board, and there’s no way to keep that completely stain-free. However, you can minimize the damage by sprinkling the cutting board with coarse salt and scrubbing it with the cut side of a lemon.