How to Cook Beets On the Stovetop | Easy Recipe with Photos (2024)

FAQs

What is the best cooking method for beets? ›

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.

TIPS FOR cooking beets

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. Some also find that removing the skin prior to cooking takes away some of the beet's earthy test.

The roasted beets are wonderful on their own, seasoned simply with salt and pepper, or dressed up more with citrus juice, herbs, or balsamic vinegar. Serve them with any weeknight dinner, or add them to a holiday meal. These oven roasted beets keep well for days in the fridge, so they're great for making ahead.

Roasting beets gives them a sweeter, richer, and deeper flavor than boiling does. As a cook, I am inspired by colors, so I find beets particularly exciting to work with. My favorite way to cook beets is to roast them, which gives a sweeter, richer, and deeper flavor than boiling does.

Fill the pot with water to cover the beets. Bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer the beets for about 20-50 minutes depending on the size and desired tenderness.

Retain the good-for-you nutrients in beets by roasting them or sautéing them instead. Or lightly steam them for just a few minutes, suggests Doyle.

Use a knife to trim the stems and greens off of the beets, then scrub the beets clean. Add them to a steamer basket above the boiling water on the stove. Make sure that the beets do not touch the water. Cover the pot, keep the stove on high and steam the beets for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the beets.

You can even enjoy them raw, either sliced thinly or grated. Choose beets that feel heavy for their size with fresh, unwilted green leafy tops still attached, if possible. Because dietary nitrates are water-soluble, it's best to avoid boiling beets if you'd like to maximize their nitrate content.

Their “earthy” flavor comes from a compound called geosmin, which is also the same compound that we associate with the smell of “fresh rain” and “forest soil”. Some people are much more sensitive to this compound than others, that is why some people say they taste like dirt, and others love them.

Yes, you can. It's completely safe to drink water that has been used to boil beetroots.

Should you salt the water when boiling beets? ›

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt for every 3-4 beets. Boil whole beets for 20-40 minutes, depending on their size, or until they pierce easily with a fork. Smaller beets will cook more quickly than larger beets.

A broiler can get to around 300°+ easily. Look at it, from how heat, comes into contact, with the beetroot. Boiled, it's covered by heat, because it is sitting in hot water, steam is, lightly kissing the beetroot with heat, that's why warm, but still hard.

Place the beets in a large saucepan and add water to cover and the lemon juice or vinegar. This will help to keep the beets from bleeding. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

You will know when they are finished by inserting a fork; it should go through easily. You will also be able to easily slip the skins off; you can test this with the fork when they are still cooking. Cut the beets in quarters to cook them in less time.

Cure your vegetables as you would a piece of meat for a couple of days. This can be achieved by rubbing the vegetable or mushroom with salt at a concentration of 1.75% of the vegetable's weight, wrapping it tightly in plastic or vacuum sealing it, and letting it sit in the fridge for 2-3 days.