One of my favorite root veggies is the sweet, earthy, colorful beet. I use them in a variety of recipes, from salads to sides to vegetarian entrees. For many years I boiled them, which drains out a lot of the flavor. Then one day, a friend served me her favorite beet salad. The beets were rich and firm, bursting with juicy flavor. “I roast them,” she explained. Brilliant! I’ve been roasting beets ever since.
This is one of the first “how to” recipes that I posted on the blog back in 2010. Throughout the years this tutorial has helped countless people learn how to prepare beets in their own ovens.
Naturally I have refined the process as years go by. I have refreshed this post with new photos, tips and tricks I have learned, as well as a video to show you the steps in action.
I also thought it would be helpful to link to some of my favorite roasted beet recipes. Here are a few delicious ideas:
Beet Tartare with Goat Cheese & Candied Nuts | Tori Avey
Richard Simmons Beet Bowl Salad | Tori Avey
Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese | Recipe Girl
Middle Eastern Roasted Beet & Red Onion Salad | Tori Avey
Green Bean Beet & Pistachio Salad | Tori Avey
Orange & Beet Salad | Simply Recipes
Roasted Beets with Tahini & Pine Nuts | Tori Avey
In addition to being tasty, beets are very nutritious. They contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, birth defects and colon cancer. They are rich in folate, potassium, and fiber too.
In this post I will walk you through how to roast beets with a step-by-step video and photo tutorial. My friend taught me to roast them in the oven, wrapping each beet individually in foil. Over time I have simplified her process by placing the beets in a covered baking dish. I am working to remove aluminum foil from the majority of my recipes, and I learned that a heavy covered casserole or Dutch oven brushed with olive oil works just as well for this type of roasting.
Same tasty results, less hassle and waste. Let me know if you have a chance to try it!
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How to Roast Beets
Ingredients
- 4 pounds beets, any color - you can roast more or less as needed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, or as needed
NOTES
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of your oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. If using a covered oven-safe casserole dish or Dutch oven, brush the inner surface of the dish liberally with olive oil. If using a 9x13 baking dish, brush it liberally with olive oil.
- As the oven is heating up, use kitchen shears to trim leaves and upper stems of the beets, leaving about 2 inches of the stems intact at the top of each beet. Do not trim the tails of the beets; if you do, you’ll lose precious juicy flavor that will drizzle out of the trimmed tails during roasting.
- Scrub the beets clean. You want to get the dirt off of them, but you don't want to scrub the skin off-- it will help to hold the juices in while the beets roast.
- Place the beets in the a single layer in the bottom of casserole or baking dish. Cover with lid. If using a 9x13 baking dish, you will need to cover it with foil. I am transitioning out of using foil in my cooking, so I prefer the covered dish.
- Place the covered dish in preheated oven. Roast the beets in the oven for 45 minutes to 2 hours (very large beets may take even longer).
- Use a pair of tongs to flip the beets every 30 minutes to make sure they roast evenly on all sides. Roasting time will depend on the size of your beets; small young beets are more tender and take less time to roast, while larger beets take longer.
- Start checking your beets for doneness at 45 minutes by piercing the largest beet in the bunch with a wooden skewer. If the skewer easily and smoothly glides through the center of the beet, they’re ready. If not, roast another 10 minutes and test again. Continue to test until they are tender.
- After cooking, uncover the beets and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes until you can easily handle them. Cut off the beet stems and tails.Peel the skin from the beets while they are still warm. There are many different ways to peel, all of them are messy. Beets have a lot of pigment, which tends to stain everything it comes into contact with, including your hands. You might want to wear an apron when peeling your beets, to protect your clothes from stray beet juice droplets.
- Some cooks recommend scrubbing the beets gently with a kitchen towel (that they don't mind staining) to remove the skin. Others use plastic gloves to protect the hands. I prefer simply removing the skin with my bare fingers under cold running water; the skin slides off easily this way, and the red beet juice comes off of my hands with a few soap-and-water washes. For stubborn skin stains, apply lemon juice.
- By the end of this process, you will have some beautifully roasted beets! And once they're roasted, there are endless ways to prepare and enjoy them. Search my blog for "beets" and you'll find many tasty recipes for this beautiful ruby-colored roasted root vegetable!
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Hi!
450 degrees for as much as 2 hours? That seems an awfully hot oven for an awfully long time…..(?)
It really depends on the size of the beets. Very large beets take forever to roast, even at that high temperature.
I’m making beet salad for Thanksgiving to have something different and instead of boiling the beets, I’m going to use the roasting method. Thanks for posting this and happy Thanksgiving!
Enjoy Laurie!
Thank you for the great, yet simple recipe to follow. I’ve never really liked beets until I tried them roasted and your recipe really made the process easy. ?
We have lots of beets and would like to roast and can them. I have already put up 40 pints of pickled beets. Just need to know how to can the roasted ones. Water seems so weak and would bleed them. Could I use the cooking water from the boiled beets and some salt to can them with? Love your recipes!!
Hi Dee! I think using the boiled beet water sounds like a good idea. It’s been a while since I canned beets, but do make sure you use the pressure canning method. Here is a tutorial in case you need it: https://toriavey.com/how-to/pressure-canning/
It’s still in the 70’s here in Nebraska in last half of October. I’ve had to travel a great amount this year to help aging parents who live in other states. I arrived back home to a garden super full of beets and peppers. Looking around for roasted red pepper recipes, I came across your post for roasted beets. I had boiled up some the other night, and thought to myself how much of the nutrients, color, and flavor boiled out into the water. I like roasting things to bring out the flavor so I decided I would give this a try. I read through the comments and saw that someone had posted that they had used their crock pot to roast some in, so I thought I would give my roaster (every good kitchen in Nebraska keeps an electric roasting pan in it for doing the turkey and all of those potluck soup fundraisers) pan a try with what I picked already. I can get what is picked in roasting while I use my oven for roasting the red peppers. May have found a new and easier way of doing up beets thanks to you and all of the comments shared. Thank you.
I just roasted in my crockpot no oil just put the lid on cooked & on high for 4 hrs…perfect✨
Fabulous idea Marlee!
You were so right when you said the best way to cook beets is to roast them. I read your comments this morning and went to work. I had some beets that were huge and decided it would take too many hours in the oven. So I wrapped them in foil and put them in my slow-cooker for four hours. Set them outside on the patio. Perfect, will have them for dinner this evening and my kitchen is cool.
This works great! I cut them into 1 inch chunks , spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze them. Once frozen, put them in a zip lock bag to store in the freezer. This way they don’t stick together. Then I throw a few chunks into my morning smoothie. Adds a great flavor and is super convenient!
Thank Brian, got a giant row left in the garden. Glad to know they won’t go to waste!
Pat:
Great to brine/pickle too.
Doing this tonight with a half bushel of beets I’m going to can as Harvard Beets. So much easier than peeling them all!
I use latex gloves I find it get a better grip 9n things and of you double or triple up they resist heat I use 4 pairs for pulling sugar
To peel beets I gave always used dishwashing gloves. The grips have the peels slipping off in your hands, and they can be handled while still hot! Easy peasy
Excellent ! Can use the beats in salad or otherwise
I often roast them and put on dinner table with this:
Prepare the same. Put in foil liner OR in cast iron skillet. Cover beets with oil, fresh garlic, sea salt & pepper and cover with lid or foil. 450 degrees 1 hr.
Amazing!
I have lots of beets in my garden and would love to try this but am wondering if I could package and freeze them afterwards???
Hi Angie, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Yes, you can freeze the roasted beets.
THANK YOU, and that story warmed my heart too
Would the roasted beets freeze well?
Hi Ramona, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. From what I understand, roasted beets do freeze quite well.
I was raised in London during the war and one of my favourite memories was gong to the greengrocer to buy a beet(root) already cooked. One large one for a family of nine. Boy what a treat. My daughter and husband grow lots of beets and I can have a whole one to myself. I have half a dozen roasting in he oven right now. Kathleen R. Calgary.
Kathy, You wamed my heart with your memory.
Darleen
Kathy Russel from London, You wamed my heart with your memory.
Tori Thank ypu for this recioe. I roast mine peeled and cut. I can not wait for my next grocery trip so I can make beets tour way!
Ashley, Thank you for all those great replies, what a great job you do.
I was birn in 1946. My mom only made fresh veggies from her summer garden. Winter we lived off of can vegetables. I so grew up to cook fresh!
My first attempt at roasting beets and thanks to your great recipe it came out perfect. Who knew that I too could cook! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this great recipe!
Bought beets from our local farm!
Prepared them exactly according to the recipe! Fantastic!
Looking now to make cold summer borscht. Got a recipe?
Love your blog!
Hi Laurie, Tori’s assistant Ashley here. Glad you found the post helpful! Currently we do not have a recipe for cold summer borscht.
Fantastic thank you
I have prepared beets this way many times and find it’s not only very easy but tastes the best too. Much better than boiling them.
I agree Betsy!