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!
Marie says
First time roasting beets and loved this pan roasting idea! Also your tip to remove skins under cold running water – easy breezy and no figure tip stains. Thank you!!!!
Janet McLeod says
I look forward to trying this roasting method. I have always boiled my beets. As a single senior I always have more than I can eat and I only pickle of few jars, enough for Thanksgiving and the Christmas season so I slice and bag the remainder in meal size packages and freeze. They are still quite tasty. I hope the roasting method will give me the same ease of storage. Thank you for the info.
Sandy says
Thank you, I was wondering if they would freeze well.
Alice Kintisch says
Every summer I refer to this instruction. Over the winter, I forget how to do this. Then when summer comes to the northeast, and the Farmers’ Market offers beets, I call up this and am ready to enjoy beets again! Thanks, Tori!!
Steve Patton says
I just want to comment on two things, I don’t bother with the foil I just pot the beets in my covered cast iron baking dish rubbed with a bit of olive oil (forget about using virgin, the flavor doesn’t survive the high heat. I use the oil only to prevent sticking which sometimes happens without it. I set the oven to 400 which takes about an hour for a 3-4 inch batch of beets to cook. I use a bit of used foil to get a tighter seal if I use one of my smaller all ss pots with a tight lid as a roaster for smaller batches. Also I don’t cut off the upper portion, I used to but it isn’t necessary the stem pushes off as you can see in that one picture you have and what is beneath is just as good as the rest, why waste it?
Steve says
Good advice
Chicov says
Vegan looking for simple vegetable recipes. Hit the jackpot here. Thank you so much for beets. cauli, and eggplant. With winter approaching, perfect time for lighting up the stove. Rate your site 5 stars.
Tori Avey says
You’re welcome! Agreed, roasted veggies are so comforting during the cold weather. More vegan recipes here: https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/recipes/recipes-vegan/
Sylvia Nealon says
Is it possible to roast the beets, prepare them, the day before and just heat them up to serve on the day of?
Ashley at ToriAvey.com says
Hi, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! Yes, you can roast the beets ahead of time and heat before serving.
Paula2 says
Perfect instructions. My roasted beets came out beautifully!
Stuart S says
Hi Tori,
As total novice, I followed your instructions exactly, and the beets turned out better than I could have possibly expected. Out of the oven and cooled, they peeled very easily and cleanly, and actually the “mess” was minimal – no stained clothes or hands.
Then I followed your green been and pistachio recipe, which was delicious!
Many thanks,
Stuart
Tori Avey says
Great Stuart! Glad to hear it 🙂
Judith Crowell says
Roasting beets is a great way to consume them. I love this recipe. Thank you.
I always buy small beets so that I have the option to eat raw or roasted.
The small beets are super sweet without any dressing. But there is an old Mexican recipe for raw beet salad that is very good if you don’t like plain beet as much as I do. Clean, remove skin and slice beets as thin as possible. Layer beets with orange slices, banana slices and nuts of your choice as many times as you have ingredients and room in the bowl.Drizzle a good honey over the top of the layers. This is beautiful in a clear compote bowl. There may have been fresh pineapple slices in the original recipe. I make this at Christmas. Hard to find good, fresh pineapple sometimes.
Tori Avey says
Interesting Judith!
Ruti Abrashkin says
Hello Tory
I usually cut the beets and roast them with olive oil, but without covering them. Is there a benefit to covering them?
Tori Avey says
Hi Ruti, I prefer roasting them whole rather than cut, it preserves precious juices and makes for a more flavorful end product. I cover the whole beets because they roast faster that way; I assume the same would be true for cut beets, but I definitely suggest you try roasting them whole once to see what a difference it makes!
margery says
Any tips on how to store the roasted beets if I don’t use them all at once? How long will they keep? I like to use them in a kale salad I make, but it only calls for a couple at a time, and this seems like the sort of thing where you’d want to make a bunch at once if they can keep well.
Tori Avey says
Hi Margery, roasted beets keep quite well refrigerated in a sealed plastic bag with the air removed. Though I don’t have a specific length of time to recommend keeping them, in my experience they keep well for at least a week after roasting. Best if you keep them whole, and slice them just prior to serving… they tend to hold on to their natural juices more that way.
QUERINO DE-FREITAS says
This is exactly how i roast the beets..sometimes I cut the beetsin big cubes,add a dressing and roast…serve with yogout…
Barb Sullivan says
I LOVE Beets and I can’t wait to try roasting them and making the Beet Salad. I love your photos showing how to make it too. Thanks!!
Sharonshiatsu says
I love beets too, but actually fell in love with the Golden variety. They are super sweet and you don’t have the same problem with the extreme colorant from the red type. Problem solved…. try the golden beets!
nk says
I use to peel and cut off the ends before roasting. Tried your method an there is NO comparison!! So moist and tender. Thanks. Love your beet/mint salad recipe!
Really enjoy the step by step pics….makes me confident of what it should look like!
Tori Avey says
Happy you liked the method! It really does make a big difference in flavor.
Martha Healy says
Warning. Do not be alarmed if urine turns red after eating beets which I love.
nk says
Yes, as well as, ahem, number 2….I freaked a little til I realized I had been eating lots of beet salad.
Pat says
I live on a farm & love beets, especially pickled beets. They are a little difficult to grow. It’s important to make sure you have seed for the current year….When I was little my mom told me to eat them & they would make me pretty. I would look & see no difference. Now I know she meant from the inside to the outside. Smart mom.
Julie Mortenson says
I do the same thing except I drizzle them with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and ground pepper before I roast them. Super yummy!
Beth says
You could peel them with disposable gloves to avoid staining. Thanks for the recipe!
paula says
thanks for the info gonna have to try it out I am addicted to beets but I ususally open a can and eat them right out of the can yummy but natural cooking is going to be awesome cant wait…
barbara list says
love all of your recipes