How to Roast Beets

Beets! They are the fall’s hottest new ingredient. They are in season right now, so this is the perfect time to try this trendy food. Beets can be sliced thin and served raw, but I love the smooth silky texture of a roasted beet.

Right now several restaurants are serving beets roasted, then cooled, and placed in a salad, such as Tesori’s spinach, sugar beet, and gorgonzola salad. Meanwhile, The Purple Pig roasts beets and serves them with whipped goat cheese and pistachios. Vinland makes dehydrated beet chips. Beets have also earned a place at the menus of Beatrix and Summer House.

Today let’s learn how to roast beets. Once you have roasted beets, you can use them in a variety to recipes. Tomorrow I will be sharing a recipe that turns these roasted beets into a salad.

As a sidenote, The Beets are also my favorite fictional band. (Anyone else love watching Doug growing up?)

You will need:
Beets (1 per person)
1-2 tablespoons of Olive Oil
Salt

Step 1:
Put an apron on. Unless you want bright pink beet juice on your clothing. Then heat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the stem and tip off the beets. You can set the stem aside and cook those beet leaves and add them to your salad or side dish.

Step 2:
Peel the beets. This gets…. messy. Your hands will be bright pink when you are done. Washing your hands twice will rid the juice from your hands. Some recipes say that you should cook the beets first and then peel them, but I think the bright pink mess is inevitable. Plus, if you peel and slice the beets first they cook faster.

Step 3:

Cut the beets into cubes about 2 inches in size.

Step 4:
Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil (I did this for easy clean up), then spread the beets out on top. Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over, and sprinkle with salt.

Step 5:
Roast for 20 minutes. Use a spatula to flip and cook for another 20 minutes, or until tender. Eat as is, or use the roasted beets in a recipe.