Betty Crocker How to Cook Beets

"a good place to start"
 
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photo by januarybride photo by januarybride
photo by januarybride
photo by Patricia L. photo by Patricia L.
Ready In:
1hr 10mins
Ingredients:
3
Serves:
2-3
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ingredients

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directions

  • [If you can, buy beets with the stems and greens still attached, as they come out of the ground.
  • Ask the produce manager at your grocery or health food store to buy organic beets with the nourishing leaves attached!]].
  • Cut off all but 2 inches of the green stems.
  • Save the leaves because they are very nutritious and can be steamed, sauteed or shredded in salads!
  • Leave the beets whole with 2 inches of stems at the top and root ends at the bottom. This prevents the red color from seeping out into the water [and all over the place too!].
  • Place in a saucepan covered with salted water to taste (with at least 1 tsp of vinegar).
  • Boil until tender [usually, 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the beets]. Boiling can take up to 60 minutes for larger beets.
  • Drain and run cold water over beets. The skins will slip right off with the root ends, but make sure you wear kitchen gloves so your hands don't turn red.
  • To serve, you can add melted butter, salt and pepper, basil, savory, caraway seeds or sprinkle with minced chives or parsley.
  • NOTE: i prefer to steam my vegetables in an OSTER mechanical food steamer available cheap with free shipping from amazon.com - so i peel and slice mine for faster cooking as i do for all potatoes.
  • But you can steam this in a covered pot with a steamer insert also - just make sure the water doesn't evaporate: bring the salted water with more vinegar added to a boil and add the steamer insert and beets. Cover and steam on medium or medium low heat until they are your desired tenderness.
  • One thing is for sure - never peel or cut the stems or roots if steaming or boiling whole - it's SO much easier not to have red dye and red water dripping everywhere - and the skins come right off easily once cooked. Peeling is a waste of time and makes a mess!

Questions & Replies

  1. Is there a way to boil beets to get skins off? Then steam them?
     
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Reviews

  1. They came out beautiful! I didn't use vinegar cause I was out or gloves and my hands aren't stained. I can't believe I've never cooked beets before, waiting for cooling to add to salad. After being cooling they're tender and delicious.
     
    • Review photo by Patricia L.
  2. This is how I always cook them. . .gotta love the tried and true Betty Crocker recipes. Actual recipe calls for 1 tsp of salt and 1 Tbsp of Vinegar I believe.
     
  3. This is a great recipe. I was making Swedish Pickled Beets and it stated to start with cooked, sliced beets. This really helped me. I had never made homemade beets before.
     
  4. listn dawg im e40 cuzin mang and this is BOMB dawg love it :)
     
  5. So delicious - Although I do still love the simple method of dressing beets with butter and S & P, I wanted to share another really tasty way to dress them! I experimented once & have loved it ever since. After slicing into wedges, I add some olive oil, S & P AND a dash of any favorite Blue Cheese/Gorgonzola! So yummy, a little balsamic vinegar can be added too if desired. (If it sounds good, try it on fresh steamed green beans too!:)
     
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Tweaks

  1. No vinegar
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

56, an Army brat who has lived in 20 different locations [born in germany, went to kindergarten in japan] including new york city, palo alto CA, maine, georgia, chicago, after growing up in small-town kansas... have some fabulous recipes from well-traveled army people... recently started adding just a splash of bourbon or brandy to real maple syrup - and it really gives french toast or pancakes a special, more sophisticated flavor... a friend jokes that bourbon is my new "secret ingredient" that i'll be adding to everything - it's not true but i'm telling you - you should try it! it's really very good [for adults, anyway] sugarpea's apple pancake recipe is a deadringer for Walker Brothers Pancake House in north shore Chicago - i've searchd for this for 34 years - and it's easy as well as To Die For!!! the Dutch Baby pancake is a huge seller there too - with the same gooey comfort-food but elegant batter... also if you search for lettuce wrap - the 2 recipes for PF Chang's come up... this is also SO GOOD, truly a memorable entree... for cookbooks: With a Jug of Wine, More Recipes With a Jug of Wine were written by the San Francisco Chronicle food writer decades ago - and most everything in them is superb - and i learned a lot as a new cook, young wife, from reading through them in the late 1970s... i got a [very French] sense of food as a way of life
 
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