What can I make with beets?
Beets keeps well, costs little, and turns into comfort food with barely any help. Recipes using beets are below, plus roasting and storage notes.
4 recipes with beets
Aussie Burgers
step 1 Make the burgers: Tip the meat into a bowl and sprinkle over 1 tsp salt and a good grinding of black pepper.Work with wet hands to mix in the seasoning.
Australian4
Beetroot & red cabbage sauerkraut
step 1 Tip all the ingredients into a large bowl, add 1-1½ tsp freshly ground black pepper, then scrunch it all together with your hands for 5 mins.
Polish4
Cayman Style Potato Salad
Peel and cut potatoes in cubes, boil in salted water until tender.
4
Pork rib bortsch
step 1 Cut the meat into large pieces, put in your largest saucepan and cover with 5 litres water.
Polish4
How to get the most flavour out of beets
- 1Cut into even pieces so everything finishes at the same moment.
- 2Roast at 425F on a preheated sheet pan for caramelised edges, or sear hard in a skillet if you want it fast.
- 3Do not crowd the pan; steam is the enemy of browning. Use two trays if you have to.
- 4Season in layers: salt before cooking, then acid and fat after, so the beets tastes finished rather than plain.
What goes well with beets
Beets is at its best with butter, rosemary, garlic, olive oil, black pepper and cream. Any two or three of those, plus beets, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing beets
Store beets unwashed - moisture is what causes rot. Leafy types last longest wrapped loosely in a towel inside a bag; roots prefer somewhere cool and dark, not the fridge door. Anything starting to soften is ideal for soups, stocks, and roasting.
Substituting beets
If you are out of beets, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Beets recipes: common questions
- What can I make with beets and not much else?
- Plenty. With beets plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest beets recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute beets?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover beets?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover beets without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.
- Are these beets recipes vegetarian-friendly?
- Many are, and the vegetarian and vegan collections filter the whole library down to recipes with no meat or no animal products at all. In the chat you can also say "vegan" or "no dairy" and every suggestion will respect it.