How to Cook Beets? Several ways

by Abbas Jahangir · June 6, 2021

How to cook beets

Beets also called red beets are tasty vegetables with a sweet/sour taste. Not only is the beet delicious to eat, the leaves are also full of nutrients and are increasingly used in salads. However, we are going to talk about the beet here and specifically ‘how to cook beets?’

There are many ways to cook beetroot, these are discussed below. You really need to know the difference between winter and summer beets, because otherwise, you will soon have raw beets on your plate.

You can’t just cook beets, but you can stir-fry, stew, steam and there are even more ways to prepare beets. We have described them all in our blog ‘ How to prepare beetroot? ‘.

How to cook beets

We are now going to talk to them about cooking beets.

Red Beet Cooking

The most important thing about cooking beetroot is knowing which beets you have. There are two types of beets, summer and winter beets.

Summer beets are flat round and smaller than winter beets. The winter beet is large and rougher. When you see beets, you already know which beet it is.

Summer Beetroot Cooking

Cooking beets is simple and different from cooking other vegetables because the beets are cooked in the skin. Since we cook the beets in the skin, a lot of nutrients are preserved. How’s this going?

Place a pan with plenty of water on the heat source and bring the water to a boil.
Clean the beets under the tap. Remove the dirt and sand from the peel. Remove any leaves from the tuber (you can use these leaves in a salad!).
When the water boils, the beets go into the pan. Now bring the water back to a boil. The beets are now cooked in about 30 minutes. You can pierce it with a fork. If it goes in easily, the beets are done. Otherwise, let it cook for a while longer.
Now drain the beets in the colander and let them cool slightly, then remove the skin.
You can now let the beets cool down further and store them or process them in a salad drawer.
Or you can cut them into slices, cubes, or strips and continue preparing your dish.
Do you want to serve it as a dish? Then warm the sliced beets again in a pan.

Winter Beetroot Cooking

Winter beets are larger than summer beets. As a result, the cooking time is longer. Summer beets need to cook for 30 minutes and for winter beets the cooking time is about 90 minutes.

The method of cooking and preparation is no different from summer beetroot. Look above for the cooking steps and only change the cooking time.

Chopped Beets Cooking

Cooking sliced beets is actually heating sliced beets! The sliced beets you bought in the supermarket have already been cooked and cleaned. You no longer have to cook your own beets that you have cooked. All you have to do is heat up and season these beets and you’re done.

This heating up doesn’t really have cooking time. Place the sliced beets in a pan and place them on the heat source on low to medium heat. You’ll find out soon enough when it’s hot. Of course, you can also taste it.

Red Beets Cooking and Freezing

Beets can be frozen very well. You can then store them for a longer period of time. It does take some work because freezing a whole fresh untreated beet is not a good idea. When you defrost it later for cooking, it will become a big mess. Before we start freezing the beets, we still have a few things to do.

There are two ways to freeze beets:

Boil and freeze beets first
Blanching and freezing beets

First Cook and Freeze Beets

It makes no difference whether you have beets in summer or winter. Here the beets are cooked as described above. The beets are then cut into slices, strips, or cubes.

Then place the beets, portion by portion, in a freezer bag and place in the freezer. Also put the date on the plastic bag, because they can be stored for a maximum of 1 year.

When you want to use them, let them thaw on a plate in the fridge, so you can catch the red juice. Warm the beets or use them in your dish.

Blanching and Freezing Beets

We can also blanch the beets and then freeze them. Blanching is the process of cooking briefly and cooling again quickly. How’s this going?

Place a pan with plenty of water on the heat source and bring the water to a boil. Also, have a large pot of cold water ready or put your colander in the sink.
Cut off the roots and tops of the beets. Clean the rest of the beet under the tap. Get all the dirt and sand off it.
When the water boils, the beets go into the pan. Bring the water to a boil and cook the beets for 4 minutes.
Then drain the beets and put them in the pan with cold water or rinse under the cold tap for a long time.
Now remove the skin from the beets.
Place the beets in a freezer container or bag and place in the freezer.

If you want to use these beets, they must first be fully cooked. The cooking of the beets is described above.

Chioggia Beets Cooking

This is a special beet named after the city of Chioggia in Italy. It is a colorful beet. This color will partly disappear when the beets are cooked. The beetroot has a soft sweet taste and is a colorful addition to any salad.

Cooking this beet is no different than cooking the regular beets; the beets are cooked in the skins. So look in the first chapter on how to cook the beets. The cooking time is the same as the summer beets, about 30 minutes.

Cooking Precooked Beetroot

The pre-cooked beets that you buy in a vacuum package in the supermarket are therefore already cooked. These beets are still in their skins, so you have to remove them.

You can then cut the beets into cubes, strips or slices and use them in your dish or salad.

For a warm dish, the beets only have to be warmed up for a while and this takes a maximum of 5 minutes on a low heat.

Red Beets Cooking Vinegar and Onion

Beets with vinegar and onion is a real Dutch recipe. What you need for this dish:

4 whole beets, precooked
1 large onion, sliced
dash of vegetable butter
1 dash of vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
water and salt

You can also add pieces of cleaned apples!

We prepare it as follows:

We cut the cooked beets into slices, large cubes or large strips.
Heat the butter in the frying pan. Then add the vinegar and sugar and heat it up.
Then the beets, onion, and possibly the apple go into the frying pan. Add a little water and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

After all, this, if you have fresh or prepared beets leftover, you can keep them. Read our blog ‘ How to store beets? ‘ because there is no need to throw them away.