How to Roast Beets
My love for roasted vegetables just keeps on growing.
Next up? Roasted beets!
These give a lovely twang to your other roasted vegetables or you could slice them up and use them in a salad, much like we did on one my show segments with Matt from Urban Agrarian. (You can find the printable recipe for Roasted Beets and Greens Salad here).
I prefer to find the smallest of the bunch at the store and make sure they are heavy for their size, and the greens aren’t soggy and vibrant green at the top.
It’s super simple to do ..follow along.
Take your beets and lop off the greens from the top.
The greens are great cooked like you would any other green. Saute them in some olive oil, garlic and crushed red pepper along with a little bit of chopped bacon…delicious!
Slice off both ends with as little waste as possible.
Some people rub them with olive oil at this point and just roast them whole. Some people prefer to wrap them in foil. I prefer to go ahead and peel them now so I don’t have to mess with them hot later. So I just take a vegetable peeler and peel off the sides.
And I slice them in half.
Now at this point, if you want to slice them thinly over a salad, I’d wait until you roast them. But tonight, I wanted chunks, so I just cut them up roughly into bite-size pieces.
Incidentally, note that beets will stain red in a big way! However, my bamboo cutting board scrubbed up right afterward with no visible marks left.
Toss the beet chunks onto a pan and drizzle with olive oil.
I like to line my baking sheet so there is easy cleanup afterward as well. Use foil or a Silpat.
Sprinkle the beets lightly with salt and pepper.
Toss around with your hands to mix it all around well.
Then I added them to my other roasted vegetables and popped them into a 375º for about 20 minutes (for chunks). For whole beets, you’ll have to leave them almost an hour.
When they’re done they’re carmelized-gooey, sweet and tangy- delicious.
