Pan Fried Beets with Creamy Mint Sauce (Dairy-Free, 30 Minute Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

How do you add flavor to cooked beets? ›

Flavors that pair well with roasted beets:

Balsamic vinegar, as well as red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar. Black pepper. Carrots. Creamy cheese and dairy, including feta, goat cheese, blue cheese, ricotta, crème fraîche, sour cream and plain yogurt.

Steaming beets is a healthful cooking method because they retain most of their vitamins and minerals—they're not boiled out in water—and stay incredibly vibrant. Plus, steaming small beets or beet quarters is quick and easy for weeknights.

Aita's favorite (and least messy) way to make beets is to roast them under a thick layer of salt. The salt draws out moisture, which will reduce the amount of juice, he explains. To do it, you'll need about a pound of kosher salt for every pound of beets you use.

One way to liven up canned beets is to give them a splash of citrus juice. According to research from the journal Chemical Senses, citric acid on the tongue can evoke the olfactory sensation of fresh citrus flavor. Basically, you're borrowing some freshness from a lemon and transferring it to your canned beets.

Pair them with bright, fresh flavors- By adding vinegar, lemon juice, fresh herbs, tangy cheese or yogurt to your dish, you will help balance the flavor. This is why you commonly see roasted beets and goat cheese together.

Usually we boil them and toss them in a sweet sour vinaigrette and keep them in the refrigerator to eat all week. The vinegar in the dressing "pickles" the beets, helping them last longer in the fridge.

Wash and scrub the dirt from each beet. Place each beet in a piece of foil large enough to fully wrap up the beet and drizzle with approximately 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Wrap each beet tightly in foil and transfer to a large baking sheet. Roast for approximately 45-60 minutes, or until fork tender.

Retain the good-for-you nutrients in beets by roasting them or sautéing them instead. Or lightly steam them for just a few minutes, suggests Doyle.

Things to Watch Out For

One concern with eating beets is that eating a lot of beets may cause gout. Gout is an extremely painful condition caused by an increased uric acid level in your blood. The oxalates found in beets can increase your uric acid level, meaning that too many beets can lead to gout.

Beets can be muddy, so first give them a good rinse under cold water. Scrubbing with a soft brush is ideal, especially where the greens meet the root. For bunch beets, cut the greens off leaving about an inch of stems attached. If you're roasting or cooking the beets whole with the skin on just pat them dry.

Should you peel beets before cooking? ›

Sometimes beets are peeled before cooking. They may also be scrubbed and cooked until tender with their skins on; the skins slip off fairly easily after cooling. (Some people are happy to leave the skins on; they are fine to eat.) You can also pickle cooked beets.

You can even enjoy them raw, either sliced thinly or grated. Choose beets that feel heavy for their size with fresh, unwilted green leafy tops still attached, if possible. Because dietary nitrates are water-soluble, it's best to avoid boiling beets if you'd like to maximize their nitrate content.

Slow-roasting beets in a foil packet or covered baking dish takes away much of the earthy taste and intensifies the flavor, but you will still have a bit of bleeding and nutrient loss.

I usually add garlic and majoram and sometimes a bit, just a bit, of sugar to flatten the earthy taste (wich I like but others dont). Cut up some white onions and boil them and the beets with a bit of vinegar and sugar in the water.

With only a few exceptions, canned beetroots have about the same nutritional value as fresh beetroots. Fresh beetroots have double the phosphorus, potassium and folate, but 1 cup of sliced, canned beetroots has 14 percent of the recommended daily intake of folate and 4 percent of phosphorus and potassium.

Roasting beets deepens their natural sugars while tempering bitterness. Bake whole, wrapped beets at 400°F for 60-75 minutes until easily pierced by a fork. Allow to cool before peeling and juicing. Incorporating roasted beets creates a smoother, mellower, almost nutty-flavored blended juice.

Also ingredients like dark chocolate, nuts, coffee or roasted onions have earthy flavors and pair well with beetroot. This could be explained by the presence of 'pyrazines', which are aromatic structures formed during the process of roasting ingredients. These pyrazines also contain an earthy smell.

Beetroots can taste bitter due to compounds like geosmin and saponins. To reduce bitterness when eating them as a vegetable, choose young beetroots, peel and cook them, combine with other flavors, blanch them, or remove the skin before cooking. 2nd method you can boil beetroot to reduce bitterness before cooking.