A lot has been said about the benefits of beets, and people have long taken note of this. Among other things, the vegetable is very tasty and gives dishes a rich and bright color, which is also important: it is known that the aesthetics of a dish significantly increases its appetizing, and therefore its taste. Albeit only from a psychological point of view. There are many ways to cook beets. And if you haven’t accumulated your recipes yet, we suggest using ours.

Baking vegetables

As a rule, young modern housewives begin to master cooking recipes by baking. This way, vegetables turn out both tastier and healthier: essential vitamins do not disappear, as when boiling, and you won’t get another dose of carcinogens, as when frying. In addition, the ability to properly bake root vegetables can be very useful at a picnic in nature, on an active summer vacation - and wherever you plan to build a fire and install a grill or barbecue. But, by the way, there is an excellent recipe for how to cook beets simply in the oven. Let's try?

Beets in foil and in a sleeve

We take the most beautiful and smooth root vegetable, wash it thoroughly in running water, and wipe it with a clean towel. By the way, it is not recommended to trim the “roots and tops” so that the juice does not leak out, but stays inside during cooking. Next, choose one of the 3 baking methods.

1. Place the washed root vegetables on a rack in an oven preheated to 160 degrees. We cook for a little less than an hour, but not less than 45 minutes (during this time anyone has time to bake thoroughly).
2. To bake the food we use food foil. We wrap the beets in it quite tightly and place it on a baking sheet previously filled with a glass of water. If the oven temperature is 170 degrees, then small beets will ripen in three quarters of an hour. Beets baked in foil are sweet and healthy.
3. How to cook beets in the oven most quickly? Let's use a baking sleeve. We put the root vegetable in the sleeve, tighten it so that there is no oxygen, cook for 40 minutes at a temperature of just under 200 degrees. We check readiness after half an hour from the start of the process with a wooden toothpick or skewer: some varieties of beets can cook faster than the time specified in the recipe.

Grill

If you are in the countryside, outdoors or in nature, you can take advantage of the open fire offers and grill the beets or simply bake them in the fire. But it is worth paying attention to the fact that in this case you should choose root vegetables the size of a medium potato to make baking more convenient. We use the same principle: wrap the beets in foil and in the coals until cooked. Or place raw beets on the grill grate.

Delicious salad

How to cook beets in a salad to please guests or family? You will need quite accessible and inexpensive ingredients: a couple of medium beets, half a glass of shelled walnuts, half a glass of boneless prunes, a couple of cloves of garlic, mayonnaise and spices, salt as desired.

Preparation

1. Root vegetables need to be boiled without peeling. Once cooked and cooled, peel and grate.
2. Crush or finely chop the walnuts.
3. Press the garlic in a press.
4. We wash the prunes in a colander with boiling water and cut them into fairly small pieces.
5. Mix the prepared ingredients in a wide bowl, season with mayonnaise, salt, spices - according to personal taste.
6. The salad is ready, before serving, cool it and sprinkle with chopped herbs.

This dish should be present on the table during the holidays, since with heavy libations (for example, during 2 weeks of New Year's feasts) and food, prunes and beets together will do their good deed: they normalize digestion.

What is our life? Caviar!

How to prepare beets in the form of caviar, which is an excellent appetizer, for example, with strong alcohol? You can also spread it on bread as an addition to breakfast: it’s tasty and healthy, and most importantly - satisfying, you won’t want to eat it for a long time afterwards.

Take a kilo of beets, three spoons of vegetable oil, half a kilo of onions, a little tomato paste, salt. That's all we need to prepare beet caviar. For lovers of piquancy, we’ll also add a couple of cloves of garlic to the list of ingredients.

Preparation

Wash the root vegetables and cook them unpeeled until fully cooked (easily pierced with a fork). There is no need to clean the product so that beet juices do not escape into the water during cooking. For the same reasons, cutting it is also not recommended. When cooked, remove from the pan and cool. Then you need to peel and grate. And in a larger frying pan, heated with vegetable oil (sunflower oil is suitable), pour the chopped onion. Fry it a little, put the beets in there too. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes on the lowest heat. Then add tomato paste and salt, cook for another ten minutes, stirring constantly. Delicious caviar is ready. For added spice just before the end, you can add crushed garlic. By the way, if you don’t know how to cook, then this kind of caviar is the best option (only then we don’t add garlic). Once ready, place the product in sterilized jars, pasteurize and seal. A great addition to the New Year's table!

How to cook borscht with beets: step-by-step recipe

And, of course, borscht - where would we be without it! This king of the table is a favorite everyday dish for many families. Undoubtedly, experienced housewives probably know and will be able to do it in one, two, three times, even with their eyes closed. Our “secrets” will be of interest, rather, to beginners. So let's get started.

Preparation

How to cook cabbage with beets?

And finally, another recipe for using this root vegetable - Gurian cabbage. You need to take a head of cabbage about 2 kilos, a couple of beets (or one large one), two carrots, a head of garlic, vinegar - a third of a glass, salt - a spoon, and sugar - a third of a glass. You also need vegetable oil - half a glass or a little less.

Shred the cabbage forks and grate the vegetables coarsely. Chop the garlic finely. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan. For the marinade, boil two glasses of water, add salt and sugar, vinegar and vegetable oil. Remove the marinade from the heat and pour it over the vegetables. An hour later, the delicious snack is ready. According to numerous reviews from guests, it’s just what you need with vodka! Bon appetit everyone!

Beets are a root vegetable with sweet purple-red flesh. Initially, the leaves, rather than the roots, were used as food (they can be cooked in the same way as spinach).

Beetroot is indeed a very valuable food plant. This is perhaps the only vegetable that does not lose its beneficial properties throughout the winter. It contains a lot of sugar, fiber, pectin, organic acids, vitamins (C, B1, B2, P, PP, folic acid), a large supply of minerals, especially sodium and potassium. It contains iron, phosphorus, cobalt, iodine, rubidium and cesium, as well as a lot of magnesium, which is involved in hematopoiesis and the development of bones and teeth. That is why this vegetable is useful to include in baby food. Beets are high in vitamin A, so they are good for the digestive and lymphatic systems. Beets have a diuretic effect, promote the removal of salts from the body, and also have a laxative effect for chronic constipation.

Beets are peeled before frying. If the beets are intended for boiling or baking, then the skin is not cut off, because subsequently the beets lose color. For the same reason, after cleaning, beets should not be kept in water for a long time.

Adviсe:
1. When choosing beets, you need to pay attention to their appearance. If beets have been in the ground for a long time, they become tough and woody - signs of this include a short neck, deep scars, or several rings of leaf scars around the top of the root crop.
2. When processing beets, it is advisable to cut off the upper and lower parts of the root crop, since nitrates usually accumulate in these parts (and more in the lower part).
3. You need to cook beets with skins in a small bowl. It is dipped in boiling water and covered with a lid. You should not cook beets in salted water: this will worsen their taste and change color. To maintain the juicy color of the beets, you can add a little sugar to the water.

Attention! It should be remembered: beets are very sensitive to nitrogen and are capable of accumulating nitrates in large doses, which adversely affects the liver and blood. In addition, beets contain a small amount of oxalic acid, which is harmful to the body. Therefore, you should not use it in excessive quantities.

Pickled beets

You need to ferment beets during the last quarter of the moon. Wash the beets, scrape them thoroughly with a knife and put them in a large barrel, filling them to the top. Fill the barrel with beets with water. Before the New Year, you can add water to the tub, but after Christmas you cannot add water, because almost all the beets will get wet. The beets can be filled with beet broth rather than water: to do this, boil 1-2 fresh peeled beets in water.

Alexey Tatyanchenko Author

15:45 17.09.2017

Beets are a very healthy and tasty product, and most importantly, they are very inexpensive. We invite you to supplement your menu with various dishes from this colorful root vegetable.

Every year new research discovers new beneficial properties of this product. That’s why we suggest you don’t bypass it and use it not only for making borscht and vinaigrette. You can prepare a great variety of beet dishes - we give a selection of very simple recipes.

A simple and very tasty combination - an ideal starter or a complete light dinner. If desired, it can be prepared from both raw and boiled beets.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 large beets (raw or boiled)
• 2 sweet and sour apples
• 2 tbsp. l. olive oil
• 1 tsp. wine vinegar
• 100 g feta cheese
• salt, pepper (to taste)

Cut the peeled beets into thin strips, remove the core from the apples and also cut into strips. Mix the apple and beets in a bowl, add vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and mix well. Keep in mind that feta itself is salty, so add just a little salt. Place the salad on plates and add feta cheese cut into small cubes.

Beetroot paste with nuts

This pasta is an excellent option for a dietary snack. You can spread it on crackers or toasted bread, or even add it as a dressing to a light green salad.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 250 g boiled beets
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 50 g shelled walnuts
• 2 tbsp. l. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. l. natural yogurt
• a few mint leaves
• salt, pepper (to taste)

Cut the peeled beets into small pieces, place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. When serving, garnish with mint leaves and chopped walnuts.

The most unpleasant and troublesome thing about preparing dishes from beets is the actual cooking. Cooking or baking beets takes at least an hour and a half. Often we simply don’t have it. In this case, the ideal solution would be boiled beets, which are sold in supermarkets - they are already peeled and vacuum packed.

Beetroot salad with prunes

Another simple and proven combination of flavors - this salad is an ideal solution for those watching their figure.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 boiled beets
• 1 tbsp. l. olive oil
• 40 g prunes
• 10 g sunflower sprouts (can be replaced with arugula)
• ½ tsp. balsamic vinegar
• 20 g parmesan
• salt, pepper (to taste)

Cut the beets into large slices, place in a bowl, add salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and washed prunes. Mix well, place on plates, add herbs and grated parmesan.

Salad with feta and parsley

A great detox salad option with fresh ingredients and some feta for added nutrition. This dish will be the perfect solution for your diet. Since feta itself is salty, we recommend not salting it, but if necessary, you can add a pinch.

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 raw beets
• large bunch of parsley
• 100 g feta cheese
• 2 tbsp. l. olive oil
• ground pepper (to taste)

Finely chop the parsley leaves, peel the beets and cut into large cubes. Mix beets, herbs, ground pepper, olive oil and diced feta cheese in a salad bowl.

Pkhali from beets and cabbage: a dietary snack in Georgian

Pkhali is a traditional Georgian snack made from vegetables, nuts and herbs. We suggest you prepare a beetroot version of this exceptionally tasty and nutritious snack.

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 3 boiled beets
• 1 small white onion
• 500 g white cabbage
• 3 cloves garlic
• 100 g shelled walnuts
• small bunch of cilantro
• 1 tsp khmeli-suneli
• 1 tbsp. l. wine vinegar

Chop the cabbage coarsely, throw it into boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, then drain in a colander and let the water drain well. Pre-grind the nuts in a blender. Place the cabbage in a blender or chopping bowl of a food processor, add chopped onion and garlic, nuts, boiled beets cut into small pieces, chopped cilantro, vinegar and suneli hops. Transfer the pasta to a bowl and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Then form balls of any size. Serve chilled.

Photo in article: www.shutterstock.com

How to quickly and correctly cook beets is a question that is asked not only by culinary experts. There are a lot of subtleties and tricks in cooking beets. Knowing them will make it easier to achieve results, make them tasty and healthy. So, how to cook beets quickly and easily?

How long does it take to cook beets?

Beets are cooked from 20 minutes to 3 hours depending on the method, size and age.

What's here:

Cook for 2-3 hours

If you place it in a saucepan of cold water and just place it on the stove, the cooking time will be 2-3 hours (depending on size). Cook beets quickly It won’t work, but, according to nutritionists, some vitamins will be preserved.

Cook in 1 hour

If in boiling water, then an hour. But the process can be accelerated.

A professional approach to cooking beets

Professional chefs cook beets like this: after they have boiled for about 30 minutes, drain the water and place under running cold water (the colder the better) for about 15 minutes. The temperature difference brings the beets to readiness. So, the whole process takes 40-50 minutes.

Cook beets in 15-25 minutes!

If you want to cook the beets even faster, put them on high heat without turning down or covering the pan with a lid. (True, in this case there will be nothing left of vitamin C). But then there must be a lot of water, it must cover the root vegetables 8 centimeters above, otherwise it will boil away before the vegetables are cooked. After 15 minutes - under ice water for 5-10 minutes. That's it, the beets are ready.

Boil 40 minutes +

“Long-lasting” method: high heat (if thrown into cold water) until boiling - medium heat (40 minutes) - low heat (until cooked). At the same time, pour water 5 centimeters above the level of the beets.

Always finish the process with cold water. Then the beets, in addition to being “ready”, are easy to peel.

Not fast, but tasty - in the microwave

Not the fastest, but very tasty way to cook beets - do not boil them, but bake them in the microwave or oven at 200 degrees, placing them in a baking bag. This will take 25-30 minutes; if the temperature is not so high or the beets are large and old, then it will take longer.

• Important! Vitamin C is destroyed at 190 degrees C.

By the way, baked beets are sweeter than boiled beets. And it is recommended to use it in recipes for salads and vinaigrettes.

More about the nuances of quick cooking of beets:

Choose small, flattened, thin-skinned Bordeaux varieties; they are tastier, prettier and cook faster.

Pour a spoonful of vegetable oil into boiling water along with the beets (I found a recommendation on the Internet, I haven’t tried it myself).

A barbaric method: peel the beets, cut them into pieces, in a word, do as you would with potatoes. Cook it in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, after cutting it into strips.

10 secrets on how to cook beets correctly, and more

1. Clean not clean. Wash thoroughly, using a brush. We don’t remove the peel, we cook it with it. We do not cut off the tail. If you break the integrity of the beets, juice will leak out of them and they will turn out watery and whitish. Beets are peeled if they are intended for stewing.

2. Salt, don’t salt. We do not salt the beets at the beginning of cooking, since the salt will evaporate anyway, and there is no point. In addition, salt will make the vegetable hard, which means it will increase the already long cooking time. Salt the beetroot dish directly. But not all housewives will agree with this. Some people believe that it is necessary to add salt at the beginning of cooking, otherwise it will turn out tasteless.

4. How to neutralize the smell. Not everyone loves the smell of beets. To neutralize it, throw a crust of bread into the pan.

5. How to check readiness. Check the readiness of the beets with a fork: they should enter the vegetable softly and easily.

6. If you have peeled fresh beets, it should not be exposed to air so as not to destroy vitamin C.

7. If the beets are dry. If your beetroot has dried out, do not rush to throw it away: scald it with boiling water, fill it with water at room temperature and let it swell. Then put it on the fire without changing the water.

8. How not to “color” vegetables in vinaigrette. WITH Are you planning to make a vinaigrette? Cut the boiled or baked beets into pieces and immediately sprinkle with vegetable oil, then other vegetables (potatoes, for example) will not be colored.

9. About the benefits of beetroot broth. Do not throw out the beet broth that remains after cooking the beets! It’s better to add lemon juice, cinnamon and ginger in equal quantities (adjust how much yourself, depending on the amount of broth). The result is a tasty and medicinal refreshing drink, no worse than one, the preparation of which is more troublesome. With diuretic, laxative, antihypertensive and action.

10. About beet tops. Be sure to learn how to prepare dishes from beet tops, pkhali, for example, add it to borscht and beetroot soup, because beets are healthy, and beet tops are even healthier - they contain a powerful dose of vitamins. Only young tops will be used for food; old ones are not suitable.

We use it as a side dish and make salads from it. How did beets gain their popularity? Delicate taste and great benefits that it brings to our body. And also with its rich red color. When autumn sheds all its bright colors and is replaced by a gray, cold winter, then we need colorful mood lifters like nothing else. This is where beets come to the rescue, saturate the body with vitamins and delight the eye with their color.

Beets go well with many foods, which is probably why it has received recognition from most housewives. However, its main value is in its composition. Beets contain fiber, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, vitamins C, B1, B5, B6, PP, E, folic acid, provitamin A, as well as malic, citric, oxalic, tartaric and lactic organic acids, essential to digest food. Thanks to the coloring substances to which beets owe their rich color, blood pressure decreases, capillary strength increases and hematopoietic function improves.

It is believed that beet dishes promote the removal of radionuclides, improve liver function and prevent the development of sclerosis. Beets are very useful for diabetics, since the zinc contained in beets increases the duration of action of insulin. In addition, this root vegetable removes toxins from the body and stimulates the immune system, so in winter beets should be on every table. In addition, it has anti-aging properties and promotes healthy bones, arteries and skin. And most importantly, unlike many other vegetables, beets retain their basic beneficial properties when heated! Today we will tell you what dishes can be prepared from this irreplaceable root vegetable.

The bright, bitterly sour taste of beet salad with orange juice will not only remind you of sunny summer, but will also help the body in the fight against vitamin deficiency. After all, apples, beets, and oranges contain a fairly large amount of vitamins, and the vegetable oil included in the salad will facilitate their absorption.

Beet salad with orange juice

Ingredients:
4-5 beets,
2 sour apples,
3 tbsp. orange juice,
vegetable oil,
sugar,
salt,
pepper.

Preparation:
Boil the beets, cool them and peel them. Peel the apples. Grate the beets and apples on a coarse grater, add orange juice, salt, sugar, pepper and vegetable oil. Mix thoroughly and serve.

You can make an unusual bright sauce from beets. Somewhat unexpected, but most importantly - simple, fast, beautiful and very tasty! Beetroot dip is a sauce with a consistency reminiscent of thick sour cream, intended for dipping any food that seems tasty to you, be it chips or fresh vegetables. We recommend serving the dip with vegetable dishes or crackers; try it, maybe you’ll like this dish so much that you’ll want to eat it just like that!

Ingredients:
150 grams of boiled beets,
1 clove of garlic,
2 tbsp. lemon juice,
2 tbsp. sesame,
1 tbsp. walnuts
2 tbsp. natural yogurt or sour cream,
ground pepper,
salt.

Preparation:
Boil and cool the beets, peel them and cut into cubes. Also peel and chop the garlic clove. 2 tbsp. sesame seeds and 1 tbsp. Grind walnuts in a coffee grinder. Mix all ingredients and grind using a blender. Dip is ready!

In addition to vinaigrette, there are a huge number of salads with the addition of beets. One of them is a salad with beets, chickpeas and pomegranate. A slightly unusual combination, however, the taste will not disappoint you. Thanks to the protein contained in chickpeas, the salad turns out to be very filling, so you can feed it to your beloved man with a clear conscience. This dish will also appeal to many women, since the salad is low-calorie and virtually fat-free, and the pomegranate in its composition promotes digestion and strengthens the immune system.

Salad with chickpeas, pomegranate and beets

Ingredients:
1 cup boiled chickpeas,
150-200 grams of boiled beets,
1 cup pomegranate seeds,
1 tbsp. olive oil,
1 tbsp. lemon or lime juice
green,
pepper

Preparation:
Before cooking chickpeas, soak them in cold water for 10 hours, then pour the chickpeas into a saucepan, add fresh water, bring to a boil and cook for about an hour over medium heat. Boil the beets and grate them on a coarse grater or finely chop them. Mix all ingredients and garnish with herbs.

Beets, like meat, go well with red wine. If you like experiments, try stewing beets in wine. So that the taste does not disappoint you, you should take a responsible approach to the choice of wine; remember, if you think that for one reason or another it is better not to drink it, then you should not cook with it. Sekla, stewed in wine, acquires an original taste, and the dish turns out to be a very rich burgundy color. Just what you need to surprise your friends! Continuing the beetroot and wine theme, try making wine borscht. The dish turns out very tasty and bright, and the originality is not even worth mentioning.

Beetroot in French

Ingredients:
400 g beets,
20 grams of vegetable oil,
100 grams of red wine,
2 cloves of garlic,
ground black pepper,
salt

Preparation:
Peel the beets and cut them into slices, fry a little in vegetable oil, then pour in wine, add salt, pepper and garlic pressed through a press. Simmer until done.

Baked beet borscht with wine

Ingredients:
beef fillet,
carrot,
a bottle of red wine,
vegetable oil,
fresh greens,
lemon,
salt,
pepper.

Preparation:
Wash the beets and carrots thoroughly, wrap them separately in foil and bake in the oven. While the vegetables are roasting, work on the meat. Salt and pepper it, cut into small pieces and fry in oil over medium heat so that only the top layer is fried. Then transfer the meat to the pan. Tie the greens with a rope and lower them into the pan, with the end of the rope extending beyond the edge of the pan. Pour wine over the meat and place on low heat, cover with a lid and cook for an hour. Then remove the greens and add a little boiling water. Peel the baked beets and carrots and cut them into small pieces, then add to the soup. Season with salt and pepper, add lemon juice and serve.

Nowadays, there is probably no such person who would not try risotto. We are used to eating risotto with meat, mushrooms, fish and seafood, herbs and even chocolate, but few can boast of having eaten risotto with beets. It's time to catch up!

Beetroot and risotto with red wine

Ingredients:
ham,
2 beets,
2 heads of garlic,
1 red onion,
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar,
1 tbsp. rice for risotto,
3 tbsp. broth,
1 glass of red wine
ground black pepper,
butter,
parsley,
Parmesan,
salt.

Preparation:
Finely chop the onion and ham. Peel the beets and grate them on a medium grater. Sauté onions, ham and beets, add balsamic vinegar and rice. Bring the broth to a boil and add 1 cup to the rice and beets. Wait until the rice has absorbed the broth and add 1 more cup, adding the remaining broth within 15 minutes. Simmer everything over low heat, stirring constantly. When the rice is almost ready, pour in the wine, then add the butter, chopped parsley and cheese. Fry thin slices of ham in a frying pan without oil, decorate the risotto with them and serve the dish.

Beetroot dishes are not only tasty but also very healthy. A lot of beetroot dishes have been invented, which means it’s time to diversify all our borscht and vinaigrettes. Summer and autumn are the times when an incredible amount of fresh vegetables appear, and we simply do not have the right to miss the chance to pamper ourselves and those around us with delicious, healthy and original dishes. Cook with beets and delight your loved ones with new tastes! And with us you can always find new recipes and cooking ideas.

Alena Karamzina