How To: Roast Beets

An unfortunate beet incident nearly ten years ago really turned me off from wanting to work with beets ever again. It was not that they tasted bad, it was that I ended up with hot pink hands for days afterward and got in trouble for getting beet juice all over the kitchen, effectively staining parts of my mothers kitchen counter for ever. If you have had a similar experience or simply fear one, then leave your worry behind and see how easy it can be to make beets.

Makes: 1 roasted beet

Preparation time: 35m
Cooking time: 35m
Total time: 1h35m

Ingredients:

Equipment: disposable plastic gloves, aluminum foil

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 425ºF/220ºC.
  2. Wash the beet then wrap it in aluminum foil. If you have multiple medium or large beets to roast, wrap each one individually. If you have small beets (less than 2” diameter) you can wrap two together for roasting.
  3. Place the wrapped beet (or beets) in a casserole dish or onto a baking sheet (this is just to contain any possible leakage) and place into the oven.
  4. After 1 hour, remove the beet from the oven and let it cool in the aluminum for about 30 minutes. This allows the beet to continue to cook and it also helps to loosen up the skin for easier peeling later.
  5. Once the beet is cooled, put on the plastic gloves and unwrap the aluminum foil. Rub your fingers across the surface of the beet and the skin should peel right off. Discard the foil and skin and cut the root base off the beet, then slice and serve or prepare as desired. After the beets are cooked they do not spray when cut like they do when they are raw, and if you wear plastic gloves you do not end up with hot pink hands. Just remember that golden and chioggia beets stain just as much as the red ones do but since they are lighter in color it is less noticable.