Jamie Oliver's Smoked Beets Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

How to cook beets in Jamie Oliver? ›

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. Grilling beets over wood or charcoal will add a layer of smokiness.

When it comes to roasting beets, adding a splash of vinegar kind of lightly pickles them while they cook, which curbs their sweetness and seasons them from the inside out. I like white distilled vinegar for this, but the other noted types will do. Ingredients: 1 bunch Beets.

No need to peel before or after baking. The skin, which is perfectly edible, just seems to disappear during the baking process. The trick to pan-roasted beets is to drop the temperature a bit. I always roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, and pretty much all the other veggies at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

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.

The roasted beets are wonderful on their own, seasoned simply with salt and pepper, or dressed up more with citrus juice, herbs, or balsamic vinegar. Serve them with any weeknight dinner, or add them to a holiday meal. These oven roasted beets keep well for days in the fridge, so they're great for making ahead.

Roast Them

Roasting is an overall healthy cooking method with minimal vitamin loss, particularly vitamin C. Roasted beets are rich and sweet with slight mineral flavors. Remember to avoid long cooking times and high temperatures, as these can reduce nutrients. Try using smaller bulbs if you want to prepare them faster.

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.

Beets are packed with nutrients. But as healthy as they are for humans, are beets safe for dogs? Yes, they are, when served fresh and in moderation. Beets are found in some commercial dog foods.

My favorite way to cook beets is to roast them, which gives a sweeter, richer, and deeper flavor than boiling does. Another advantage is that they don't bleed as much, especially if they're roasted whole. Incidentally, to get beet stains off your hands, wet them, rub them with coarse salt, then wash with soap.

Can you eat beets raw? ›

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.

My favorite way to cook beets is to roast them, which gives a sweeter, richer, and deeper flavor than boiling does. Another advantage is that they don't bleed as much, especially if they're roasted whole. Incidentally, to get beet stains off your hands, wet them, rub them with coarse salt, then wash with soap.

Don't remove the beet skin before cooking.

It's really not necessary and it's much easier to do so after cooking. Some also find that removing the skin prior to cooking takes away some of the beet's earthy test.