Roasting beets results in delicious beets to use to top salads, add to recipes that call for cooked beets or even served up for a simple, tasty beet side dish.
Fresh herbstarragon, parsley, thyme, dill or basil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Wash and scrub the beets well. If they have stems, cut them off close to the base.
Place the unpeeled beets in an oven safe baking dish. Drizzle the beets with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.
Top the beets with several sprigs of fresh herbs.
Cover the baking dish tightly with foil or a lid.
Place them in an oven at 400 degrees and cook for 45-55 minutes. Check the roasting beets around 45 minutes by pricking them with a fork to see how tender they are. They are ready when the fork easily enters the beet with little resistance. If they aren’t quite ready, cook for another 15 minutes and check again.
Once beets are tender, remove from the oven.
When they are cool enough to handle, gently use a small knife or your fingers to peel off the skin. Slice or cut as desired and serve up or save to use in recipes.
Notes
Tips for Best Results:Use fresh herbs for best flavor. As the herbs heat when roasting beets, the flavor infuses the beets and gives them such an amazing flavor.Be sure to tightly cover the beets before cooking. If using a lid, make sure it fits tightly. This step makes sure all the heat stays in the pan and cooks the beets more efficiently.Choose beets that are close to the same size to make sure they cook evenly. If your beets vary in size, some may cook more quickly than others. If that happens, simply remove the beets that are ready and allow the others to continue cooking.Keep the beet green tops if they are healthy looking. These can be sautéed alone or with other greens for a tasty side dish. They also work well to throw into a vegetable stock or broth.