Just Beet It! 18 of Our Favorite Root Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Does cooking beetroot destroy nutrients? ›

Like many vegetables, the longer you cook beets—especially in water—the more the colorful phytonutrients leach out of the food and into the water. 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.

Raw or Cooked? Cooked. Low in calories and high in nutrients, cooked beets reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Benefits: Naturally occurring compounds in beets improve blood flow, help keep arteries healthy and reduce LDL cholesterol (the 'bad' kind).

Can you eat beets everyday? It's always best to follow a varied diet. Eating a small amount of beetroot every day is unlikely to do any harm, but a high intake could lead to low blood pressure, red or black urine and feces, and digestive problems for anyone with a sensitivity to the nutrients.

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.

Beetroot and its juice help your heart and lungs work better during exercise. Nitric oxide from beets increases blood flow to your muscles. Some athletes eat beetroot or drink beet juice when exercising to improve their performance. Beets are rich in folate (vitamin B9), which helps cells grow and function.

Beet is POSSIBLY SAFE for most people when taken by mouth in medicinal amounts. Beet can make urine or stools appear pink or red. But this is not harmful. There is concern that beets might cause low calcium levels and kidney damage.

Red and yellow beets provide natural antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties. The stronger the color, the more healthy chemicals are in the vegetable.

Because beets are high in ‌oxalic acid‌, you should avoid them if you are on a low-oxalate diet. In some people, eating foods that are high in oxalates can cause kidney stones, especially if you eat them in large amounts.

Is beet juice always bad for kidneys? Actually, it's not. Unless a person is at risk for kidney stones, beets may be key to reducing the risk of renal (kidney) failure during and after a heart x-ray. Coronary angiography is a specialized test allowing doctors to view the heart's blood vessels in action.

A doctor can advise on whether drinking beet juice alongside taking medications to lower blood pressure may lower a person's blood pressure too much. If this occurs, the individual may experience symptoms such as : dizziness or lightheadedness. blurry vision.

When should you not eat beetroot? ›

Anyone who has low blood pressure or is currently taking blood pressure medication should speak with a healthcare professional before adding beets or beetroot juice to their diet. Beets contain high levels of oxalates, which can cause kidney stones in people with a high risk of this condition.

Moreover, beets are low in calories with zero cholesterol and a small amount of fat. However, the root is high in sugar and carbohydrates, so while you can consume the greens on top of the root in unlimited quantities, you should only have the root a few times a week. Beets are best from early spring to late fall.

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.

Forget what you thought you knew about food prep: You don't HAVE to peel your vegetables (well, most of them, anyway).

Eating cooked beets won't give you the same quantity of nitrates, because cooking hampers some of the nitrates, but it certainly is good for your health, says Marjorie Nolan, RD.

Scrub the whole, unpeeled beets and place them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil or coat in butter, then roast at 400°F for 45–60 minutes until tender. Roasting is a low-moisture method that caramelizes sugars and helps beets retain more nutrients compared to boiling.

Betalains are highly concentrated in the peel and flesh of the beet, however, beets do undergo a steady loss of nutritional value with heat, so to get the most betalain benefit, beets should be steamed for no more than 15 minutes, if at all.