How to quickly cook beets? All working methods, tips and secrets!

How to quickly cook beets in a saucepan on the stove

Beets take a long time to prepare, many housewives know this. If you buy large root vegetables, the boiling time can reach three hours. But what’s worse is that large specimens often have whitish streaks and a light color inside. Therefore, it is recommended to choose small root vegetables, the size of which does not exceed a fist.

Classic cooking with acceleration:

Wash the beets, place them in a saucepan and add water so that it covers the root vegetable by at least two centimeters. Since the vegetable is cooked for a long time, some of the liquid will definitely boil away.
Place on the stove, bring to a boil over high heat and reduce so that the liquid barely simmers; there is no need for it to actively gurgle.
Cover the pan and cook for about half an hour.
Drain all the boiling water from the beets and place under a tap with ice water. Hold for 10 minutes.
Then close the tap and leave the beets in cold water for another half hour or at least ten minutes.

Thanks to pouring cold water and a sharp change in temperature, the beets will definitely reach full readiness. Also, after this cooking, the skin comes off very well.

If you have very little time, you can cook the beets in pieces on the stove. But you should understand that in this case the taste and color will suffer greatly.

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What is important to know when cooking beets in pieces:

You can’t add a lot of water;
to preserve color, you can pour in a little vinegar, lemon juice or add a pinch of dry acid;
You need to cool the beet pieces in the same liquid in which the vegetable was cooked.

If beets are prepared for cold soups (beet soup) or borscht, then the broth can be added to the dish along with the pieces. It will add brightness and the desired taste.

Important! Beets are always cooked separately from other vegetables. You can’t put them in a pan together with carrots or potatoes, they will spoil the taste and color of each other. In addition, they have different cooking times.

How long does it take to cook a vegetable in a pan?

Beets are one of those root vegetables that require long heat treatment, almost comparable to cooking meat.

Whole beet tubers, depending on their size, are boiled in a saucepan for 30 minutes to 2 hours:

This slow cooking of this vegetable is explained by two main features:

they begin to boil it by immersing the vegetable in a pan containing initially cold water, which causes the cooking time to increase by the time the water boils;
a small amount of starch in the composition and a special structure of beet pulp (high fiber content).

In addition, young beets cook twice as fast as overwintered beets.

Quickly cook beets whole in a bag in the microwave

None of the existing methods of cooking beets can compete with cooking in a microwave oven. She will bring the capricious root vegetable to absolute readiness very quickly, on average it takes 12-15 minutes. Plus it will take a little time to cool. It is important to understand that the taste will change slightly. Sometimes the vegetable becomes a little limp, but it’s quite suitable for salads.

How to properly cook beets in the microwave in a bag:

Choose small root vegetables, rinse thoroughly from the soil, no need to wipe.
Place the beets in a regular plastic bag, take a strong bag so that it does not accidentally burst. Tie it in a knot. You can place the bag on a plate to be safe.
Make several holes in the top of the bag through which steam will escape.
Place in the microwave. At power 800, cook for about 10-12 minutes. You can always get beets and check them. If the microwave oven power is less or the beets are large, the time increases to 15-18 minutes.
Next, you need to carefully remove the finished beets and leave for 10-15 minutes. If you need to speed up the cooling, you can place it with or without the bag in cold water.

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In the bag you can cook not only whole beets, but also halves, quarters, and slices. The smaller the pieces, the less time the process will take. In addition, beets are sometimes prepared not in a bag, but in a container with added water.

How long to cook beets until tender?

Different cooking options allow the process to be carried out in a period of time from eight minutes to two hours. The vegetable itself can affect the cooking time in two ways.

Size. The smaller the fruit, the sooner it will cook.
Age. Old beets need to be cooked longer than young ones.

It is impossible to determine the exact cooking time for the vegetable. The housewife should check the readiness herself using a fork: if the device easily pierces the beets, then the cooking is over.

Unpeeled boiled beets can be stored in the refrigerator for two days. After this period, the vegetable loses its nutritional and taste properties.

Recipe for cooking beets and carrots for vinaigrette in a slow cooker

The multicooker perfectly replaces the stove; you can cook any dishes in it, including beets and carrots for the famous and beloved vinaigrette. Just under no circumstances together. Vegetables are boiled separately in water one at a time. But it is allowed to place a steamer basket on top of the water with beets and place the carrots in it. This way the vegetables will cook at the same time.

How to properly cook beets in a slow cooker:

Select small root vegetables, rinse, and clean contaminated areas with a brush, being careful not to damage the skin.
Place in a slow cooker and add enough water to cover the vegetable.
Turn on the “Soup” mode and cook for an hour. If necessary, the time can be increased. If the multicooker has a pressure cooker mode, then it can be significantly reduced. But you should follow the instructions for the device.
You can use another method - add less water, 3 cm is enough, turn on the “Stew” program and the timer for 2 hours.

Cooked beets must be immediately removed from the multicooker bowl. If suddenly it does not have time to reach readiness, then you can place it under running cold water. Carrots don't need this.

Important! In no case should you add salt to water for beets; it will worsen the taste of the vegetable. But you can throw in a couple of pinches of granulated sugar, it will only do good.

How to quickly boil beets

Method No. 1

All professional chefs know this secret. Using this method, the root vegetable is cooked for about 20 minutes! The whole secret is that a sharp temperature change accelerates the process of softening plant fibers. That's physics!

We take medium-sized root vegetables, put them in a saucepan, fill it with boiling water and put it on high heat without covering it with a lid. The water should cover the vegetables with a layer of at least 8 cm - otherwise, it will quickly boil away, and the root vegetables will not have time to cook.

After 15 minutes of vigorous boiling, drain the water from the pan and place it along with the vegetables under a stream of very cold water. Soak the boiled product in ice water for 5-10 minutes, making sure that the water remains ice-cold (ice cubes will help). Ready! You can make a salad!

Method number 2

How many minutes does it take to cook beets using this method? Read on!

Pour boiling water over the root vegetables, keep them on medium heat for 30 minutes from the moment they boil again, drain the water and immediately place the pan with the product under a stream of ice water for 15 minutes.

If the tap water is not cold enough, stock up on ice cubes. In general, according to this recipe, beets are cooked for 45-50 minutes, taking into account the cooling time.

* Tip To prevent the beets from losing color, pour 1 tbsp into the boiling water. fresh lemon juice, or 1 tsp. sugar, or 1 tsp. vinegar.

Secrets and tricks that will help you cook beets very quickly and tasty

It is best to cook beets in their skins. This way, this vegetable will better retain its taste and color, and it will contain more vitamins. It is also not recommended to cut off the tails or leaves; it is important to maintain maximum integrity of the shell. It is advisable not to pierce the first half hour of boiling.
If you wash beets poorly, the vegetable will have an earthy taste. To easily and quickly remove all dirt, it is recommended to first soak the root crop in water for about fifteen minutes, and then rub it with a sponge or soft brush.
It is advisable to choose beets of the same size for cooking so that all root vegetables are ready at the same time.
In addition to cooking using the methods listed above, you can steam beets. This way it will retain even more vitamins and taste, and will not lose color.
A very good option is cooking in foil in the oven. It is convenient if you are baking meat or another dish; the wrapped root vegetables are simply placed side by side on the grill.
When beets are cooked, a specific aroma spreads. To avoid it, you can throw a crust of black bread into the water.

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Useful tips

Before starting cooking, I want to tell you about some of the intricacies of cooking beets. Knowing them, you will definitely get a tasty, beautiful, juicy and healthy root vegetable.

Whole cooked beets are used to prepare salads, vinaigrettes, and side dishes.
Before cooking or baking, the vegetable must be thoroughly washed to remove any remaining soil. Use a regular sponge, which is used to wash dishes, but with the rough side.
There is no need to cut off the roots or the top, nor do you need to cut it into pieces. When cooked, the beet juice will go into the water, the water will turn red, and the vegetable itself will turn pale and not tasty.
No salt is added during cooking.

To get the beets ready faster, after heat treatment, place the vegetable in cold water, adding ice cubes, or place it under running ice water. Due to the sharp temperature change, the vegetable reaches readiness faster.
Everyone knows how poorly beet juice is washed off. To prevent your hands from getting dirty while cooking, before cutting beets, grease your hands with sunflower oil, then lightly blot them with a paper napkin.
If your fingers still get dirty, wipe the skin with lemon juice, citric acid or lemon peel. If there is no lemon, use a 9% vinegar solution.

How to cook beets in the oven

Cooking time: 20-25 minutes.
Wrap each beet in aluminum foil and bake with the temperature control set to 190 degrees. The oven is especially convenient for cooking large quantities of root vegetables that do not fit in the pan. For example, such a recommendation may be useful for preparing several dishes (salad, vinaigrette, herring under a fur coat). It is also recommended to spray the beets with vegetable oil - this will prevent the vegetables from staining other products.

How to cook boiled beets the traditional way

How to properly boil root vegetables (and carrots too) for salad so that they retain all the important nutrients?

Wash the beets and carrots well with a brush, do not cut off any parts of the root vegetables, place them in a saucepan and fill them with cold water to a level of 5 cm above.

Turn on high heat and wait for the water to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. Take out the carrots and put them in ice water. Cook the beets for another 20 minutes over medium heat and then until done over low heat. Check readiness with a knife or toothpick. The point should go in easily.

Drain the water in which the product was cooked and fill it with ice water. After cooling, clean and crumble to suit your needs.

*Tip: Always try to use the temperature difference technique when you cook vegetables! Firstly, in this case they retain their color and fiber structure, and secondly, they are very easy to clean!

Also remember that salting the water at the beginning of cooking is not recommended, since boiling food in salted water slows down the process and the vegetables harden.