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Every Saturday my dad heads to the local farmers market and, if the season is right, comes home with a big bunch of beets, which he then scrubs clean, boils, quarters, and marinates in oil and vinegar.
So by the time I show up in the morning we have a bowlful of beets for breakfast or lunch. Boiled beets are fine; the method is fast, energy efficient, and since the beets are so naturally strongly flavored, combined with the dressing, it works.
That said, over the years I can’t count the number of people who have tried to get me to roast beets instead of boiling them. They’ve insisted that roasted beets just taste better than boiled.
I have roasted beets. Quite frankly, I haven’t been able to tell that big of a difference from boiled.
Until now.
Now I get it. These beets are great! The long roasting caramelizes the sugars in the beets adding all sorts of awesome flavor.
The trick? Make sure the beets are wrapped in foil so they don’t dry out, and then forget to set the oven timer so you cook them 20 to 30 minutes longer than you think you should.
By the time I took these beets out of the oven, they had roasted for an hour 45 minutes. There was so much caramelization the peels were like candy. They were a little harder to peel, but wow, so worth it.
The orange zest and balsamic glaze? Double wow. Like orange-y beet-y balsamic-y fireworks in your mouth. Watch out though, talk about high glycemic. These beets are addictive. Pace yourself. They will last for several days in the fridge.
Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds red beets, medium sized, scrubbed clean, green tops removed (see beet greens recipe for what to do with beet greens)
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Preheat oven to 400°F and line pan with aluminum foil.
2 Rub beets with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, place in pan, cover with foil: Place the beets in the pan. Rub olive oil over the beets, and sprinkle with salt. Cover the beets with another sheet of aluminum foil.
3 Roast for 1 to 2 hours: Roast for 1 to 2 hours, depending on the size of the beets and how old they are. After 1 hour, test every fifteen minutes by poking a beet with the tines of a fork.
Once the fork tines go in easily, the beets are tender and cooked. Remove from the oven.
4 Prepare balsamic glaze: While the beets are cooling, prepare the balsamic glaze. In a small, shallow sauté pan, add the balsamic vinegar and sugar. Heat on high until the vinegar has reduced to a syrup consistency. Remove from heat.
5 Peel and cut cooked beets: After the beets have cooled for several minutes, but are still warm to the touch, peel off the outer skins and discard. Cut the beets into quarters or more, bite-sized pieces.
6 Pour glaze over beets: Place beets in a serving bowl. Pour balsamic glaze over the beets. Stir in grated orange zest, and add salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with a little orange zest to serve.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze
Totally amazing as advertised!! My family was so quiet devouring the beets. Definitely make more than you want!
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Hello :) Seems like a yummy recipe! Can’t wait to try it out this weekend.
Do you think I could sub the sugar with maple syrup for the glaze?
Hi Marina, I haven’t tried subbing the sugar with maple syrup but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If you try it that way, please let us know how it turns out for you!
We made this exactly as the recipe called for with one exception, we cut the sugar to 1 teaspoon, because we are not fans of sweet glazes. Unfortunately for us it was still sweet for us. We will use the technique for roasting the beets but will just reduce the balsamic vinegar alone next time.
Absolutely delicious!
I am lazy, so I peeled beets first and cut them into 1/4″ slices. Put them in a roasting pan with olive oil, fresh thyme, salt and pepper. Covered pan tightly with foil and roasted for an hour. I didn’t want to take the time to reduce balsamic, so I uncovered beets and poured a few tablespoons balsamic vinegar over and sprinkled the sugar over as well. Roasted another ten minutes and served warm. Forgot the orange zest, and they were still extremely yummy. Will definitely make these again! Thank you.
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