Even experienced housewives Sometimes people wonder how to cook beets correctly. It would seem that these delicious root vegetables are such frequent guests on the Russian table that we should know everything about them. But no, and with beets sometimes not everything is clear. When time is running out and guests are about to arrive on the doorstep, the questions of how long to cook the beets until they are ready and how to quickly cook the beets without losing color and useful properties. So, let's break it all down.

How long to cook beets until tender?

For medium-sized root vegetables weighing 120-150 grams, to achieve a condition suitable for salads and vinaigrettes, it is enough to cook for 40 minutes. If you are dealing with large specimens, cook them longer, from 50 minutes to an hour. Small fruits have a chance to cook in half an hour. But, as you know, every creation of nature is unique, so don’t rely only on the clock to determine how long to cook beets. Check the readiness with a sharp knife; if it easily enters the fruit, it means the beets are ready.

Cooking beets: process

Actually, how to cook beets correctly?

1. Without cutting off the tails, rinse the root vegetables under cold water. For more complete cleaning, use a brush or a stiff sponge for “Effect” type dishes. It is recommended to leave the tails when cooking beets so as not to damage the integrity of the peel and preserve the color of the beets.
2. Boil the kettle. Place the beets in a saucepan and cover with boiling water. It is recommended to pour cold water over vegetables and meat only when cooking soups - in this case a large number of useful substances passes into water, forming a rich broth. If you cook beets, other vegetables or meat for consumption without broth, pour them hot water, then the beneficial substances will remain inside the product.
3. If you are wondering how to cook beets and how to preserve the color of the beets, add a little vinegar while cooking. Honestly, boiling in peels and hot water already protects root vegetables from discoloration. Therefore, in my culinary practice, the need to add vinegar has never arisen.
4. Cover the pan with a lid so you don't have to add water frequently while cooking. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer until tender, adding occasionally hot water. Check readiness as described above.
5. Drain the water and soak the beets in cold water for a while. This will make it easier to clean later. After removing the root vegetables from the water, peel the thin skin with a knife and cut off the tails.
6. Peeled beets can be cut immediately to cool quickly for your favorite salad.

How to quickly cook beets

Sometimes you really want or just need to reduce the cooking time of beets to a minimum. A simple trick will help you with this. Start cooking the beets as usual by adding hot water. About 10 minutes after boiling, drain the water and pour cold water over the root vegetables. Bring to a boil again, check readiness and, if necessary, repeat the procedure. This way you can quickly cook beets. Well, if you have very little time, don’t despair, the taste of many salads will not be affected at all, and sometimes it can even improve if you add beets, cooked until half cooked.

And lastly: before cooking beets, washing, peeling or cutting them, wear rubber gloves so as not to stain the skin of your hands beautifully. purple. Enjoy your meal!

We all love beets for their unique, no matter what similar taste and a lot of useful properties. It is most valued for the prevention of heart and vascular diseases, as well as anemia: beets are rich in substances such as iron, potassium and magnesium, which have a beneficial effect on hematopoietic processes in the body.

Unfortunately, we are accustomed to thinking that cooking beets is long and tedious: indeed, if you simply place them in a pan with cold water, they will cook for 2 to 3 hours, which cannot repel anyone who values ​​their time from this product .

We decided to collect the most effective tips, how to cook whole beets as quickly as possible and at the same time preserve all of their unique beneficial properties.

Temperature changes

This method is ideal suitable for those, who decided to quickly cook whole beets in a saucepan.

If you urgently need boiled beets to prepare a dish, we advise you to act like a professional chef: leave them in boiling water for half an hour, drain the water and immediately place them under running ice water.

Leave the beets to cool under water for 10–15 minutes: such a sharp temperature change will bring them to readiness.

Boiling water

Bring the water to a boil and, placing the beets in the pan, cook for about 40 minutes, maintaining high heat. Pour plenty of water, because high temperature it will boil away very quickly.

Big fire

To quickly cook beets on the stove, you will need high heat and 20 minutes of free time.

It is very important to pour in more water: the root vegetables should be covered with about a ten-centimeter layer of already boiling water. Otherwise, the water will boil away long before the beets have time to cook. Leave the pot on and simmer for 15-20 minutes, then run the root vegetables under ice-cold running water for 5 minutes. The beets are ready.

The only drawback of this express method is that nothing remains in the product. useful vitamin WITH.

Baking in the oven

Try cooking beets quickly in the oven using an ovenproof bag. This method is as fast as cooking, and, most importantly, just as (if not more) delicious: baked beets sweeter than boiled, which can be successfully used when preparing, for example, vinaigrette.

Place the washed, unpeeled beets in a bag (you can also use foil) and place in the oven, preheated to 180–200 degrees. Small young root vegetables will be ready in half an hour, and large and ripe ones in 40–50 minutes.

In the microwave

If you want to cook beets quickly and tasty in the microwave, you will need about 20 minutes.

Place the unpeeled, washed beets in a special container for microwave ovens or a plastic bag, without tying it, but folding it. Set the microwave to medium power and cook for 7-10 minutes. Check for doneness and let the beets sit for another 5-10 minutes if they are still half-raw.

In a slow cooker

You can also cook beets quickly and easily in a slow cooker. The simplest and fastest option is to cook whole vegetables of approximately the same size in their skins.

On the “Steam” program (which can easily be replaced by the “Soup” or “Cooking” programs), the beets need to be completely filled with water and left to cook for 40 minutes. After the end of the program, check readiness and, if necessary, add another 10 minutes.

Never cut off the tail or peel the beets (unless you plan to stew them for your dish). It will be enough to wash it thoroughly with a sponge and send it to boil in this form: this way it will retain its beautiful saturated color.

Speaking of color: after boiling, add half a teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice- so it will become even brighter.

If you're cooking beets for a vinaigrette or other salad and don't want them to color the rest of the vegetables, toss them thoroughly in vegetable oil after cutting them before mixing them with other ingredients.

Beets are a healthy, but difficult to prepare product. Often, beginners are unable to properly cook the root vegetable so that it becomes soft, but retains its elastic structure and does not turn into mush. How to choose a tasty and sweet vegetable? How long should the workpiece be boiled so that it does not remain too hard and tough? What to add to cooking water to improve taste qualities beets? And how to speed up the preparation of root vegetables, but preserve all the beneficial properties?

Perfect taste and quality

Small and medium-sized vegetables are used for salads, stews and first courses. If the beets are too large and round, then they are of the forage type. Such root vegetables are unsweetened and unleavened, take a long time to cook and contain fewer vitamins than table varieties.

The base for the vinaigrette is carefully inspected. Specimens with rot, green spots and pale skin should not be purchased. Proper beets have a uniform, rich red or burgundy hue. Which varieties taste better? Round or oblong and flattened? Second. They are juicier and sweeter.

It’s easy to check the taste of the product: remove the peel from one vegetable or cut it in half. If the color of the pulp is bright and rich, the root vegetable will produce perfect salad. Pale beets tend to be bland and tasteless, like grass.

You cannot cook a product with damaged skin. But what to do with the control copy? Use to make freshly squeezed juice. Or cut into strips and put into a double boiler or slow cooker. The vegetable will soften in 20–25 minutes. The workpiece can be added to diet salad or blend with vegetable oil and salt in a blender. It will work out diet snack, however, with minimum quantity vitamin C, because ascorbic acid evaporates during steam treatment.

Preparing vegetables

Beet tails, unlike the tops, are not removed. They act as a plug that prevents juice from flowing out. If you cut off the bottom of a root vegetable, it will lose most of it when cooked. useful microelements, will become pale and tasteless.

The beet stock is washed under the tap. The peel is carefully sanded with a soft brush to wash off the adhering soil, but not to damage it. upper layer. Root vegetables are not peeled before cooking. The washed pieces are placed in a pan and brought to readiness.

Fast way

How to save an hour and a half and get soft juicy vegetable, whose peel is removed in a matter of seconds? Take advantage of the secrets professional chefs. You only need two ingredients: boiling water and 40–60 ml vegetable oil. Plus large saucepan and a bowl of ice.

For 2–3 medium-sized root vegetables, take about 4–5 liters of water. If there is a lot of liquid and little food, the moisture quickly evaporates and heats up more. First, oil is poured into the boiling base. Stir, and after 3-5 minutes add the beets. They wait half an hour, drain the liquid, and throw the hot root vegetables into ice.

Due to temperature changes, the pulp remains elastic, but not too hard. And the peel peels off and is easily removed even without a knife. The method has only one drawback. Ascorbic acid evaporates due to a sharp change in temperature. But in boiled beets what remains is iron, potassium, beta-carotene and calcium.

Option for vinaigrette

In order for the root vegetable to retain its rich color, it is placed not in hot, but in cold water. And add freshly squeezed lemon juice or table vinegar. Acid retains vitamins and dyes contained in beet pulp. For 3–5 liters of liquid you will need 30–40 ml of additive. To keep the vegetables sweetish, add 1-2 tbsp to the cooking water. l. Sahara.

Place the washed beets in a saucepan and place on maximum heat. When the liquid base boils, set the time for 2 hours. The container must be covered with a lid to increase the temperature of the water and speed up the cooking of root vegetables. A match is stuck into the workpiece. If it goes in easily, remove the pan. You can pour cold water over the beets so that the skins separate from the pulp, but this is not a necessary condition.

If you want your vegetables to become sweet without sugar and honey, then you need to bake them. First, bring until half cooked in boiling water. Then remove and place on paper towels for 5-10 minutes to absorb moisture. Half-raw root vegetables are transferred to foil or a baking sleeve and sent to the oven. Choose a temperature from 190 to 250 degrees. The preparation will take from 30 to 40 minutes. Old beets take longer to become ready, while young ones take longer.

1. To preserve vitamins, vegetables are brought to a boil at maximum heat and then switched to minimum temperature. The product simmers for 3 to 4 hours, always covered.
2. Cooking time can be reduced salt. Add 25–35 g of seasoning to boiling water and stir for 5 minutes. The spice purifies water from oxygen, which causes microelements to evaporate. The beets are placed in a salted boiling base. But so that it does not lose its sweetish taste, add sugar and a little vinegar.
3. Black or Rye bread. The crust is placed in a boiling base 30–40 minutes before the root vegetables are ready.
4. Boiled vegetables are stored only under the lid, for no longer than 2 days. They quickly lose ascorbic acid and beneficial properties.
5. If the beets become dry and wrinkled, there is no need to throw them away. The workpiece is doused boiling water, and then placed in warm water to allow the product to swell.
6. The decoction remaining after boiling the root vegetable can not be poured out, but used as a laxative and diuretic. Just add a pinch of cinnamon or a few tablespoons of lemon juice to the drink.

Beets are being prepared different ways: in a saucepan, oven, double boiler and even microwave. The main thing is not to cut off the tails and peel when cooking, so that the product does not lose vitamins and color. Dip the hot root vegetable into cold water or ice. Then the color of the product will be rich, and the peel will easily separate from the pulp.

Video: how to cook beets quickly

1. Wash the beets and cut them in half, place them in a microwave-safe bowl, pour in a third of a glass of cold water.
2. Set the power to 800 W, cook small pieces for 5 minutes, large pieces for 7-8 minutes.
3. Check for doneness with a fork, if necessary make it a little softer, return to the microwave for another 1 minute.

In a pressure cooker - 10 minutes

Place the beets in a pressure cooker, add water and set to “Cooking” mode. In a pressure cooker, beets will cook in 10 minutes, and very large ones in 15. After the end of cooking, it will take another 10 minutes for the pressure to subside and the pressure cooker to be opened without effort and safely.

Important information about cooking beets

- It is correct to place beets in boiling unsalted water, - because beets are sweet. In addition, salt “tans” the vegetable during cooking, making it hard. It is better to salt the prepared dish - then the salty taste will be organic.

When cooking, you need to make sure that the water completely covers the beets, and if necessary, add boiling water, and after cooking, you can put them in ice water for cooling.

If you do not use a bag to cook the beets, it is recommended to add a tablespoon of 9% vinegar, a tablespoon of lemon juice or a teaspoon of sugar to the water to preserve the color.

To get rid of the strong beetroot smell, place a crust of black bread in the pan in which the beets are cooked.

Young beet leaves(tops) are edible: you need to cook the tops for 5 minutes after the water boils. The tops should be used in soups and vegetable side dishes.

- You should choose beets like this:: the beets should be medium in size, the color of the vegetable should be dark red. If you can determine the thickness of the skin in a store, know that it should be thin.

Boiled beets can be keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, after which the beets will begin to lose taste properties, will begin to dry out. Boiled beets should not be stored for more than 3 days.

Boiled beets, as a component, are part of a variety various dishes(, salads,), so many are interested in how to properly cook beets. If you don’t cook it enough, it will be uncomfortable to chew; if you overcook it, some of the beneficial substances will be destroyed, the taste will deteriorate, and, again, chewing overcooked root vegetables is not very pleasant.

So that dishes containing boiled beets, turned out to be tasty and healthy, we choose fruits that are not too large and preferably not forage varieties (that is, dark in color), young root vegetables are best. In principle, forage varieties are quite edible, but with them it turns out not so tasty. In addition, the standards for applying chemical fertilizers for forage crops are somewhat different from the standards used for feeding food crops. That is, fodder beets may contain large quantity unhealthy substances.

How to cook beets correctly?

Let's look at ways to cook beets correctly and quickly. Some advise cooking beets for up to 2 or even 3 hours. Of course, about the usefulness of the product after heat treatment After that amount of time, you don’t even have to think about it. How long to cook beets depends on the variety and the size of the root crops. Professional chefs cook medium-sized beets for 20-40 minutes, without cutting off the tail, in the skins, then pour cold water and after 15 minutes the beets are ready, precisely thanks to the temperature contrast of the procedures. All that remains is to peel it and cut or grate it. Don’t let it seem to you that the beets will be too tough - we have teeth specifically for chewing, and more vitamins will be retained.

Preparation

We select fruits of approximately the same size and wash them thoroughly. Fill the beets in a saucepan with cold water and bring to a boil. high fire, then turn down the heat. When cooking, the water should completely cover the fruit. It is best to cook over low or medium-low heat. This method of heat treatment is optimal. If the root vegetables are large, you can, of course, peel them and cut them into pieces, but it’s better to just cook them a little longer, I think 40-60 minutes will be enough.

To improve the taste when cooking beets, you can add a little fennel and dill seeds (about 1 teaspoon per 2 liters of water). This technique not only improves the taste finished product, but also promotes the absorption of vitamins and other nutrients.

How long to cook peeled beets again depends on the variety and size of the fruit. Peeled small beets are cooked for 20-30 minutes, no more, this is quite enough, especially if the beets are young. To prevent peeled beets from losing their characteristic bright burgundy color during cooking, you can add 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar per 1 liter of water.

To determine how long to cook beets for a salad, you need to decide whether you boil the whole fruit or pre-cut it. In general, beets for salad are boiled for the same amount of time as for preparing other dishes.

How long to cook young beets?

To prepare young root vegetables, just boil them for 20 minutes. Then cool the beets in cold water 10 minutes, peel, and you can use: cut, grate, punch with a blender.

Many people are interested in how to cook beets in a bag. Some people cook beets in cellophane and even plastic bags. It seems that this method is not very healthy, but using cellophane in some way is still acceptable, but polyethylene, when heated, will definitely add unhealthy substances to the beets. Place the beets in a bag, make a few holes with a toothpick, put it in a pan of boiling water and cook as usual. It is better, however, to make a bag of foil, place the beets in it and bake in the oven at medium temperature for 40-60 minutes. This method is an excellent alternative to cooking.

The calorie content of boiled beets is approximately 44 calories per 100 g of product.