You might have thought that beets are sweet enough but when you taste these Balsamic Roasted Beets you might change your mind!
Actually - these beets are so good I was popping those little cubes in my mouth at room temperature! They are also good spread over salad greens to add some heft to your salad. If you are using a Balsamic salad dressing they will fit right in!
I find beets take absolutely forever to roast or boil. And it is always longer than I imagine. A lot of recipes recommend 50-60 minutes cook time but even baby beets are often not fork tender at the end of that timing.
I have resorted to pressure cooking my beets unless they are diced and part of a roasted root vegetable dish.
The recipe is written assuming you have to cook the beets. Mine took 17 minutes of pressuer cooking but be sure to follow your manufacturer's instructions if you go the pressure cooker route.
But you have a couple of choices here:
To save time, you can start from a batch of baked or boiled beets that have been trimmed and peeled. (Costco carries already cooked beets.)
or
Beets are so sturdy you can cook up a batch a few days ahead of when you want to make these.
If you start with cooked beets then you are only looking at 15 minutes to heat the beets and another 10 minutes to concentrate the glaze.
You will see in the picture the garnish is fresh cilantro. I seems like an odd combination but I was absolutely blown away by the combination when I made these Hasselback Roasted Beets in Lime Butter.
They are also sturdy as leftovers. They will keep very nicely for 2 or 3 days after you have made them as well.
Ingredients
- 4 medium beets
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- fresh cilantro for garnish optional
Instructions
- Wash and trim stalk end of beets. Boil vigourously for 60-75 minutes until fork tender when pierced. (Alternatively roast at 350° for 60-75 minutes). Check beets for doneness after 55 minutes.
- Drain beets and allow to cool enought to be able to handle them. Trim off root end and peel. (See Variation below if are starting with already cooked beets.)
- Increase oven to 425 ° Line a glass baking dish with parchment paper to make clean up easier. Make sure the parchment reaches the edges and has a bit of a lip if possible so no juices can run underneath the parchment. (Alternatively just spray the dish with cooking spray.)
- Cut beets into about 1" cubes and toss with the olive oil and salt and transfer to the baking dish.
- Drizzle the Balsamic/honey mixture over the cubes and stir to coat them evenly. Roast a further 10 minutes or so until beets are evenly heated and the Balsamic mixture is thick and sticks to the beets.
- Garnish with fresh cilantro if desired. Serve immediately hot or over a green salad at room temperature.
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