How to quickly cook beets - 4 ways to cook beets: in the microwave, in a saucepan, in the oven, in a slow cooker

How to cook beets quickly

Not every housewife wants to spend all her free time in the kitchen, so she is looking for tips that will help her quickly but tasty prepare this or that dish. So, cooking beets can take up to 4 hours, but there are some tricks that will help reduce the time several times.

First, boil the water, then add the beets and wait for half an hour, then pour out the water and leave the root crop under running very cold water for 15 minutes. Due to a sharp jump in temperature, the beets will reach full readiness and in the end the process will take only 50 minutes.

There is another option that will allow you to cook beets even faster. Place the beets in the pan, pour in a lot of water and cook over high heat with the lid closed for 15 minutes, then also leave the root vegetable under running cold water for 10 minutes.

How long does it take to cook beets?

Beets are cooked from 20 minutes to 3 hours depending on the method, size and age.

What's here:

Cook for 2-3 hours

If you place it in a saucepan of cold water and just place it on the stove, the cooking time will be 2-3 hours (depending on size). to cook beets quickly , but, according to nutritionists, some vitamins will be preserved.

Cook in 1 hour

If in boiling water, then an hour. But the process can be accelerated.

A professional approach to cooking beets

Professional chefs cook beets like this: after they have boiled for about 30 minutes, drain the water and place under running cold water (the colder the better) for about 15 minutes. The temperature difference brings the beets to readiness. So, the whole process takes 40-50 minutes.

Cook beets in 15-25 minutes!

If you want to cook the beets even faster, put them on high heat without turning down or covering the pan with a lid. (True, in this case there will be nothing left of vitamin C). But then there must be a lot of water, it must cover the root vegetables 8 centimeters above, otherwise it will boil away before the vegetables are cooked. After 15 minutes - under ice water for 5-10 minutes. That's it, the beets are ready.

Boil 40 minutes +

“Long-lasting” method: high heat (if thrown into cold water) until boiling - medium heat (40 minutes) - low heat (until done). At the same time, pour water 5 centimeters above the level of the beets.

Always finish the process with cold water. Then the beets, in addition to being “ready”, are easy to clean.

Not fast, but tasty - in the microwave

Not the fastest, but very tasty way to cook beets - do not boil them, but bake them in the microwave or oven at 200 degrees, placing them in a baking bag. This will take 25-30 minutes; if the temperature is not so high or the beets are large and old, then it will take longer.

Important! Vitamin C is destroyed at 190 degrees C.

By the way, baked beets are sweeter than boiled beets. And it is recommended to use it in recipes for salads and vinaigrettes.

Cooking beets in a bag

Many housewives do not really like to cook beets because after it it takes a long time to wash the pan, and during the cooking process, a not very pleasant smell emanates throughout the apartment. But such problems can be easily solved using a regular package. We put the beets in the bag, expel the air and tie the bag with the contents almost at the very edge. Place the bag of beets in a saucepan with water and, after boiling, cook it for an hour. This method allows you to boil tasty and sweet beets, since the vegetable does not come into contact with water.

Video: how to cook beets in the microwave in 5 minutes

A question that interests not only cooking “dummies”.

How to quickly and correctly cook beets is a question that is asked not only by culinary experts. There are a lot of subtleties and tricks in cooking beets. Knowing them will make it easier to achieve results, make them tasty and healthy. So, how to cook beets quickly and easily?

Cook beets whole in a saucepan

To speed up the process of cooking large beets, some housewives cut them into pieces; this method will lead to the beets losing not only their rich color, but also all their nutrients.

So how do you cook large beets? Reception with a sharp temperature change is not suitable here due to the large size of the root vegetable; the core will still remain raw. But there is an effective way, which is to place the beets in water with vegetable oil and cook the root vegetable on the stove over medium heat. The thing is that as a result of mixing the liquid with oil, the boiling point increases, and the process of cooking beets is noticeably reduced.

Beet cooking time

Buryak belongs to the category of root vegetables that need to be cooked for a long time to be fully cooked. This option is comparable to cooking meat. Depending on the size of the beets, they can cook from half an hour to 2 hours.
If the weight of the beets does not exceed 50 grams, the duration will be 30 minutes. Root crop weighing up to 100 g. Prepares in about 45 minutes. Beet weighing up to 200 grams. cooks for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Beets weighing 300 g. or more will take at least 1.5 hours to cook.
The duration of cooking the root vegetable can be explained by the fact that the container is initially filled with non-hot water. This significantly delays the process of preparing beets.
The duration is influenced by the low starch content and high concentration of fiber in the root vegetable. It is also worth giving preference to young fruits.

How to cook in a slow cooker?

You can cook beets in a slow cooker quickly and without losing valuable substances. To do this, place the well-washed and dried root vegetable in a steam basket. Pour water into the bowl of the device, about 8 multi-glasses, fix the basket with beets, set the “Steam” mode and the time for 40 minutes.

After the signal, we check the readiness of the vegetable; if it is not soft enough, then we extend the mode time by another 20 minutes. It all depends on the size of the fruit and the power of the device.

If the beets are large, then they can be cut in half, and there is no need to be afraid that the root vegetable will lose its value; the steam mode of the multicooker will not allow this. If the model does not support such a program, then you can select the “Cooking” or “Soup” mode.

What are the ways to boil beets?

The most important thing with any method is to remember that it is better to cook beets, like potatoes, “in their uniforms”, having washed them thoroughly beforehand. We are not satisfied with 2 hours of cooking, so we will consider exclusively those methods that will help us cook it quickly and tasty.

How to quickly cook beets in a saucepan? To do this, it is better to select small or medium fruits, because... they cook faster. And we boil it in an extreme way, which will help bring our vegetable to readiness in 15 minutes instead of the allotted hour. To do this, you need to lower the fruits into boiling water so that they are under water, about 8 cm. Do not cover with a lid. Then after 15-20 minutes we immerse the fruits under cold water. That's it, the beets are ready for the salad.
You can also cook beets in the microwave. It will be a little longer - 25-30 minutes, but no less tasty. Although the cooking process in a microwave oven will be more reminiscent of baking the product. Everything is simple here: put the beets in a baking bag, set the microwave to 200 degrees and leave for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the fruit.
The next method is identical to the previous one. Using the same principle, you can bake beets in the oven, after wrapping them in foil. It turns out very tasty.
There are many very interesting and appetizing videos on the Internet about how to cook beets in a slow cooker. This is perhaps the most ideal way to preserve all the beneficial properties of raw beets, while saving on cooking time.

Helpful quick cooking tips

There is no need to peel the beets for cooking; we even leave the tails, because this will ruin the structure of the fruit, all the juiciness will come out of it, and the beets will become dull and watery. Just thoroughly rinse the root crop with a brush.
There is no need to add salt to the vegetable at the beginning of cooking; this component will make the root vegetable hard and prolong the cooking process. It is better to salt directly the dish for which the beets were cooked.
To prevent the beets from losing their rich color during boiling, after boiling you can add a spoonful of granulated sugar or citric acid or half a spoonful of vinegar.
If you put a piece of bread in a pan with a vegetable, you can remove that very unpleasant smell that many housewives do not like.
If the beets have wilted, you don’t need to get rid of them, you just need to pour boiling water over them, then keep them in water at room temperature until the root crop swells, and then boil it.
Also, do not pour out the water from under the beets; if you add cinnamon, ginger and lemon juice to the beet broth, you can get a healing and tasty drink.
It is imperative to use young (not old) beet tops in cooking, because they contain more vitamins than the beets themselves. Some housewives cook borscht, beetroot soup or cook pkhali from it.

The benefits of boiled beets

An undoubted advantage of the root vegetable is that during heat treatment, beetroot practically does not lose its beneficial qualities. The main thing is to carry out the procedure correctly using the methods described above.

Beets contain concentrated nicotinic acid, iodine, fiber, iron, manganese, zinc, cesium and amino acids. Regular consumption of root vegetables has a positive effect on a person’s overall health.

It's easy to boil beets in a saucepan. Choose the most suitable method. Remember to follow practical recommendations. Include beetroot in your daily diet. As a result, you can always maintain your health at the proper level.

how to make beet juice

Features of beets and tricks for preparing them

It is always much easier to peel beets if you finish the cooking process with a cold “shower”.
To preserve vitamin C, it is better to bake beets rather than boil them. When this root vegetable is in water with a temperature above 190 degrees, this vitamin is completely destroyed.
When preparing salads and vinaigrettes, the obligatory ingredient of which is beets, you need to remember that the taste of these dishes will be much more refined if the root vegetable is sweet enough. Baking has the advantage.
When choosing beets, you need to pay attention to their appearance. The Bordeaux variety is considered the most delicious and beautiful, the roots of which are thin-skinned and look slightly flattened. It is better to choose small specimens. In addition to the main advantages, they also cook quickly.
Before cooking, beets should be thoroughly washed, but under no circumstances peeled. Otherwise, you can get a watery product with the loss of a large amount of beet juice. Peeled root vegetables are only needed for stews.
During cooking, beets do not need the usual salt for all housewives. It will be more effective to add salt to a ready-made dish, otherwise you may just end up with a hard vegetable that will have to be cooked even longer than usual.

As much as beets are tasty in various dishes, they are also healthy. This unique dietary product contains a lot of vitamins and minerals necessary to maintain and improve health. The root vegetable is especially valuable in the diet of people suffering from anemia, arrhythmia, hypertension, rickets and more. Beets will give everyone who loves them a unique taste sensation and, of course, will have a beneficial effect on the entire body.