Use these cooked beets in a beet salad, smoothies, pasta, and more. They’re so nutritious, I’m always looking for more ways to squeeze them into my day! Be sure to check out the recipes below for more ideas.
Why You’ll Love Them
Beets are one of my favorite veggies because they have been shown to lower blood pressure, most likely due to their high concentration of nitrates. This effect is temporary, lasting for about 6 hours, so you’ll need to consume beets regularly to enjoy these potential benefits. Eating beets may help with athletic performance, too!
How do you cook beets without losing nutrients? Steaming or pressure cooking is your best bet, because you won’t lose nutrients into the cooking water like you might with boiling.
How to Cook Them in the Instant Pot
How do you steam beets in an Instant Pot? Cut the beets into 1- or 2-inch chunks, so they will cook quickly. Since beets are very dense vegetables, it would probably take nearly as long as an Instant Pot sweet potato to cook them whole.
I imagine you want to use your Instant Pot to make the cooking process as fast and efficient as possible, so cutting the beets first will give you the fastest cooking results. There’s no need to peel the beets, unless you really want to. The peels will become very soft once they are cooked, so I don’t notice them! (If you do choose to peel them, you may want to use kitchen gloves to prevent your hands from getting stained.)
Once the beets are sliced, pour a cup of water into the bottom of the Instant Pot and add a steamer basket or the trivet that comes with your machine. This will keep the beets lifted up, out of the water. (That way you won’t lose nutrients in the cooking water.) Place the beets on top of the steamer basket and secure the lid. Move the steam release valve to Sealing, then use the Manual or Pressure Cook button to cook at high pressure for 12 minutes.
When the timer goes off, you don’t have to do anything. Let the pressure naturally release for 10 minutes. When the screen reads L0:10, you can move the steam release valve to Venting to release any remaining pressure.
You’ll know it’s safe to remove the lid when the floating valve has dropped, signaling that there’s no pressure left in the pot. Remove the lid, and test the beets with a fork for tenderness. They should be fork tender, without being total mush.
Storage Tips
Let the beets cool, then store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you want to use these for smoothies, you can also store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
How to Use Them
Wondering what to do with extra beets? Here are some ideas
Try them on my favorite beet salad with apple cider vinaigrette. Use them in a beet smoothie. Add them to a veggie lunch bowl. Marinate them in your favorite salad dressing and enjoy them as a side dish!
If you try these Instant Pot beets, please leave a comment below letting me know what you think! And if you try anything different, I’d love to hear about that, too!
