What Are Roast Beets And Do You Need To Peel Them Before Eating?

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Much like Brussels sprouts or cauliflower, beets are one of those vegetables that has experienced a major resurgence — let's call it a glow-up — in recent years. From the maligned root veggie of our youth, beets' "tastes like dirt" reputation has grown into an "earthiness" we can all love.

But according to Encyclopedia Britannica, the magenta veggie is only one of four commonly cultivated kinds. Another, Everyday Health explains, is the sugar beet, which first took root in what is now western Poland and has long been used to produce refined sugar. 

In fact, the Smithsonian explains, following a German chemist's 18th-century discovery of a manufacturing method that allowed sugar beets to topple the sugarcane monopoly, beet sugar became ever more popular in the 19th century, when Napoleon decreed that the sugar beet be planted widely throughout France in order to combat a lack of sugar due to the British blocking France's trade routes with the Caribbean at the time.

That said, while beet sugar is alive and well in France, when most people refer to beets, they mean garden beets, perfect for use in soups and salads, enjoyed raw, pickled, or roasted. And if you're ready to beef up your beet knowledge, you've come to the right place.

While there are tons of ways to enjoy beets both cooked and raw, roasted beets consistently emerge as a favorite — and for good reason.

While a number of different varieties of beets exist, the most common are a beautiful ruby red, a color that unfortunately stains your fingers and cutting board as you peel and slice. But if you wrap whole, washed beets in foil, roasting them until tender, you'll effectively steam them from the inside out, rendering the beets tender, juicy, and concentrated in sweet, earthy flavor.

Beets take quite a while to cook through — up to an hour, depending on their size — but luckily, this step can be done in advance. Once the beets are cooked, they can be brought to room temperature or even cooled completely before peeling. (Their skins will slip off easily, but gloves are your best bet if you want to keep from staining your fingers!) After this, they can simply be stored in the fridge until ready to use.

As a root vegetable, beets grow in the ground, so it's unsurprising that the beets you find in your local shop may well be a touch dirty or sandy. But while many recipes call for peeling beets before cooking them, other experts note that it's not necessary. Cookies and Kate says that with their method of slicing beets before roasting, the skin "just seems to disappear" in the oven.

For some, however, the pleasant earthiness of beets becomes slightly unpalatable when concentrated in the skin. Luckily, you don't need a peeler to rid beets of their skins. (Which is good news if you don't want magenta hands!) This roast beet hack calls for wrapping them in foil and cooking them til tender. Once cooled, trimming their rough ends should be enough for them to slip right out of their skins with ease — no elbow grease required.

In addition to being tasty and beautiful, beets are incredibly good for you, rich in antioxidants. Perhaps the most essential of these are betalains. This powerful antioxidant is found in only a handful of vegetables, and, WebMD explains, has been found to reduce inflammation and even protect against cancer. 

Beets are also high in nitrates, which turn to nitric oxide in the body. This, the outlet continues, can help increase blood flow to your muscles and can also help lower blood pressure. Beets are also high in folate, manganese, and vitamins C and A — a veritable superfood!

To these benefits, Healthline adds beets' power in improving digestive health, thanks to their richness in fiber. But a word of warning: Eating too many beets can contribute to a higher risk of kidney stones, due to their high levels of oxalate. And Medical News Today adds that eating beets in large quantities can cause the red pigment to get into your stool and urine — which can mean for surprising trips to the bathroom!

While roast beets may be one of the most popular ways of enjoying this root vegetable, it's far from the only way to show them off at their very best. 

Raw beets are lovely in a beet carpaccio or spiralized for a fun-textured salad. (And according to Livestrong, eating the veggie raw is even healthier than enjoying it cooked, with registered dietitian Whitney Stuart, RDN, CDE telling the outlet that raw beets have a higher antioxidant concentration.) But beets can also be cooked by boiling, frying, or even incorporating into baked goods, where they add sweetness and a touch of color. You can even microwave beets to get them on the table even more quickly. 

Pickled beets are a classic, and while it's easy to make them at home, it's even easier to buy them canned — just be aware that they contain added sugar, and many brands use high-fructose corn syrup in their recipes.

When you think of beets, the most common image you're likely to conjure is that of a ruby red root vegetable. But in reality, beets are available in a wide range of colors from white to golden to candy-striped Chioggia. 

According to Plantura, yellow beets are milder and sweeter than red beets, and seeing as they also don't stain your hands, they're a great place to begin for beet amateurs. 

Chioggia beets, meanwhile, boast beautiful red-and-white stripes. They're particularly lovely when sliced into rounds and served as a carpaccio, so that their distinctive colors really shine. When cooked, according to Specialty Produce, their gorgeous color has a tendency to fade away. If you do decide to boil Chioggia beets, Parade recommends adding a splash of lemon juice or white vinegar to the water to preserve their color as much as possible.