Braised Beets

other recipes

Summer

|

2 hrs

|

1 pt braised beets

Beets are a year-round staple, so it’s nice to have a couple of easy go-to recipes for them. We love their earthiness, but sometimes they can taste a little flat. A touch of acid fixes this perfectly—it makes the beets’ sweetness pop and brightens their earthy flavor.

I call this method braising because of the amount of liquid used, but it’s almost like a lazy pickling since we’re acidifying the beets while cooking them. This recipe is super flexible: you can swap out the caraway and peppercorns for any spices you like. It’s also a great way to use up leftover pickle liquid. Today, I happened to have Bread & Butter Squash liquid, so caraway and pepper sounded like a nice pairing. But other tasty combinations could include pickled onion liquid with cumin and coriander, or dill pickle liquid with clove and allspice.

Ingredients

from your CSA Club Share

  • Beets – 1 qt (5-7 small, 2-5 large)

from your pantry

  • Caraway – 1 tsp
  • Peppercorn – ½ tsp
  • Garlic – 2 cloves
  • Apple Cider Vinegar – 2 tbsp
  • Salt – to taste

larder items

tools

Nothing special for this recipe!

Directions

mise

  1. Nothing for this recipe. It’s that easy!

cook

  1. In a pot where the beets will fit in a tight single layer (small or medium pot), toast the caraway and peppercorn over medium low heat until fragrant, ~2 mins. 
  2. Once fragrant, add the beets, apple cider vinegar, pickle liquid, and CSA Club Broth to the pot. The beets should be about halfway submerged. If needed, add water. 
  3. Bring the pot to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cover the pot.
  4. About every 15 or 20 mins, check the pot and roll the beets around so that all parts spend time submerged in the liquid. If the there is less than an inch of liquid in the pan, add water. After about 40 mins, begin to check if the beets are done by poking with a fork or paring knife. Once you’re able to easily pierce the beets to the center, they are done. The large ones will take longer than the small ones, so remove the small ones from the pot once they are finished to allow the large ones to continue cooking. In all, the smaller beets should take about 1 hr and the larger ones about 1.5 hrs.
  5. Once the beets are cooked through, turn off the heat and allow the beets to cool (lid on) until they are cool enough to handle.
  6. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, you can peel the skin with a spoon or butter knife. 
    1. To be honest, the skin the doesn’t bother me so I’ll be lazy and leave it on for myself. Up to you!

 

plate

You can either cut the beets into wedges and serve warm as a side dish. Or you can slice them up, cover with the remaining braise liquid, and refrigerate. Then you have beautiful beet slices for sandwiches, salads, or soups.