1. Wash the beets and cut them in half, place them in a microwave-safe bowl, pour in a third of a glass of cold water.
2. Set the power to 800 W, cook small pieces for 5 minutes, large pieces for 7-8 minutes.
3. Check for doneness with a fork, if necessary make it a little softer, return to the microwave for another 1 minute.

In a pressure cooker - 10 minutes

Place the beets in a pressure cooker, add water and set to “Cooking” mode. In a pressure cooker, beets will cook in 10 minutes, and very large ones in 15. After the end of cooking, it will take another 10 minutes for the pressure to subside and the pressure cooker to be opened without effort and safely.

Important information about cooking beets

- It is correct to place beets in boiling unsalted water, - because beets are sweet. In addition, salt “tans” the vegetable during cooking, making it hard. It is better to salt the prepared dish - then the salty taste will be organic.

When cooking, you need to make sure that the water completely covers the beets, and if necessary, add boiling water, and after cooking, you can put them in ice water to cool.

If you do not use a bag to cook beets, to preserve the color, it is recommended to add a tablespoon of 9% vinegar to the water, a tablespoon lemon juice or a teaspoon of sugar.

To get rid of the strong beetroot smell, place a crust of black bread in the pan in which the beets are cooked.

Young beet leaves (tops) are edible: you need to cook the tops for 5 minutes after the water boils. The tops should be used in soups and vegetable side dishes.

- You should choose beets like this:: the beets should be medium in size, the color of the vegetable should be dark red. If you can determine the thickness of the skin in a store, know that it should be thin.

Boiled beets can be keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, after which the beets will begin to lose their taste properties and begin to dry out. Boiled beets should not be stored for more than 3 days.

" Beetroot is one of the components of salads, such as vinaigrette or “shuba”; beetroot soup and many other dishes are prepared from it. However, its preparation requires more time than cooking other vegetables. What to do if you don’t have the required amount of time? We present to your attention the secrets: how to quickly cook whole beets and more.

How much time is needed

The time to cook beets until they are fully cooked varies from 10 minutes to 2 hours and depends on the size of the vegetable, its variety, the presence of salt in the water and the chosen cooking method. For example, flattened beets with thin skins do not big size Bordeaux varieties will cook much faster than large root vegetables of other varieties.

How to reduce cooking time for whole beets to a minimum

How to quickly cook large beets? If you don’t have enough time and need to boil the beets, use the following recommendations.

Cook beets in a saucepan quickly

Way 1

• Place the washed root vegetable in a saucepan, pour cold water, put on medium heat and cook for about 20 minutes. DO NOT SALTY! Firstly, it is practically useless, and secondly, salt will make the vegetable harder, thereby increasing the cooking time.
• Then drain the water and place the root vegetables under cold water(preferably flow-through) for a few minutes. After such manipulation, thanks to a sharp change in temperature, the beets will “reach” complete readiness.

Way 2

• Adding cold water during cooking speeds up the process significantly. Place the beets in cold water and place over low heat. When the water boils, add a large number of cold water until it stops boiling for a while. Then bring to a boil again and repeat the procedure. So cook until fully cooked.

Method 3. Cooking in the microwave or oven

• Pierce the washed beets with a knife (fork, toothpick) in several places.
• We pack it in a plastic bag or special container and set it for 10 minutes at a power of 800 watts.
• In the oven, medium-sized beets are baked at a temperature of 200 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Determine readiness

In order to determine the readiness of a vegetable, simply pierce the root vegetable with a sharp object. If the knife (fork, toothpick) fits into it easily and the beets inside are soft, then the mission was a success.

Save color

How to cook red beets quickly?

• Cook the beets together with the stems and peel, without violating the integrity of the “shell”.
• In order to preserve the color of the root vegetable during long-term cooking, add 2 teaspoons of table vinegar, lemon or sugar to 3 liters of water.
• If the beets are being prepared for a vinaigrette and you don't want them to turn the rest of the vegetables red, simply drizzle the diced beets with any vegetable oil.

  Other ways to cook beets quickly

Method 1. Steaming

• Cut the washed and peeled root vegetable into cubes or strips.
• Place the chopped vegetable in a steamer. Ready time: 20 minutes.

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To make boiled beets sweet and juicy, you need to choose the right root vegetables when purchasing. A high-quality vegetable has a small size and a beautiful, uniform color.

The skin is thin and tender, without black spots and signs of wilting. Low price, ease of preparation and storage make beets a popular product among housewives.

Despite the sweetish taste, beets are low in calories and have a beneficial effect on work digestive tract. It contains fiber and organic acids, which promote the absorption of food, as well as:

• contains potassium, zinc, magnesium, iodine, iron and various vitamins;
• strengthens blood vessels and reduces blood pressure, supports hematopoiesis;
• has a positive effect on muscle function, including the heart.

In general, it has a rejuvenating and strengthening effect, with minimal contraindications. Fresh green tops are very useful. IN summer time it is added to beetroot soup or botvinya soup.

How long to cook fresh beets

Cooking time is determined not only by the size of the root vegetable. It is also important whether it is young or old, and how long ago the crop was harvested. The use of modern kitchen appliances makes its own adjustments.

Until ready

Since beets can cook from 20 minutes to 3 hours, determining their readiness using a timer is problematic.

It is better to do this manually, piercing the vegetable with a knife or fork and assessing its softness.

Even with a long cooking time, most of the vitamins will be retained.

Young

Young beets are a seasonal product. It appears on shelves in mid-summer and is distinguished by the presence of green tops. Such vegetables are very tender and delicate in taste. After boiling, it is enough to cook them for about 20 minutes. Then the hot tubers are poured with ice water and left to cool.

Fresh

Newly picked beets from the garden cook faster than old ones. During storage, the peel becomes thicker, and the core hardens and slightly dehydrates. The specific cooking time is determined in this case by the size of the vegetable.

Large

Large beets taste practically no different from smaller ones. But it takes a long time to cook, and housewives don’t like such specimens for this reason. Once you put the vegetable in the pan, you need to expect at least a two-hour wait. Especially hard root vegetables can be cooked for a full three hours.

Without peel

Sometimes beets are pre-cleaned, although in principle this is not recommended. Peeled beets cook a little faster. Medium-sized copies will be ready in 30-40 minutes. After boiling for a long time, the peeled vegetable will turn brown. To avoid this, add vinegar or lemon juice to the water.

Grated

When you need grated beets, it is better to boil them whole and then grate them. If you grind it raw and then simmer it, it will disappear like bright color, and most vitamins. But this method has one undeniable advantage - the grated vegetable will quickly become soft and ready for consumption.

In the soup

The beets for borscht are boiled separately and then added to the pan before finishing cooking. But sometimes finely chopped cubes are added directly to vegetable soup, where they will be ready in about 10 minutes. To prevent the initially bright vegetable from becoming completely pale, the soup is acidified with lemon juice.

How to cook beets quickly

Before you start cooking root vegetables, they are thoroughly washed from the soil. There is no need to cut off the top and bottom of the tubers, you can only shorten the tail. It is also not recommended to trim damaged areas. This can be done later by peeling the boiled vegetable.

Classic way

The usual and familiar way of cooking beets is in a saucepan on the stove. Vegetables are placed in a bowl and poured with water so that it generously covers them. During prolonged cooking, some of the water will boil away.

To reduce the evaporation of liquid, cover the pan with a lid.

• At maximum temperature bring the water to a boil.
• Then the fire is reduced to minimum.
• At a low simmer, cook the vegetables for an hour or two, depending on the size.
• When the tubers can be easily pierced with a knife, the pan is removed from the stove and placed under an ice stream.

Leave the beets in cold water until they cool completely. Now you can peel it and use it in a salad or as a side dish.

How to speed up cooking

To make the beets cook faster, you can throw them into already boiling water and cook at a vigorous boil, without reducing the heat. A simple way to further increase the temperature of the water is to pour a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil into the pan, which will create a film on the surface. This preparation will take about an hour.

If you have very little time, the vegetables can be pre-peeled and cut into pieces. This will degrade the taste and appearance, but will reduce the cooking time to 20 minutes.

Young beets are prepared using the quick shock method: they are boiled for about half an hour and immediately poured with ice water. A sharp temperature change brings the root vegetable to readiness. The whole process takes 40-50 minutes.

Different cooking methods

In an effort to diversify the taste of vegetables and quickly prepare dinner, housewives use modern kitchen appliances. For example, roasting will give the beets a thicker texture and a sweeter flavor.

In a saucepan

The traditional and easiest way to cook beets is to cook them in a saucepan. You just need to remember about root vegetables boiling for a long time on the stove. This process is always completed by immersing the vegetables in cold water. This way they will not only reach ideal condition, but will also be better cleaned.

In the microwave

Salad recipes often feature baked beets. You can prepare it in microwave oven, this will take about 30 minutes. If the microwave does not have much power and you want to speed up the process, place the beets in a plastic baking bag. It will taste similar to boiled, but sweeter.

In a slow cooker

Cooking beets in a slow cooker is very simple. It needs to be washed clean, put in a bowl and turn on the “Stewing” or “Cooking” mode for one hour.

You can check readiness by piercing the vegetable with a fork, and if necessary, run the multicooker in the same mode for another half hour.

Some people wrap each root vegetable in foil and cook it in the “Bake” mode.

In a steamer

To steam beets, you will need a steamer or multicooker with a steam function. Place the whole vegetables on a wire rack and pour a glass of water into the bottom of the bowl. After 40-50 minutes, check if the dish is ready. Juicy beets work well this way.

If the root vegetables are wilted, they can be soaked in cold water in advance or cooked on the stove in the usual way.

In a pressure cooker

It takes about 35 minutes to cook whole beets in the pressure cooker. You can pre-clean the vegetables and cut them into strips. This way they will cook faster, in about 20 minutes.

The video provides instructions and some tips for cooking beets in the microwave.

Storage rules

While raw beets tolerate long-term storage well, when cooked they largely lose this beneficial quality.

• At room temperature, the cooked vegetable should be consumed within a few hours.
• Peeled beets will keep in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.
• A whole vegetable, peeled and uncut, can be stored in the cold a little longer, but usually after three days of storage it begins to lose its taste and health benefits.

At the same time, both fresh and boiled beets can be frozen in chopped form. The shelf life in the freezer is much longer. Once defrosted, vegetables must be used; they cannot be re-frozen.

Without a doubt, anyone can cook beets. But in any business, questions arise that only experience can answer.

1. Cool.

In all cases, without exception, immediately after cooking, it is recommended to place the beets under a stream of ice water. A cold shower not only cools the root vegetables, but brings them to the best degree of readiness and makes them easy to peel.

1. Do not add salt.

There is no need to add salt to the water in which the beets are cooked. Salt makes vegetables harder and their cooking time increases. Finished beets will be tough and less juicy. Its specific sweetish taste does not require additives during cooking.

1. Do not clean.

Before cooking, beets are not cleaned and the top and tail are not cut off. The natural, undamaged peel perfectly retains the healthy juice and rich burgundy color inside the root vegetable. Trimmed or peeled beets will become whitish and watery and will lose some of their sweetness.

1. How to get rid of the smell.

When beets are cooked for a long time, problems arise in the kitchen. nice smell. To neutralize it, it is advised to place a crust of bread in a pan with vegetables. And some housewives place the beets in a plastic bag, and then in a pan with water.

1. How to check readiness.

Since some beets cook quickly, while others take much longer, readiness is checked by piercing the root vegetable with something. A knife, fork or even a toothpick will work for this purpose. If the tip of the object easily and smoothly enters the pulp, the vegetable is ready. If not, wait another half hour.

You don't need to poke the beets too often; a lot of juice will leak out.

Boiled beets not only decorate the table thanks to their wonderful color. It brings great benefits to the body, supplying it with essential vitamins and minerals. With very little effort we get an excellent product that is suitable for salad, soup or a healthy snack. From the broth left after cooking, you can make a delicious healing drink by adding lemon juice, cinnamon and ginger.

Hello, friends! Today we will learn how to properly cook beets quickly and tasty in order to preserve the maximum of useful components in beets. We will learn how to choose the right beets and discuss 6 ways to cook beets, their advantages and disadvantages.

How to choose the right beets.

There are 3 types of beets: red beet, fodder beet (for livestock feed), sugar beet (white in cut), used for sugar production.

The table red beet, which we will consider today, has many varieties, they differ in their health value.

The most valuable beets for health are dark burgundy in cut, without white veins, small in size, slightly larger chicken egg. If the beets are large, larger than a fist, then you can suspect that they were grown with an artificial excess of fertilizers. It takes more time to cook a large root vegetable, and if you cut it during cooking, some of the beneficial substances are washed out.

Beets without white circles in the cut are healthier

We choose beets that are firm, not flaccid. Droopy beets have already lost a lot of their nutritional qualities.

First, the beets must be washed thoroughly, using a brush or wire wool. You need to wash it with gloves so as not to damage it and keep it beautiful.

When cleaning beets top part Where the tops grew from must be cut off, they can accumulate nitrates.

Beetroot is a unique vegetable, since during heat treatment it retains almost all its microelements and vitamins, i.e. Heat-treated beets are just as healthy and healing as raw ones.

To preserve the healing properties of beets, remember the rule: do not heat the oven above 180 degrees when baking beets, otherwise the most valuable substance - betaine, which saves you from obesity and liver problems, as well as vitamin C - is destroyed.

Methods for preparing red beets

Let us choose methods for preparing red beets that will preserve the beets in all their healing properties.

Depending on the size of the beets, you need to cook the beets for 1 -1.5 hours.

If you follow the cooking secrets, the healthfulness of the cooked beets will increase.

Secrets of cooking beets in water:

Secret 1. Boil water, add some salt, let it simmer for 5 minutes and only then add the beets. What does this achieve? The usefulness of boiled beets improves, since oxygen, which binds nutrients, leaves the boiling water.

Secret 2. If the root vegetables are small, it is enough to cook them for 30 minutes and then dump them into a pan with cold water. When the water becomes warm, you need to replace it with cold water and soak the boiled root vegetables in it for about 5 minutes. The beets become soft. Do not keep beets in water for a long time so as not to wash out the beneficial substances

Secret 3. We cook root vegetables under a lid, this will protect them from the destructive effects of light and air.

1. Steaming beets.

Steaming beets

To steam beets, use a double boiler, but if you don’t have one yet, it doesn’t matter: place a colander in the pan, put the washed, unpeeled root vegetables in it and cover with a lid. When steamed, unpeeled root vegetables retain significantly more nutrients than when boiled in water. There is no need to trim the tips and tails of the beets.
Advantages of steaming:
1. Vitamins and microelements are retained in much greater quantities than when boiled in water

Steaming time is shorter than when boiling in water. Small beets should be boiled for 15 minutes and then placed in cold water for 5 minutes.

1. Cooking beets in the microwave.

Cooking beets in the microwave

The beets are pricked in several places with a fork, placed in a bag (preferably in a baking sleeve, now they are widely sold in supermarkets, for example, in Pyaterochka) and tied. Turn on the microwave power at 800 W for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the beets are soft and the microwave remains clean. If your microwave has less power, then the cooking time will be increased proportionally.

Attention: Don't get burned by hot steam when opening the package!
However, the taste of beets from the microwave is different from steamed or oven-cooked.

1. Bake the beets in the oven.

• A common method is baking beets in foil.

Wrap the beets in foil and place them on a baking sheet in the oven.

Each prepared root vegetable is wrapped in two layers of foil, with the matte side facing the beets, and baked on a baking sheet.

Advantages of baking beets in foil:

Beets turn out tastier than boiled ones.
Its color remains more saturated.
Beets are baked quickly - in 30 -40 minutes.
The baking tray remains pristinely clean, and so does the oven, so there is less hassle with cooking.

Disadvantage of the method of baking beets in foil:

Food foil is made from aluminum, and aluminum tends to accumulate in the body. There is a proven connection between Alzheimer's disease and increased aluminum content in the body.

It is possible that the average body can handle a small amount of aluminum, but people with weak kidneys can be severely affected by aluminum. Scientists have proven the connection between the accumulation of aluminum in the body and weakened growth of brain cells, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

And how trustingly and thoughtlessly young people drink drinks from aluminum cans! How blindly people trust their health to drink manufacturers!

Have you noticed that Alzheimer's disease is becoming more common? This disease is called the disease of industrialization.

Therefore, I threw away all the aluminum spoons and saucepans and try not to use food-grade aluminum foil, especially since there is an alternative, namely:

• Roasting beets in a roasting bag.

Bake beets in the oven in a baking sleeve

The best way is to roast the beets in a roasting bag. The baking sleeve is not afraid high temperature up to 230 degrees Celsius, does not emit harmful substances, it can be reused and is environmentally friendly. When roasting beets, you don’t have to pierce the sleeve. The sleeve must be cut to the size of the baking sheet with a margin for the lapel and the edges must be folded in without even tying them. Place the sleeve with root vegetables on a baking sheet and place in a preheated oven. The pan remains perfectly clean after baking. Beets turn out to be very tasty and healthy.

If we want to make a vinaigrette, we put several sleeves with potatoes, beets and carrots in one baking sheet and bake them all together. They are not painted.

1. Results.

Today we looked at:

• How to choose the right beets.

• How to cook beets correctly - 5 ways to heat treat beets.

• We learned the rules of heat treatment of beets to preserve maximum nutrients.
• We found out how the beet readiness time differs when in different ways preparations.

• We learned that the most environmentally friendly way to preserve nutrients– roasting beets in the oven in a baking sleeve.

Beets are one of the most healthy vegetables, which preserves our health: cleanses the blood, saturates us useful substances and heals the body. Therefore, it should be present in our diet daily.

Next time we'll look at a variety of beetroot recipes so you never get tired of it.

Sources:

Your cook

Before cooking, the beets should be thoroughly washed, but not peeled. It is also not recommended to cut off the tail. Otherwise, the beets will lose color and some of the nutritional components. If there are significant contaminants on the surface, they must be removed with a brush.

Beets are cooked in several stages:

• First, water is poured into a container (enamel pan);
• the amount of liquid must be calculated so that the beets are completely immersed in water;
• water is brought to a boil;
• beets are placed in boiling water (the heat must be reduced);
• It is better to cover the pan with a lid;
• You can check the degree of readiness of the beets using a sharp object (knife, fork).

You can cook beets not only in a regular saucepan, but also in a slow cooker or double boiler. With any cooking method, there is no need to peel the vegetable. In a multicooker, beets are cooked in the “Cooking” mode, also with the addition of required quantity water. The liquid should not only cover the vegetable, but also exceed the level by 2 cm. During the cooking process, the water will boil away. If necessary, liquid can be added during the cooking process. Otherwise, the beets will be partially cooked.

The nuances of cooking beets:

• It is recommended to add a small amount of lemon juice to boiling water before adding beets (it is better to squeeze fresh lemon yourself rather than use ready-made additives);
• after finishing the cooking process, the beets should be filled with cold water (this will allow them to cool faster);
• for cooking, it is better to take beets of the same size (cutting them for cooking is not recommended);
• will help the beets cook faster vegetable oil(you need to add a small amount before adding beets to the pan).

It is not necessary to salt the beets during the cooking process. During the boiling process, the salt will evaporate, so there is no point in adding it. It is recommended to salt the dish itself, to which the vegetable will be added, or add a little more salt to other ingredients with which the beets will be mixed.

Lemon juice is added to beets so that the vegetable does not lose its rich color. You can also get rid of the smell of this vegetable. To do this, during the cooking process, you need to put a small crust of dry black bread in the water. This ingredient will not affect the taste of beets, but the aroma will change dramatically.

How long does it take to cook beets?

On average, beets are cooked for 30-40 minutes. In some cases, the cooking time may take several hours. The key point is the size of the vegetable and its age. Small young beets will cook much faster than large vegetables with thick skin.

In a pressure cooker, beets cook faster - within 40 minutes, in a slow cooker - 30-40 minutes, in a double boiler also 30-40 minutes. Using any of these methods, you still need to check the readiness of the vegetable with a fork or knife.

The cooking time of beets depends on what kind of water they are placed in before cooking. If you put a vegetable in a cold liquid and wait until it boils, the vegetable will be ready in one and a half or even three hours. The beets are cooked in boiling water for 50 minutes.

After cooking, it is recommended to fill the beets with cold water.. This should be done not only to cool the vegetable. The fact is that with a sharp change in temperature, the beets reach final readiness. The colder the water, the better.

To speed up the process of cooking beets, you can use a trick (however, the risk of the vegetable losing a significant part of its vitamins in this case is very high). The vegetable must be cooked over high heat without covering the pan with a lid. After 25-30 minutes of cooking, pour cold water over the beets and leave for another 15 minutes. After such procedures, the vegetable is ready for consumption.