Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes (2024)

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These beets nutrition facts might surprise you. Have you ever wondered if you can eat beet stems? Curious to find out what beets are good for? Need some great beet recipes?

You have come to the right place. I’m here to answer all of those questions and more!

Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes (1)

Beets: Nutrition Facts & What Are Beets Good For?

First things first–we should probably talk about 1. what beets are good for and 2. why you should be incorporating them into your healthy eating plan.

Beets: Nutrition Facts: Beets contain a lot of essential vitamins and nutrients. For a root vegetable they are surprisingly dense in terms of nutritional value. In a typical serving of beets (3.5 ounces) you’d find just 44 calories (super low) but a huge list of vitamins, minerals, and compounds you need for everyday life.

Beets contain at least a little bit of almost all the vitamins and minerals we need to sustain life. There are very few vegetables or fruits out there that pack quite so much into one tasty little package. They’re an amazing source of folate (20% of the recommended daily amount), help keep your blood pressure regulated with dietary nitrates (they are converted to nitric oxide which dilates your blood vessels), and a ton of fiber–fiber can improve your gut health and lower your risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

They’re packed with things like magnesium, potassium, iron, and even vitamin C! Along with fiber, B6, and an impressive amount per serving of manganese. Check out this healthline profile on beets for a full breakdown of vitamins and minerals found in beets.

Can you eat beet stems?

Did you know that you can eat beet stems?! They’re kind of like celery, that’s what I like to tell people. We include them on our vegetable platters and trays for parties, snacking, and more. Often people ask what they are and Iloveexplaining why we use them and why they’re so great for us in terms of nutrition versus calories.

You can eat all the tasty beet stems you want but be prepared to wash them. They take a lot of cleaning because beets grow in the dirt and when they’re harvested in bunches usually the only parts that get a cleaning are the beetroots themselves.

Clean them like you would any other fruits and veggies and once they’re patted dry you can remove the leaves and chop them to size. We cut them much like we would chunks of celery for dipping in spinach and artichoke dip, ranch, and even buffalo chicken dip!

You can also eat the leaves of the beet stems just like you would spinach! You can save them and sauté them or even add them to your salads! The beet is a very versatile vegetable and you can use the whole thing which is great for your budget as well.

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Where can I find some great beet recipes?

Now that you know how wonderful beets are for you I’m sure you want to start cooking them up into delicious meals and side dishes, right? Good news, I’ve rounded up some of the best beet recipes around the internet for you to try! Everything from smoothies to desserts and back again. There’s something for everyone’s taste buds in this list.

If you do not like the taste of beets I would suggest you try a recipe that has some other flavors in it that you do like…maybe try cooking them alongside something with a more overpowering taste? The health benefits alone make me want to add them to just about every recipe I can think of!

There are some recipes here that even transform the beets into things like desserts, pastas, and more. Hopefully you can find plenty of ways to add beets to your diet, the nutritional impact of beets is important!

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Oven Baked Beet Chips Recipe

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Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes (5)

Maple Roasted Beets and Carrots

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Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes (6)

Balsamic Oven Roasted Beets Recipe

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Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes (7)

Beet Salad with Feta, Cucumbers, and Dill

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Easy Pickled Beets

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Instant Pot Beets Recipe

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Classic Borscht Recipe (VIDEO)

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Beet Hummus

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How do I juice beets?

You can juice beets with a juicer like you would just about any other fruit or veggie, but I highly recommend blending the beets instead–you’ll keep more of the nutrition intact (mainly the fiber) that way.

I like to add blended beets to any recipe with apples, pineapples, or even spinach. The value a small amount of beet juice or puree adds to any homemade juice recipe is incredible. Here’s a simple smoothie for you to try:

Raw Beet, Apple, and Ginger Detox Smoothie — Just Beet It

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Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes (14)

Why should I be eating beets?

Beets have a positive impact on inflammation and inflammatory conditions. Beets contain betalains which have been show to act as anti inflammatory agents. In some studies the betalains provided a reduction in pain for chronic osteoarthritis patients. If you have inflammation or inflammatory conditions beets and beet extracts may help provide relief!

Dietary fiber, which beets are rich in, is useful in maintaining a healthy digestive system. If you struggle with a variety of dietary conditions you could benefit from adding more natural sources of dietary fiber to your meals. Beets are a great choice because they are low in calories while being high in vitamins, fiber, and other minerals.

Sometimes foods that are good for us, great for weight loss, and have health benefits are hard to work into our diets. Beets are delicious and easy to incorporate into your favorite recipes. You can juice them, add them to smoothies, roast them, bake them, sauté them, the possibilities are endless for this mild root vegetable!

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Becca Ludlum

Healthy recipe creator, self-confessed food snob, and certified Level 1 Precision Nutrition Coach. I create healthy recipes with minimally processed ingredients, but have never turned down a homemade brownie. ;)

Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Beets: Nutrition Facts & Recipes? ›

Nutrition Info

What is the healthiest way to eat beets? ›

Retain the good-for-you nutrients in beets by roasting them or sautéing them instead. Or lightly steam them for just a few minutes, suggests Doyle.

Are beets healthier, raw or cooked? ›

Cooking beets won't give you the same health benefits because heat destroys betalain pigments and hampers nitrates, but it's still good for your health. To preserve the maximum health benefits, grate raw beets into salads or steam/roast beets just long enough to tenderize them.

What are the benefits of eating beets? ›

Health benefits of beets include more stamina during exercise, heart disease and stroke prevention, and lower blood pressure. You can roast, grate, or put them into soups and salads. If you're prone to kidney stones or gout, avoid beets or limit how much you eat.

How to cook beets for best nutrition? ›

Stir-Fry Them. While cooking techniques like pan-frying, shallow-frying and deep-frying increase calorie, salt and fat content, stir-frying is a healthier technique. We recommend using a stainless steel wok from Saladmaster to stir-fry beets and other vegetables.

What are the pros and cons of beets? ›

While it may seem like a good idea to have beets daily because of their benefits, you may need to exercise caution when eating them. Eating beets or drinking beet juice may lead to kidney stones, a potential food allergy, or stool or urine color changes.

Are beets OK to eat everyday? ›

Can you eat beets everyday? It's always best to follow a varied diet. Eating a small amount of beetroot every day is unlikely to do any harm, but a high intake could lead to low blood pressure, red or black urine and feces, and digestive problems for anyone with a sensitivity to the nutrients.

Are beets high in sugar? ›

Moreover, beets are low in calories with zero cholesterol and a small amount of fat. However, the root is high in sugar and carbohydrates, so while you can consume the greens on top of the root in unlimited quantities, you should only have the root a few times a week. Beets are best from early spring to late fall.

How soon after eating beets is urine red? ›

Here's how the test works, according to Gonzalez: "Eat at least half of a raw or cooked beet (do not use fermented pickled red beets) with your meal. If you notice red urine or stool 12 to 24 hours later, your transit time is normal. If it happens in less than 12 hours, your body may not be absorbing nutrients.

Are beets a superfood? ›

Beetroot is a superfood. We'll tell you what makes it so good for you. A superfood is a nutrient-rich food that contains an above-average amount of vitamins and minerals per gram. Beetroot fits into that category.

What organs do beets help? ›

“Beets are unique for their cardiovascular and heart health benefits,” says registered dietitian Sarah Thomsen Ferreira, RD. “Due to a combination of compounds found in beets, they are able to enhance blood flow, improve the health of arteries, support lower hom*ocysteine levels and reduce LDL cholesterol.”

Do beets cleanse your liver? ›

Beetroot juice: Beetroot juice is a great way to detox your liver and improve its function. They are high in antioxidants and help to cleanse the blood. They also promote healthy liver function by helping to break down toxins. Try adding some beet juice to your diet for better liver health.

Do beets clean the gut? ›

On the same note, beetroot helps in whole body detoxification. It's a great purifier and does so by pulling toxins into the colon where they can then be evacuated. Pretty neat, right? The betaine found in beets has also been shown to improve digestion.

What is the tastiest way to eat beets? ›

You can use cooked beets in salads, to make hummus or to blend into smoothies. They can be diced for slaw, quartered for a grain bowl or mashed to make a dip or spread. Their thick and chewy texture is even great in a galette or quesadilla.

Do you peel beets before cooking? ›

Keep checking whichever method you're using. Don't remove the beet skin before cooking. It's really not necessary and it's much easier to do so after cooking. Some also find that removing the skin prior to cooking takes away some of the beet's earthy test.

What makes beets taste better? ›

Roasting beets deepens their natural sugars while tempering bitterness. Bake whole, wrapped beets at 400°F for 60-75 minutes until easily pierced by a fork. Allow to cool before peeling and juicing. Incorporating roasted beets creates a smoother, mellower, almost nutty-flavored blended juice.

What color beets are the healthiest? ›

Red and yellow beets provide natural antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties. The stronger the color, the more healthy chemicals are in the vegetable.

How many beets do you need to eat for health benefits? ›

According to Dr. Melamed, the typical serving size recommendation is one cup of cooked beets per day. But that doesn't mean you actually have to eat them every day; it's always best, she adds, to rotate your healthy foods so you get a variety of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

Is it healthier to roast or boil beets? ›

Just like so many other vegetables, roasting beets in the oven coaxes out their natural sugars, creating a caramelized bite that make veggies taste even sweeter. Whereas boiling vegetables in water dilutes both their flavor and nutrients, that are left behind in the cooking water.

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