The instant pot makes it so easy to cook beets! You can do so many things with cooked beets or just eat them on their own. Just cook, peel, and eat!
The best thing about cooking beets in an instant pot? The peels basically slide right off once they’re done. There’s no prep work required – just rinse and put ’em in the pot and cook. The end result: perfectly cooked, fork-tender beets!
I just love beets! I mean, the name of my blog IS my heart beets after all. Whenever I eat beets, I always wonder why I don’t share more beet recipes on my blog. The truth is though – I love eating beets as they are – plain and sometimes with a bit of salt, pepper, and olive oil. Every now and then a drizzle of balsamic. That’s it. So tasty!
Beets are so beautiful. They look like jewels, don’t they? I love all of their colors: red, gold, striped (and yes, “striped” is absolutely a color when it comes to beets). And the flavor?! YUM. I know some people don’t love the “earthy” flavor of beets, but I do – they’re so sweet and well, earthy.
What can you do with cooked beets?
- eat them on their own
- drizzle with balsamic and olive oil
- add them to a salad!
- stir chopped beets into yogurt along some spices to make beet raita
- make this beet thoran (Indian stir-fry)
- blend it into hummus (use beets instead of artichokes in this recipe!)
- stir-fry them with their greens (don’t waste the greens if you’ve got them! you can easily adapt my carrot top sabzi recipe)
Beets come in all sizes and while it’s true that cooking time can vary, I’ve found that my method results in perfectly cooked beets no matter what the size.* That said, if your beets are HUGE, then you can always add an extra few minutes if you find they aren’t as tender as you’d like. I think the secret to cooking them perfectly is the two cups of water I add to the bottom of the pot – it takes longer to reach pressure and that extra time seems to help cook larger beets as well.
Ingredients
- whole medium sized beets unpeeled with greens removed
Instructions
- Add 2 cups water into the steel inner pot, then place a steamer basket or the wire rack that came with your pressure cooker into the pot.
- Place the unpeeled beets on top of the rack, then secure the lid, close the pressure valve, and cook for 15 minutes at high pressure.
- Open the valve to quick release any remaining pressure.
- Once the the beets are cool enough to touch, remove them from the pot. The peels should easily slide off.
- Place the beets on a cutting board and chop them into the desired size.
Notes
- I have been able to cook beets of all sizes using my method. By adding 2 cups of water to the bottom of the pot, the pressure cooker takes longer to reach pressure and that extra time seems to help cook larger beets as well. That said, if your beets are very large, then you can always add an extra few minutes if you find they aren’t as tender as you’d like.
Dieter says
Ashley, I hope you are making a fortune with your web site. If you aren’t it’s because there is so much advertising that the site is almost unreadable.
I like your recipes especially for Indian food in the Instapot.
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Glad you like my recipes! Sorry to hear the ads are distracting – I do need to make a living as this is a full-time job for me, but I believe there is a way to turn off ads through your browser.
Linda says
I cooked a variety of different size beets and they all came out beautiful!! I will definitely use this again
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Linda, that’s great to hear 🙂
Maia says
Worked PERFECTLY! Since I am at a high altitude, I added about 2 minutes to my cooking time (I’ve learned to do this with all pressure cooker recipes) and the skins came off so easily! Thank you!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Maia, that’s great to hear! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you – and great to know about high altitude 🙂
Roze says
What is the best tasting beet to grow? Canned beets are tasty. Do you know what type of beet and name of beet seed for beets used in canned beets. Thanks for the instant pot recipe for cooking fresh beets. It works well.
Sally says
I was gifted some very large beets and some smaller ones. I think your two cups of water is magic! I cooked the largest ones for 20 minutes and smallest ones 15 minutes. Perfect! Thank you so much for the water tip!
My Heart Beets says
Great to hear, thank you, Sally! 🙂
Terry says
I love cooking beets this way , but the skin never slides off for me I have to peel them with a knife. What am I doing wrong?
My Heart Beets says
hi Terry, beet peels should easily slide off after the beets are cooked. Have you tried peeling them while still a bit warm, perhaps under cool running water?
Connie says
I wish Shulaka had answered your question. My family loves pickled beets and I am wondering if you can fill the pot with beets?
Shulaka says
So quick! So easy! I was holding onto more than 30 farmers’ market beets because I dreaded taking the time to wrap them in (wasteful) foil to roast them. This took 18 minutes in the Insta Pot. As you say, the skins peeled right off. Thank you.
My Heart Beets says
Shulaka, that’s so awesome! did you cook all 30 in the IP at the same time?!