If you've ever wondered how to cook beetroot then you've come to the right place, as this is our failsafe and foolproof method for roasting the wonderfully vibrant root vegetable.
It's incredibly easy to do and makes the beetroot lovely and sweet, with a caramelised flavour that elevates any dishes you use it in.
Beetroot season runs from June to March (but sweetest when harvested from late June to October). When shopping for beetroot, feel for a firmness, rather than a wrinkled and spongy texture and look for green leaves still attached.
How to eat:
Raw
Young beetroot can be eaten raw – use grated in salads, pickled or marinated in olive oil and garlic.
Roasted
What to read next
To roast beetroot, put unpeeled beetroot in a roasting tin with olive oil and seasoning. Cover with foil then cook at 180°C (160°C fan), mark 4 for 20min for baby beetroot and up to 1hr for larger beetroot, until tender. Allow to cool, then peel away the softened skin, and slice or dice.
Salt Baked
A slightly different version you could try when roasting is salt baking which helps to keep the flesh juicy and tender because little moisture is lost through insulating with a layer of salt. All you do is put salt into a large mixing bowl and add egg white, a little at a time, stirring well, to form a paste consistency of wet sand.
Put a generous layer of salt mix, same size as the beetroot, across the bottom of a large roasting tin. Put beetroot on top. Cover beetroot with more of salt mix, patting down to make sure mixture sticks and is fully covered around sides and no gaps remain. Cook at 200°C (180°C fan), mark 6 for 20-25min, until crust has browned slightly and a skewer goes through the middle easily.
The best beetroot recipes
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