Name: How to Roast Fresh Beets
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 large fresh beets; 2 TBSP olive oil per beet; Fresh herbs; Salt, and pepper to taste

Last Updated on January 12, 2023 by Diane Hoffmaster

Roasted beets are a year-round staple in my house. They are fantastic right out of the foil or used for tossing into salads or made into beet smoothies.

Learn how to roast fresh beets and your family will stop turning up their nose at them! Roasted whole beets are a great way to use up fresh herbs!

Table of Contents

How do you serve beets?

When I was growing up, my mom loved to serve us beets. Only, she didn’t serve us FRESH beets…oh, no.

Our beets came in a can, sliced up and rather unappealing to the teenage eye. You can only imagine the eye-rolling and groaning that ensued every time she told us we were having beets for dinner.

I wish she had known how to roast fresh beets because the canned ones are gross!

Love this beet recipe? Try these healthy recipes, too!

Basil and Spinach Salad with Blackberries and Feta
Easy Black Bean Corn Salsa Recipe
Citrus Avocado Salad Recipe with Mint and Feta

When I moved out on my own, I avoided beets for quite a few years due to the trauma of my early beet exposure.

But, one day I came across fresh beets in the grocery store and decided to figure out how to cook them from scratch.

Once I learned how to make roasted beets, I realized how absolutely delicious they tasted! Roasting them brings out a sweetness that I never noticed in canned beets.

How to Roast Fresh Beets for Maximum Flavor

Adding in a few of my favorite herbs made roasting beets my favorite way to enjoy them. Now, fresh beets are on my grocery list on a regular basis and even the teens will eat them without too much grumbling!

Or, as little grumbling as I can expect from teens who aren’t being fed pizza or hot dogs! You can also throw in other root vegetables with this beet recipe.

Make roasted beets and carrots or roasted beet with potatoes. Just keep in mind that everything in the fool will be pink when it is done cooking.

Roasting Fresh Beets in Foil with Fresh Herbs

Best Beets for Oven Roasting

Start looking for fresh beet recipes in the spring because they are at their peak starting in June. Since they are a root vegetable, they store rather well and you can find locally grown beets through summer and into early fall. Local is always better, in my opinion!

Generally, beets prefer cool weather while growing and take quite a while to fully mature. I have never had luck growing beets in the garden here in Georgia. Our summers just get too hot far too quickly.

Thankfully, my local farmers are better at it than I am so I am hunting down beet recipes to try over the next few months.

You will see quite a variety of colors when looking for fresh beets. Various shades of red and purple are common and you will even find yellow and white beets occasionally.

How to Roast Fresh Beets for Maixmum Flavor. After roasting, let cool and use in your favorite beet recipes!

Do you leave the skin on beetroot when roasting?

I prefer to peel beets when they are still raw. Many people roast the beets, then peel once they are cool enough to handle. I don’t really understand that since I want to eat them when they are still warm!

Once you learn how to roast fresh beets, they are easy to peel and dice to put in salads or sliced into a sandwich with goat cheese and arugula.

Roasting beets is easy with some aluminum foil, olive oil, and your choice of herbs! I have used fresh rosemary when cooking beets but fresh dill is another favorite herb when roasting beets.

Use only a smidge of sea salt and a bit more pepper when preparing beets. If you really want to get fancy you can invest in some herb seasoned salts to play with the flavor.

Borsari Seasoned Salt Gift Set – Gluten Free…

CITRUS SEASONED SALT: Mixed with real seasonings of sea salt, garlic, fresh basil, rosemary, black pepper, lemon peel, and nutmeg spices to create a unique and delicious flavor! Season fish, chicken, steak, vegetables, salads, wings, and sauces. Our seasoning gift set makes the perfect cooking gift for any foodie!
SAVORY SEASONED SALT: Real sea salt infused with garlic, basil, rosemary, thyme, lavender, black pepper, and nutmeg spices that add an original flavor to any dish. Use on meat, chicken, vegetables, and salads or in a soup, sauce, or marinade.

You will need to use a knife to check for tenderness until you figure out how long to cook beets in your own particular oven.

And one thing to keep in mind when figuring out how to roast fresh beets is that beets will stain EVERYTHING you own! Cutting boards, clothes, hands and everything else it comes into contact with will have beet juice stains that will take forever to come out!

Take care during preparation and don’t wear your favorite white shirt!