Beets have become a superfood favorite, thanks to their bold color, earthy flavor, and a vitamin- and mineral-packed profile. The only drawback? Peeling beets can be a messy and colorful exercise, as that fuchsia color can bleed and stain just about everywhere.
Learn the easiest method for peeling beets (hint: it involves cooking them first!), how to remove beet stains, and what you can do with all that beautiful beet bounty.
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Most people do peel beets, because the skin is a bit unattractive and can be dirty even after a good scrub. But beet skins are rich in nutrients and perfectly fine to eat too.
Equipment / Tools
- Tin foil
- Fork
- Vegetable peeler
Materials
- Paper towel
- Vegetable oil (optional)
- Gloves (optional)
Instructions
How to Peel Cooked Beets
Cooking the beets before you peel them makes the skins much easier to remove—though it increases the risk of beet juice stains a little bit. Try this easy step-by-step to get perfectly peeled beets without beet-stained hands.
Wrap your beets in foil
Wrapping the beets in foil can help contain the mess—you can wrap a few smaller beets in a single foil packet, or one large one.
Roast until tender
Roast the beets at 450 degrees F until you can easily pierce them with a fork or paring knife—generally around 50 to 60 minutes.
Let the beets cool
Wait about 20 minutes for the beets to cool. It'll make the beets easier to handle for peeling, and may help reduce the staining involved.
Start peeling
Use a dry paper towel to easily rub off the skins (and help contain the stain mess too). You may also want to wear latex gloves to minimize the staining on your hands.
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How to Peel Raw Beets
Peeling raw beets has one major benefit—they bleed a lot less, so you'll reduce the odds that you end up with beet-stained hands and cutting boards. But the peel may be a bit tougher to remove from a raw beet. Here's what you need to do to get a good peel.
Trim down the greens and the root tip
You may want to leave a small portion to make it easier for you to grasp on to the beet as you peel.
Grab some gloves or wet your hands
If you want to minimize beet stains, wear latex gloves or just wet your hands to help dilute the dye before it hits your hands.
Grab your vegetable peeler
You can peel a raw beet just like a carrot or potato, using your peeler to peel off large strips.
How to Prevent Beet Stains
Prevention is always worth a pound of cure—especially in the case of beet stains, which are notoriously hard to remove. Here are a few tactics you can use to keep beet stains at bay.
Use vegetable oil
A thin coat of vegetable oil on your cutting board or your hand will help keep beets from staining them.
Keep your knife hand oil-free. A greasy hand could cause your knife to slip—and an injury to happen.
Wear gloves and an apron
Latex gloves can help keep your hands stain-free, while the apron protects your clothing.
Protect your cutting board
You can place a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap over your cutting board—just make sure to hold on firmly so your beet doesn't slip.
How to Treat Beet Stains
Beet juice can bleed onto pretty much everything. Here's how to get it out of clothing, your hands, and your cutting board.
Removing beet stains in clothes
There are a few steps to try to remove beet stains from your clothes.
Remove beet residue
Scrape away solid beets (taking care not to stain more of the fabric), and rinse out the area with cold water from the opposite side of the fabric to help push the beet juice out of the fibers.
Pretreat the area
Use a stain remover product or a bit of laundry detergent, and work it into the fabric. Let it sit for 15 minutes, then rinse again.
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Wash the clothing in cold water
Wash as usual, and check for any remaining beet stains.
Step away from the clothes dryer! Until you're absolutely sure that the beet stain is gone, don't run the clothing through the clothes dryer, which will set in the stain.
Soak in oxygen bleach if the stain remains
Mix oxygen bleach with water (following package instructions), and soak the clothing in it for at least eight hours, before trying to wash again.
Removing beet stains from your hands
Beet stains can keep your hands and nails looking red for several days after a peeling incident. But even if you didn't try one of our prevention tactics, you can still remove the evidence of beet-peeling.
Simply scrub your hands with a paste of baking soda and water, rinse thoroughly, and then wash as usual. If the baking soda paste doesn't work, try lemon juice—but only if you don't have any cuts on your hands!
Removing beet stains from cutting boards
To clean beet stains off of cutting boards, rub lemon juice into the surface, then scrub with salt. Wash as usual.
How to Use Peeled Beets in Your Cooking
Beets are one of the most versatile veggies out there, and can be subbed in for carrots and other root vegetables in many dishes. Peeled beets are great to use chopped in salads, in dips, or even on top of toast.
Here are a few of our favorite beet recipes to make use of your peeled beets:
- Steak and Beet Salad with Radicchio
- Pink Hummus
- Root-Vegetable Latkes
- Rosemary-Roasted Beets and Carrots
- Roasted Salmon with Beet Salad
- Beet and Goat Cheese Dip
- Beet-Cured Salmon
- Caramelized Veggies with Poppy Seed Dressing
