Each week, my husband and I get a CSA box full of fresh vegetables – which means I have to come up with quick, creative ways to put those vegetables to use.
One thing we get quite frequently? Beets.
Sometimes I’ll add them to salads, and other times I’ll bake them and eat them as a side dish. Or, I add them straight to my juicer.
Usually when I talk about these veggies, people wrinkle their noses and tell me how much they dislike them. However, the trick to skipping that earthy dirt taste is all about how you prepare them – and when prepared right, they really don’t taste bad at all!
On that subject, I recently started spiralizing these ruby red roots. I found this was a great way to use them up in large amounts, and to change the way they are traditionally used in recipes.
Once you turn them into spiralized noodles, you can add them raw to salads – whether right away, or up to a few days after spiralizing. Kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator, they will last 3-4 days.
Or, you can lightly heat them up and serve them instead of noodles in your favorite pasta recipe. It’s a healthy, grain-free, low calorie option. Try using golden beets to make them resemble spaghetti noodles.
If you’re not currently eating this veggie (or only eating it very rarely), maybe this article will change your mind. Below, I’ll share some of my favorite reasons to include this root vegetable in your diet.
1. They’re widely available
You can find them year-round at most healthy grocery stores and farmers markets, making them a reliable choice for your meals.
2. They’re anti-inflammatory
According to World’s Healthiest Foods, they are a great source of betalains, an antioxidant phytonutrient that helps to reduce inflammation in the body.
3. They provide sustainable energy
I love incorporating them into my post-workout nutrition, as I sometimes feel tired after an intense workout. This vegetable is a great source of carbohydrates, and contains a little bit of protein.
Some people avoid beets due to the sugar content, however, their high fiber content helps to slow the release of the sugar into the bloodstream.
4. They’re a wonderful cleansing food
According to board-certified nutritionist Jonny Bowden in his popular book “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What You Should Eat and Why,” which is available on Amazon, this root vegetable purifies the blood, and can be a great liver tonic.
5. High in betacyanin
Betacyanins are the antioxidants that give this vegetable their bright red color, the stuff that stains your hands and clothes. I argue that they are worth the mess. In Bowden’s book, Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa, physician and medical researcher in the field of Alzheimer’s disease, stated that betacyanin is a “potent cancer fighter.”
6. Red, pink, or golden – doesn’t matter
According to registered dietician Jill Corleone, “The difference between the red and the orange beet is the pigment compound found in different varieties. Red beets are rich in betalain pigment, while the orange variety are rich in b-xanthin. Though their color differs, their nutritional benefits are the same.”
Personally, I prefer the red. I find them to be less sweet than the orange (or golden, as they are often described), however, I recommend that you give them both a try and see for yourself.
The Greens and Roots Are Nutritional Powerhouses
If you get a bunch with the greens still attached, don’t throw them out!
You can use the tops similarly to how one might use Swiss chard, in fact a very close vegetable relative. Juice them, put them in your smoothies, or sauté them in your favorite stir fry or side dish.
The greens are full of nutrients you don’t want to miss! This includes protein, phosphorus, and zinc.
The beets also offer a lot of nutritional benefit. They’re rich in fiber and antioxidants, as well as:
- folate
- manganese
- potassium
- copper
- magnesium
- phosphorus
- iron
- vitamin B6
- vitamin C
Preparing Your Wraps
Since beets do grow in the ground, be sure to give them a good scrub and get all of the dirt off before using. You can pre-soak them in cold water, to loosen the dirt on the surface, before scrubbing with a brush and then rinsing. This method is efficient, and will help you to save a little water.
I love the following recipe, as it’s tasty and filling, yet still really fresh. The beet noodles give it a good texture, and even add a little bit of sweetness.
The hummus adds some richness too, and keeps me full for hours!
I’ve been using coconut wraps to make these, as they’re a simple grain-free option. Feel free to substitute with whatever kind of wraps you like.
- 1/2 ripe avocado
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1 small tomato
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 1-2 leaves of lettuce
- 2-4 tablespoons hummus
- 1-2 beets
- 2 coconut wraps
- A couple dashes of sea salt
- Any additional fresh or dried herbs and spices, according to your tastes
- Wash the beets and cut off the ends. Using your spiralizer, turn them into noodles. Set aside.
- Slice the avocado, cucumber, and tomato, and set them aside. Chop lettuce, and set aside. You’ll be layering the ingredients like you would a sandwich, but if you’d rather chop everything salad style and and then spoon the mixture into the wraps, that would work as well.
- Add roughly 1-2 tablespoons of hummus to a wrap and spread it out evenly.
- Next, add as many noodles as you’d like, followed by mint, tomato, avocado, and lettuce. Add a dash of salt and any other seasonings you wish – oregano is great in this recipe.
- Repeat with the other wrap. Fold them up carefully, and dig in!
You can serve these alone, or with a side of potatoes, or your favorite smoothie.
I hope you give this recipe a try, and that you consider adding more of this root vegetable to your diet – I promise they won’t taste as horrible as you might remember them to be! The key to making them taste great is in how they are prepared, and what you serve them with.
Are you a lifelong beet lover, or a recent convert? Share your serving suggestions and experiences with me in the comments!
About Sarah Hagstrom
Sarah is a health food advocate and loves to spend her time whipping up something healthy and delicious in the kitchen and then sharing either on Foodal or on her own blog "The Seasonal Diet" (www.theseasonaldiet.com). She lives in Sunny San Diego with her husband, where they enjoy running on the beach and weekend adventures.
I’ve already declared my passion for beetroot. But I’v yet to make them into spirals and use them as noodle substitutes with a pasta sauce. But I will do so ….. as for making wraps with avocado as the other main ingredient I shall have a go at this. They make a great combination of colour and texture. Not to mention nutritional value.
I’m guessing the coconut wraps recipe can be found on the site – or did you buy them?
And you’re right – beets ARE worth the potential mess they can make!
Hi Julie!
I agree, they are worth the mess they can make:) The coconut wraps I bought, however I like the idea of making them. I’ll try my hand and if I’m successful, I’ll share the recipe on the site.
Beets are not quite common where I’m from. Although, they are sometimes available in our local grocery stores. A friend just actually introduced me to these vegetables when she shared her power juice recipe with me and they were included as the star ingredient.
Truth be told, I’m wrinkled my nose when I tried it.
So, looking at this recipe now and how you presented it by spiraling the ingredients, I think it might actually just work, especially with people like me who takes a while to develop a taste for newly-introduced vegetables.
Combining them with the avocados for a healthy wrap is just wonderful. I think I would forget that they were in there due the taste being camouflaged by the other ingredients thrown in the mix.
In my family it’s really common to use beetroot – but it’s more used as a side dish than actually in the food. For me it’s a fresh thing to eat along with some heavy food, so I haven’t been thinking about it as something that you can use when doing the main dish. Sounds like I need to expand my views of beetroot and its way of usage, haha! Since I love it already so much there shouldn’t be any problems for me to actually try out this recipe. Thank you for this idea!
Okay this wrap looks absolutely delicious. I love beets but have never thought about using them this way.
Oh great another post!
I didn’t know these had benefits like you described! I usually need quite a bit of energy, usually I gulp down energy drinks but they’re pretty unhealthy.
I’m gonna try these out very soon, thanks for the tip!
Im no good with food prep so wish me luck haha
I have never tried this and I really think I should, now that I’ve read about the great health benefits. The antioxidants alone make it a good choice for us healthy eaters, yet the beet root contains many vitamins as well, which makes it even more appealing to me. I’m definitely going to try some new recipes and see how many ways I can incorporate this delightful root into my diet. I might even try growing them myself as a side benefit as I love gardening.
That’s the problem for me regarding beets: the “earthy dirt taste”! (If you hadn’t used that exact phrase, Sarah, I would have!)
I’ll grant that this recipe might change my mind about beets, even though I do try them every so often (in a variety of different ways), and I still feel like I’m trying to stuff down a shovel full of dirt I just dug up from the garden. But I will try this, I promise.
The real reason I clicked on this post and read it through is that my better half (“BH”) is a beet lover — and adores wraps, too. Since BH is a vegetarian and I am an omnivore, it’s always a challenge to come up with ideas for dinners that appeal to both of us. (We can subsist only so long on tofu, no matter how much we both love it.)
Maybe this recipe will be the one… except for the fact that BH hates avocados. (I know: Who on earth hates avocados? My BH, that’s who. I usually indulge in avocados by myself; if I’m not using them as a salad topping, they’re simply sliced onto a plate, doused with fresh lemon or lime juice, and accented with a short dash each of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.)
Meanwhile, I am not a fan of processed coconut of any kind. (Fresh coconut meat is fine, and I love coconut milk. Are you getting the picture that BH and I are both somewhat picky eaters?) So, I’ll probably use some whole-grain wraps.
Fortunately, we both love hummus! (And this alone might mask the “earthy dirt taste” just enough for me.)
Thanks very much for this dish (and for the extra info on the nutritional value, which is always a plus). You’ve got me thinking about next weekend’s cooking adventure.
They look wonderful! I’ve never tried a coconut wrap before and I’m not sure where I would be able to get them. I guess I could substitute the coconut wrap for a different type. I will definitely be trying these.
I have never seen beets eaten in a wrap like this before. It seems really yummy and healthy! My brother and I have been trying to eat healthier recently and these look great.I personally have never tried them before, but I’m definitely gonna try these.
I had no idea that those roots had so many vitamis and healthy properties! I basically eat them only in salads, but now that I’ve read your fantastic recipe, I’ll have to try it out as soon as possible. It looks delicious and it’s so pretty to look at. I think that the presentation is very important for a dish, almost as much as the taste.
I’ve recently bought one of those spiralizing tools and I’ve already tried it out with several vegetables, but I wouldn’t have thought about using beets. I appreciated your tips, I didn’t know you could eat the stems and the leaves, I’ve always thrown them out, sounds like I’ve wasted a lot of nutrients.
First step: Buy a spiralizer
Second step: Stop being intimidated by new foods.
I haven’t really eaten beets at all in my life. My daughter’s favorite purees often contain them so I guess she likes them. My husband and I are picky. But I am attempting to expose us to new foods and to get healthier. This looks like a great way to try to introduce beetroots in a way that there’s other flavors to counteract to get used to something new? Maybe.
You are a complete genius! Beetroot is one of the healthiest and cheapest vegetables you can buy, and I often invest in an enormous 7kg bag of them because they’re just so ridiculously cheap… and then have to think of what to do with all of them! While I use them every day in salad and will even sometimes snack on one (I adore them cooked or not) it hadn’t occurred to me to spiralize them. I will definitely give them a try, thank you! Another great thing about them is that they regrow very easily, so when you chop off the leaves keep a bit of the stem attached to a small section of the root and literally pop them in the garden – they regrow like magic!
This is a great way tie-in to the article about the different types of spiralizers. Beets are a great veggie. When I lived in India, we would put them in glass jars of water and let them cook in the sun from morning to dinnertime, and they would be perfect. I didn’t know about the protein content, but that’s awesome. I like the idea of the coconut wrap. Young coconut has a nice texture for gluten-free breads, and most people don’t know that because they associate coconut with candies and sweet things. I like the addition of the hummus, too. It’s always nice in these sort of things. Thank you for sharing this recipe! When my new spiralizer comes in, this is something I’ll certainly use it for!