Easy Roasted Beets Recipe

So, you're looking for a super-easy recipe for preparing beets? Well, how's this for you, then? Slice the tops off some beets, wrap them in foil, and bake them in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour. Yep, that's pretty much all you need to do to roast beets into an edible form. Though "for extra credit, you can even season them with some salt and pepper," says chef and recipe developer Maren Epstein of Eating Works. 

But let's be honest, even with some salt and pepper, roasted beets are hardly the most exciting food in the world. However, when you jazz things up with a freshly made citrus dressing and some generous crumbles of goat cheese, you allow this nutritious powerhouse of a root veggie to evolve from the merely edible to nearly irresistible. And the hands-on prep work will still only take you all of about two minutes. So, if you were looking for a pretty darn easy beet prep recipe that's delicious and nutritious, you're still looking in the right place.

Now let's look at the actual prep and cooking here, because eating beets beats beating around the bush.

First and foremost, you'll need some beets. And ideally, you will be working with three to five beets all of around the same size, which should be about that of a large plum (or a bit smaller than a tennis ball, if that reference helps more).

You'll also need the juice of three clementines (or about half a cup of orange juice), olive oil, white wine vinegar, honey, sea salt, ginger juice, black pepper used to taste, and about two tablespoons of crumbled goat cheese. As for hardware, you need tinfoil, a baking sheet, a blender, and some paper towels. And that's it.

Start off by preheating the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Now slice tops off of the beets, season them with some salt and pepper on the exposed interior flesh, and then wrap each beet snugly in aluminum foil.

Next, place the beets on a baking sheet and put them in the oven to roast for one hour or until you can easily pierce the beets all the way through with a knife. Then, using a paper towel, rub the outside of the beets. The skin will slide off easily — just be careful not to burn your fingers, as they will be quite hot.

While the beets are roasting, or frankly even when the roasting is done, it's time to make the dressing. If you are using fresh clementines (or a fresh orange, which is also a great option), start by using a citrus juicer to squeeze as much liquid out of the clementines as possible — you want at least half a cup here, so measure out a generous half cup if using regular OJ.

Now, in a blender, combine the juice with olive oil, white wine vinegar, honey, salt, ginger juice, and pepper, and blend until smooth. Season the dressing with black pepper to taste.

Once the beets are cooled (or even chilled — you can pop them in the fridge for a while if you'd like), slice them into bite-sized pieces and arrange the beets out on a serving dish. Now drizzle the sliced beets with at least a quarter-cup of the dressing, and then sprinkle the crumbled goat cheese over them generously. Now serve the beets to your appreciative friends or just sit back and enjoy a healthy, guilt-free, and vitamin- and mineral-rich snack for yourself.

Just how vitamin and mineral-rich are beets? Well, let's take a look at that. According to Healthline: "Beets are packed with essential vitamins, minerals and plant compounds, some of which have medicinal properties." Specifically, beets are a great source of folate, manganese, and potassium, a decent source of magnesium and vitamin C, and are a low-calorie and very low-fat food. They can help regulate blood pressure and improve heart health, they can help with digestive function, and they may even support brain function and health.

What's more, beets may even help improve your athletic performance, increasing your body's efficiency of oxygen use for several hours after their digestion, so they have both long-term and real-time health benefits.