These balsamic roasted beets are easy to put together, and a beautiful side dish to put on the table. The sweet and tangy flavor is a winner for kids and adults both. Save the recipe and give them a try!
A few years ago, I started earnestly making an effort to eat a larger variety of vegetables.
Up to that point, I ate a lot of salad, broccoli, cabbage – really basic vegetables – and enjoyed them, but I didn’t eat nearly enough, and didn’t eat much of a variety.
Instead, I saw myself using my creativity to make brownies, and other goodies.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love my gluten-free grasshopper brownies. I have nothing agains dessert.
But constantly filling my family up with processed food wasn’t the example I wanted to set for my kids.
I wanted them to view rainbows of vegetables served at every meal as the default. I wanted them to grow up eating whole, unprocessed foods, and lots of them.
That was really the beginning of my quest for vegetable variety. Sure, there were other reasons, such as trying to break the cycle of weight gain. But my long-term, compelling reason was raising my kids.
It’s because of that that we now eat eggplant “pizza” as a side dish, and have a large patch of asparagus growing a hundred fee from our house so that in the spring we have an endless supply of lemon-garlic roasted asparagus, and so I can serve creamy asparagus soup on my birthday, a new tradition that my kids have let me know they could totally live without.
And why we now eat beets.
I never ate them growing up, but my kids won’t be able to say the same.
In fact, I had no idea I liked them until I was an adult. I assumed they were gross, and turned my nose up at them for many years.
Then I tried steamed beets with salt because I read that they were good for endurance runners, and what do you know, they were delicious.
So now they’re a regular part of our menu. Steamed sometimes, but also roasted, sometimes in the form of beet hummus – one of my favorites, and of course, these balsamic roasted beets.
But enough lallygagging, let’s talk specifics about this recipe.
Balsamic Roasted Beets
- Try to dice your beets evenly. They’re pretty hard, so it can be tough to do, but the more even they are in size, the more evenly they cook. That said, you can make them as big or small as you want to, but the closer they are to 3/4 inch square, the more accurate the cook times in this recipe will be.
- Do you have to line your baking sheet with parchment? No. But it definitely makes them easier to stir, and serve. If you have a non-stick baking sheet, that would probably work just as well without parchment, but all mine are either enamel or stainless steel, so I like to use parchment.
- If you don’t like to cook with olive oil try using expeller pressed coconut oil instead. Any neutral-flavored oil will work for that matter.
- You can sub honey or agave nectar for the maple syrup if you want. I like the flavor of maple in these, plus I hate to heat up raw honey, so that’s what I go with.
So, on to getting these delicious balsamic roasted beets into the oven, and on the table!
First you’re going to trim the stems and start peeling
When you finish peeling them, dice them into 3/4 inch chunks.
Next, you’ll sprinkle them with the oil, salt, and pepper, then toss before putting them in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
After they’ve roasted for 10-15 minutes, take them out of the oven and toss them with balsamic vinegar and maple syrup.
Roast them for another ten minutes or so, and that’s it! Serve ’em up and enjoy.
Balsamic Roasted Beets
Ingredients
- 3 cups of beets, peeled and diced
- 1 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
Instructions
- Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 425º
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Peel beets, and cut into 1/2-3/4 inch cubes
- Toss beet with olive oil, salt, and pepper
- Spread onto baking sheet, and place in center of oven
- Roast for 15-20 minutes
- Remove from oven and toss with balsamic vinegar and maple syrup
- Return to oven and bake until beets are tender – about 10 more minutes
- Remove from oven and serve hot.
- Enjoy!
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