My Top 8 Most Favorite Beet Recipes

Photo by Emma Christensen for The Kitchn

When the phone rings around 3pm and it's my mom calling from Minnesota, I know she has a dinner emergency. What goes with potatoes besides dill or rosemary because she's all out of that? (Thyme!) Can she freeze pesto with the olive oil in it? (Yes!) Would it be weird to add cherries to this turkey dish? (Erm...Maybe?)

I've come to love these phone calls and the roll reversal they inherently imply. After all, it wasn't that long ago when I was the one setting off smoke alarms and calling her in a panic. It's usually the middle of my work day when she calls, so she knows we can't chit chat and I trust that she knows that I can't chit chat. And we both know that we'll save our chit chatting for the weekend. It all works out just fine.

The other day, Mom called with another question and then happened to mention that she had three bunches of dang beets crowded in her fridge from her last several CSAs and dang if she didn't have a clue what to do with them. I needed to scramble to finish some work, so I promised a list of my favorite beet recipes post-haste.

Life has a way of rolling ever onward and I am only now getting around to sending her that list. My mother has informed me that her beet situation is now reaching critical levels. For her, for you, for all of us suffering from CSA overload, I give you my utmost favoritest beet recipes.

P.S. We've been doing a Family History Week over on The Kitchn and I did a little interview with my mom about her memories of her mother cooking, her favorite foods, and what it was like growing up in a family of six. It was a really sweet to hear her stories. Check it out:

Liver for Dinner & Raspberry Pie: An Interview with My Mother

My Top 8 Most Favorite Beet Recipes


My Kitchn colleagues and I are fanatics for beets, it seems. Over the years, we've amassed enough beet recipes that it could be a category all its own. Those listed here are the ones I cook again and again. All the following recipes come from The Kitchn. 

1. Sauteed Rainbow Chard with Raw Beets and Goat Cheese
2. Beets on Crostini with Goat Cheese
3. Beet and Sweet Potato Stacks
4. Golden Beet and Barley Salad with Rainbow Chard
5. Beet Salad with Romesco Sauce and Spring Greens
6. Roasted Beet Salad with Barley, Feta, and Red Onion
7. Fennel, Beet, and Orange Salad
8. Seared Bitter Greens Salad with Roasted Beets, Spiced Pecans, and Roquefort

And just in case you need it, here's how to roast beets in the oven.

Do you have a favorite recipe for beets?