Instant Pot Beets – Rachel Cooks®

An Instant Pot makes it easy to get perfectly tender beets in minutes! Use Instant Pot beets in your favorite recipes or dice them up and enjoy them as a simple side dish.

 

When it comes to cooking beets, you have options! While I love roasted beets and air fryer beets, if you want whole beets that are moist and tender, the Instant Pot is the way to go.

These Instant Pot beets are pressure cooked, which makes them fork-tender and perfect for adding to a salad (like my beet and feta salad or asparagus ribbon salad with beets and burrata), puréeing into hummus, or layering onto bruschetta with goat cheese.

If you roast whole beets in the oven, they’ll take at least an hour, more if they are larger. Boiling beets on the stove can be messy, and you have to keep on eye on them. Instant Pot beets take about 45 minutes, the time is all hands-off and you don’t have to peel them ahead of time, which is always a bonus in my book.

Reasons to Love Instant Pot Beets

• Make as many or as few as you like. Okay, maybe the “as many part” is a bit of a stretch, but you can cook as little as a single beet in the Instant Pot and as much as three pounds, which is a whole lot of beets! Basically, the limit is how many you can fit.
• Great for meal prep. Make a batch of Instant Pot beets on the weekend to use in salads, wraps, sandwiches, and pasta throughout the week.
• The easiest way to prepare beets. I love that you can leave the skin on, then after the cooking is done, it just slides right off. No messing up a cutting board!
• A healthy side dish. Beets have a whole host of health benefits and they’re a great source of heart-healthy folate and manganese, which supports bone health and metabolism.

What you’ll need

• Beets: Trim and scrub them well. Although you will be slipping off the skin, you still don’t want them cooking in dirty water! Use golden beets for a milder, sweeter flavor (and to skip the bright red fingers).
• Water: The second ingredient you’ll need to make Instant Pot beets. If your tap water has an off-flavor to it, use filtered or bottled.
• Instant Pot: You’ll also need the wire rack that fits inside.

How to make Instant Pot Beets

After you prepare the beets (wash and cut off the greens), pour the water into the Instant Pot, then arrange the beets inside on a wire rack.

Secure the lid, then set for Pressure Cook 25 minutes (Manual, High Pressure), with 10 minutes natural release. 

Once 10 minutes has elapsed, carefully release any remaining pressure and remove the lid. 

Allow the beets to cool enough that you can handle them safely, then slip the skin off under cold running water. 

FAQs

Serving Suggestions for Instant Pot Beets

If you love beets, simply seasoning with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of good olive oil might just be enough for you! For a little extra flavor and flair, try one of these ideas.

• Vinegar: Whisk balsamic vinegar (or another vinegar you like) with olive oil and drizzle this over the cooked beets.
• Lemon or orange juice: Like vinegar, citrus juice will brighten up the flavor of Instant Pot beets and tame some of their earthiness.
• Tahini sauce: Drizzle tahini sauce over beets, or use it to dress a beet salad.
• Brown butter: For something a little more decadent, pair your beets with brown butter.
• Honey or maple syrup: Lean into the natural sweetness of these Instant Pot beets by tossing them with a touch of honey or maple syrup.
• Garnishes: Goat cheese, feta, thyme, rosemary, and toasted walnuts are all excellent finishing touches for beets.

What to Serve With Beets

If you’re making these Instant Pot beets as a side dish, you can serve them with a protein like baked honey mustard chicken or pork chops with balsamic caramelized onions. They’re also great tossed with a simple pasta. They are wonderful on salads.

Make Ahead Ideas

Meal prep Instant Pot beets and refrigerate the cooked beets for 3 to 4 days.

Storage & Reheating Suggestions

Refrigerate beets in an airtight container; they can also be frozen in a storage container or zip-top bag for up to 3 months, then thawed before cooking or using.

Reheat cooked beets in the microwave or eat them cold.