Quick Answer: Can You Freeze Beets?
Yes, beets can indeed be frozen, and even up to 8 months! There are a few fairly simple, hassle-free methods. You can freeze them either blanched, roasted or chopped; methods that do not take up too much of your time and actually turn out to be quite advantageous in the long run – saving your time and money.
With their strong earthy flavor, beets are a very smart option to keep in the kitchen.
Apart from red beets, you are likely to find yellow-orange golden, white, and even multicolored beets, all of which make excellent ingredients in specific recipes.
Freezing the extra beets that you have instead of letting them go to waste is a great idea.
Thankfully, you can keep them securely in freezer storage for up to 8 months or even more, preserving their freshness.
Putting into use time-tested experience and hours’ worth of research, this comprehensive guide tells you everything you need to know about freezing beets of all kinds.
What to Note and Do Before Freezing Beets
Do note that beets have a high-water content, so there is always a certain risk attached to freezing them.
To be safe and avoid any water-related mishaps, it is a good idea to make sure you seal the bags you freeze the beets in and follow the steps given in this guide very carefully.
It would help to choose fresh beets that still have the greens attached.
Note that they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, so make sure you cook/roast/chop them and prep them for freezing within that duration of procuring them.
There is a significant amount of prepping that precedes the actual freezing process when it comes to freezing beets.
It would help if you are familiar with the process of blanching.
This guide will take you through three ways of freezing beets: cooked, roasted, and chopped, along with teaching you the process of thawing, defrosting, and reheating before you eat again.
Can You Freezing Cooked/Blanched Beets?
Materials
- Knife/hatchet
- Cutting board
- Bowl of ice
- Baking sheet
- Airtight freezer bags
Instructions
Blanching is a fairly easy process that is especially helpful when you are freezing vegetables such as beets. It essentially stops the cooking process before they get fully cooked, prepping them for freezing.
- Wash and Cut the Leaves - Beets are ideally cooked whole with the skin still on.
Cut up the leaves and make sure you leave around an inch to prevent them from bleeding out.
It works best when you steam the beets as opposed to fully boiling them. - Cook the Beets - Next, cook the beets in a pot with water.
For smaller beets, 25 to 30 minutes should do; for larger ones, go with at least 45 to 50 minutes. Check with a fork, then drain the beets in a colander. - Transfer to Ice Bath to Blanch - Transfer the cooked beets immediately to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. This is essentially what ‘blanching’ consists of.
- Peel Off Skins, Cut and Slice - Once the beets are cool enough, peel off the skins off the beets.
They should come right off; in case they don't, you can use a vegetable peeler but use it softly and carefully.
Cut off the rest of the tops and the roots and slice the beets carefully into pieces, and then spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet. - Flash Freeze - Transfer the baking sheet into the freezer. They should be kept to freeze depending on the size; to be safe, you could just keep them overnight.
- Put into freezer bags and freeze - Once frozen hard enough, transfer the beet slices into airtight resealable freezer bags and label them.
Freezing Roasted Beets
Time Taken: 2-3 hours
What You Need:
- Knife/hatchet
- Cutting board
- Vegetable brush
- Baking/roasting pan
- Foil
The Chioggia beet, which is a striped variety of beet and an excellent choice for salads, has been shown to give the best results when freezing beets in this method.
Whichever kind of beets you use, follow this method carefully.
Cut the Greens, Trim the Roots and Wash
Be careful to leave 1 to 2 inches of stem. Trim off the longer root ends, leaving around 1 to 2 inches. Wash the beets carefully; if possible, use a vegetable brush.
Roast the Beets
The oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (200 Celsius/Gas 6). Arrange the beets in a baking or roasting pan that has a large rim.
Add 1 cup of water to a depth of about half an inch.
Cover the pan tightly and securely with foil.
Roast the beets for around 45 minutes, to an hour, depending on the size you are working with, or just roast until tender. You can use the fork trick again.
Peel Off Skins, Cut and Slice
Once the beets are cool enough, peel off the skins off the beets.
They should come right off; in case they don’t, you can use a vegetable peeler but use it softly and carefully.
Cut off the rest of the tops and the roots and slice the beets carefully into pieces, and then spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Flash-freeze the Beets
Transfer the baking sheet into the freezer. They should be kept to freeze depending on the size; to be safe, you could just keep them overnight.
Put into Freezer Bags and Freeze
Once frozen hard enough, transfer the beet slices into airtight resealable freezer bags and label them. They are ready to freeze!
Freezing Chopped Beets
Time Taken: 10-15 minutes
What You Need:
- Knife/hatchet
- Cutting board
- Vegetable peeler
- Airtight freezer bags
You can also freeze beets raw if and when chopped up into small pieces.
This way of freezing beets works best when you are doing so for soups. Chopped beets do not require blanching to be frozen.
Beets, like certain other vegetables like carrots, freeze well raw. This method works excellently for all kinds of beets.
Peel and Cut/Chop the Beets
The skins off the beets carefully. You might want to use a vegetable peeler. Cut or finely chop the raw and peeled beets into small pieces.
Transfer into Freezer Bags and Freeze
The pieces into airtight freezer bags and label them.
They are ready to freeze!
How to Freeze Beet Greens
Time Taken: 15-20 minutes
What You Need:
- Knife/hatchet
- Cutting board
- Airtight freezer bags
Beet greens, despite having to be removed when you are freezing the actual beet vegetables, whether blanched, roasted, or chopped, are still an essential part of it and are not just edible but also quite tasty.
Whether it be for a breakfast smoothie or any other recipe, freezing the beet greens is a great, highly beneficial idea.
The greens can be frozen, both blanched as well as raw, but experience and research say raw is the better option; it saves time and effort. Read on to find out how.
Wash and Cut the Greens
The greens that have been cut off from the beets have to be washed thoroughly and rigorously.
Cut all the leaves and greens into small pieces. This is essential as it stops the enzyme action in the leaves before you freeze.
Skipping this step and freezing the greens anyway leads to high chances of loss of texture, color, and even flavor.
Transfer into Freezer Bags and Freeze
Transfer the greens into airtight freezer bags.
Squeeze out all the air possible, so there is no exposure. Seal the bags tightly and carefully and label them. They are ready to freeze!
How Long Can You Freeze Beets?
Beets, if frozen carefully following the right methods with the right steps, can be kept in freezer storage for up to 8 months and even beyond.
Freezing, therefore, prolongs beets’ shelf life significantly. However, it is best to consume them within a year of freezing, not longer.
How to Store Frozen Beets?
For all the processes and methods prescribed here, using heavy-duty, airtight, resealable, freezer-friendly bags and pouches is a must.
And they need to be sealed really well. A vacuum sealer is actually a great investment for this purpose, especially if you freeze food often. It would help get all the air out.
How to Defrost Frozen Beets?
In the case of frozen blanched beets, you can simply reheat them and use them again. Their freshness will mostly remain intact.
In the case of roasted beets, you can reheat them in the oven, sprinkled with some seasoning of your choice for about 20 minutes, or in a covered dish in the microwave, for around 4 to 5 minutes.
Can You Re-freeze Frozen Beets?
Beets are mostly safe to refreeze but still not entirely advised.
The ideal way to do it would be to refreeze them when they are still not completely thawed and still mostly cold.
Note, however, that there is likely to be a degradation in the quality of the vegetable and its freshness if you refreeze, owing to how more moisture will be drawn out.
Do Beets Freeze Well?
Beets, like most other vegetables, do indeed freeze fairly well.
If the proper steps and the proper methods are followed, and the sealing is done tightly and securely, beets can stay in freezer storage to up to 10, even 12 months.
FAQs
Beet greens can be used to make a range of delectable salads. You can also sauté them around in olive oil for a bit and enjoy a plateful of delicious greens. Just be sure to have washed the leaves well before.
And in case the stem and its crunchiness do not work in your dish, you can simply cut out those parts.
No, that is not a good idea, as attached greens would most likely cause the beets to go bad twice the normal rate.
Instead, you can either make a quick meal out of them by making a salad out of them or any other recipe; or you can freeze them using the given recipe for smoothies.
A trick to help the beets preserve their bright, original color and prevent bleeding as much as possible when you are cooking/blanching them to prep them for freezing is to add one to two tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice to the water in the pot.
It is better to go with fresh and firm beets that seem heavy, as opposed to beets that are soft or wiggly.
You can still freeze fully cooked beets; however, it is advisable to consume them within not more than three months of freezing them. Texture and flavor can degrade far faster when you freeze fully cooked vegetables.
Yes, you can absolutely freeze beetroot juice. You can either freeze it into cubes and freeze those in airtight freezer bags, or you can put the juice in an airtight container, seal it tightly and freeze that itself.
Bottom Line
We have gone through the methods to freeze beets, along with the beet greens, beetroot juice, as well as a number of other guidelines and things you need to keep in mind while freezing them.
We hope that this guide has helped you understand how to freeze beets at home.
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