How To Use Beet Greens
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Beet greens are the leaves of the beetroot plant. They usually come attached to the stems when purchasing beets at the grocery store or farmers market. While sometimes tossed aside, beet greens, and the stems of the beets, are delicious, healthy and easy to use in a variety of ways, and should never be thrown away!
Sautéed beet greens are a tasty side dish. They’re also delicious mixed into pasta dishes, eggs, frittatas, salads and other recipes! Follow this blog post to learn how to cook beet greens, and the different ways to use this leafy green in the kitchen.
Table of contents
Back in the day, I might have been just like you, chopping off the stems and leaves of the beets and tossing them right into the trash. Not anymore!
One bunch of beets will give you about 3 cups of chopped beet greens and 2 cups of diced beet stems. That’s a lot of food to toss aside!
Beet greens are similar in taste and texture to swiss chard, but actually a little sweeter. The leaves are tender, so can eat them raw or cooked in place of spinach, kale, swiss chard, collard greens, or other leafy greens.
Beet stems are similar in texture to celery. They’re slightly sweet and slightly bitter. Anytime you’re chopping up onions, celery or carrots to toss into a dish, you could also toss in diced beet stems, or use them in place of the celery.
After separating the stems and the leaves, give them a wash, then use them in recipes immediately, or place them in the fridge to use throughout the week.
How to prepare beet greens and stems
The one cardinal rule with using beet stems and beet greens is that you must wash them thoroughly first before using them in a recipe. Beets are a root vegetable, meaning they grow under ground, so you’ll find dirt in the crevices of the beet stems, as well as on the leaves.
- Start by separating the stems and the greens. After cutting the beets from the stems, then remove the leaves from the stems.
- Wash the stems. I recommend using a vegetable scrubber, or you can just use your fingers, to get in the crevices of each beet stem, while it’s running under cold water.
- Wash the leaves. I recommend tossing them in a salad spinner, if you have one available. Rinse them thoroughly under cold water, while tossing them around in the salad spinner, or in a large colander. Either use the salad spinner to spin the leaves dry, or pat them dry with paper towels.
- Mince the stems and chop the leaves. Once cleaned, mince the stems and use them immediately, or store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. For the beet greens, either store them, wrapped in paper towels in an airtight container, or chop them and use them in a recipe immediately after they’re washed and dried.
Ways to use them
Beet stems and greens are incredibly versatile and can be used in a variety of recipes. Anytime a recipe calls for celery, you can use beet stems instead. Anytime a recipe calls for leafy greens, you can use beet leaves instead. I’ve also provided some recipe ideas below to get you started.
Beet stems have a similar texture to celery. The taste has a bit more flavor, with bitter and sweet notes. Beet stems can be sautéed with onions and used in any of these recipes.
- Mediterranean Vegetable Frittata
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup
- Bundt Pan Sausage Stuffing
- Red White and Blue Cheese Potato Salad
- Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf
- Chicken Pot Pie
Beet greens have a similar texture to swiss chard or kale, but are slightly sweeter than either of those greens. You can use beet greens in place of swiss chard, kale or spinach in any of these recipes.
- Spinach Pesto – simply replace the spinach to make beet green pesto.
- Cheesy Mushroom Spinach Puff Pastry
- Spinach Frittata with Bacon – you can also add in 1/2 cup of the minced beet stems with the diced onions.
- Butternut Squash Spinach Kale Salad – you can eat the beet greens raw in this salad, in place of the kale or spinach.
- Slow Cooker Kale Turkey Soup
- Kale Apple Slaw
- Vegan Cobb Salad
You can also sauté the greens and simply serve them as a side dish using the easy sautéed beet greens recipe provided below. Or add them to a frittata using the other recipe provided below.
How to make sauteed beet greens
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet or pan, over medium-high heat on the stove. Add minced beet stems and garlic, cook for 1 minute.
- Add chopped beet greens, salt and pepper, and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until slightly wilted.
- Turn the heat off on the stove, then add lemon juice and lemon zest, and stir to combine.
- Serve immediately as a side dish, or mix it with cooked pasta or into an omelette.
How to make a beet green frittata
- Heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Add 4 cups beet greens, ½ cup diced beet stems and ½ cup diced onions. Cook for 7 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 10 large eggs, ¼ cup milk, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper, then stir in ¼ cup diced green onions and ½ cup diced sun dried tomatoes. Reduce the heat on the stove to medium, then pour in the egg mixture. Use a spatula to make sure all of the veggies are pressed down under the eggs, then top with ½ cup crumbled feta cheese. Cook for 5 minutes on the stove.
- Transfer the frittata to a 400°F oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove, slice and serve immediately.
More kitchen basics
Don’t miss these other easy kitchen tutorials and how-to guides! And if you were wondering what to do with the beets, after you use the greens and stems, be sure to check out the link below for how to cook beets.
This post will show you how to make roasted beets, steamed beets and boiled beets for beet hummus, beet salad and other beet recipes.
Sauteed Beet Greens
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 cup beet stems, minced
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 6 cups beet greens
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- To start this recipe, separate the beet stems from the beet greens, then clean them by running them under cold water and making sure to remove any dirt. Dry the leaves in a salad spinner, or with paper towels.
- After they're thoroughly cleaned, dice the beet stems and chop the beet greens.
- Add the olive oil to a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the minced beet stems and garlic, cook for 1 minute.
- Add the beet greens, salt and pepper, and saute for 3-4 minutes.
- Turn off the heat on the stove, then stir in the lemon juice and zest, and stir to combine.
- Serve immediately as a side dish, or mix it with cooked pasta or into an omelette.
Notes
- One bunch of beets will give you about 3 cups of chopped beet greens and 2 cups of diced beet stems.
- To make a beet green frittata, refer to the blog post above.
Nutrition Facts
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