How Long do Cooked Beets Last in the Fridge?

If you want to store cooked beets for longer periods, you’ll have to blanch them first. This process helps to keep the nutrients and flavor of the vegetables intact. It also makes cutting the beets easier. Depending on the size and number of beets, the blanching process will take anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour. Once the beets are tender, you can transfer them to a container of ice water to cool.

Cooked beets and foods made with beets only keep well in the fridge for about four days. After 30 to 60 minutes, transfer to a lidded pot, bowl, or resealable container and store in the refrigerator.

Cooked Beets

What are Beets?

The beet (Beta vulgaris) is a root vegetable that emerges from the ground as a spherical bulb with a leafy top. Although they are not botanically related, turnips and radishes resemble beets in shape. The most popular garden beet has a rich ruby-red hue. While beet is the term given to this vegetable most frequently in the United States, beets are typically known as beetroot in other English-speaking nations. Because the leaves can be eaten, the distinction is crucial in recipes.

How Long do Cooked Beets Last in the Fridge?

The precise response to that query depends on the storage conditions; beets should be refrigerated within two hours of cooking.

Cooked beets should be refrigerated in shallow airtight containers to extend their shelf life and maintain quality. They can be securely wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum foil or plastic wrap.

Beets cooked and properly refrigerated can be kept in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.

Cooked beets can be frozen, wrapped securely in freezer wrap or heavy-duty aluminum foil, or placed in closed, airtight containers to extend their shelf life.

How to Cook and Freeze Beets?

Put the beets in a pot, cover them with water, and boil them. Beets should be cooked for 25 to 30 minutes for small ones and 45 to 50 minutes for large ones. When a fork can puncture your beets easily, they are finished.

To stop the cooking, place your cooked beets in an ice-water bath. Give them some time to sit there so they can have a chance to cool off.

Peel off the peels from your beets after they are cold enough to handle (they should slide right off). After that, remove the remaining tips and roots.

The beets should be chopped or sliced, spread out on a baking sheet, and quickly frozen. The beets won’t freeze in clumps as a result of this.

Put your beets in freezer bags after they have completely frozen, then put the bags back in the freezer. Although they can be stored indefinitely, it is better to use them within a year. Beets contain a lot of water, so you might want to think about vacuum-sealing them. If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, try to squeeze out every last bit of air from the freezer bags before tightly sealing them. It will lessen the risk of freezer burn.

How to Store Beets?

As soon as you arrive home, clip the beets’ leaves 2 inches from the root. The leaves will drain the beetroot’s moisture. Never cut the taproot. Use the leaves within two days after storing them in a distinct plastic bag. The root bulbs must be packed and kept in the refrigerator’s crisper for seven to ten days. Up to one week of refrigeration is allowed for cooked beets.

Beets that have just been cooked may be frozen whole or chopped for up to 10 months. Before freezing in sealed containers or baggies with no air inside, make sure you peel the produce. Another common way of preservation is pickling beets.

Where to Buy Beets?

Fresh beet season lasts from June through October or November in North America. Since they are frequently imported, acquiring fresh beets all year long is simple and typically affordable. The frost-resistant veggie beets are a favorite for backyard gardeners. They are frequently marketed in bunches of five or more beets. They can also be found frozen, as dried beet chips, tinned, or in jars. Plant the seeds for a spring crop or any time between June and September for a late crop.

Pick beets that are tiny, firm, deep crimson, and skinless (avoid scales or spots). Only buy fresh beets if the taproot and leaf stem is still intact. The leaves shouldn’t be turning yellow or dull green. The majority of beets have a diameter of 1 1/2 to 2 inches. Avoid huge beets with hairy taproots since they are likely old and have a woody, rough interior. Smaller beets will be more delicate and tasty.

What are the Possible Uses of Beets?

In exercise, beetroot has become popular as a potential supplement to boost athletic performance. Beet juice and supplements made from beetroot help blood vessels dilate when you exercise, which can help provide more oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and allow you to work out for longer. The majority of people who exercise recreationally experience these advantages. Whether beet juice can help high-endurance athletes like bodybuilders in this way is still debatable. Even so, many athletes, including Olympians, are devoted to it.

Additionally, beets are utilized by food producers to give red color to some meals, like baked goods. This doesn’t necessarily imply that the food is any healthier. It’s crucial to look at the food and read ingredient labels carefully.

What are the Different Varieties of Beets?

One of four varieties of beets known as garden beets is the best that is familiar to most Americans today. The sugar beet and the mangold, used for livestock, are different varieties of beets.

However, there are even more types. Garden beets come in five different subtypes, according to the National Gardening Association, including:

Michigan Dark Red: Of all the garden beets, these have the darkest crimson roots.

Formanova: This cultivar forms cylinders as it grows.

Green Lutz Leaf: This cultivar of garden beets is the largest Chioggia variety available. The roots of these beets are striped in red and white.

Golden: These beets have roots that resemble carrots.

Although red beets may be the most well-known type, beets come in a wide range of hues. In specialty stores, you can find beets that are yellow, white, or even candy-striped (with red and white concentric circles). Table sugar is produced from sugar beets.

What are the Signs that Indicate Cooked Beets have Gone Bad?

Before you buy or even prepare your beets, it’s a good idea to search for symptoms that they have gone rotten.

Smell

Beets smell distinctly “earthy” when they’re still fresh. An earthy smell can be recognized if you’ve ever smelled beets, even though it’s difficult to describe. Beets may not always smell rotten when they go bad, but you will still notice an unpleasant odor. Trust your instincts and your amazing sense of smell.

Put them in the trash if the smell is too overpowering. Although judging freshness by smell can be challenging, it can also be sufficient in specific circumstances.

One needs to get used to the clean, earthy smell. Even if beets don’t always smell rotten at their worst, a terrible scent should be enough to dispose of the beet.

Mold

There is always discussion regarding meals that have gotten a little moldy. People often advise cutting off the moldy portions of fruits and vegetables and using the remaining produce. The issue with this is that the fungus disseminated toxins throughout the entire beet, not just the visible portions.

In this situation, throwing away the entire beet would be wise. The fungus doesn’t just impact the visible surface.

The spores and poisons are typically dispersed throughout your veggie when you see them.

Texture

Beets that are still young are quite soft, but if you notice that they are wrinkled, check for bruising. Because they don’t have enough moisture, beets can wrinkle.

It’s time to discard the beets if you see that their coat has grown mushy. Like carrots, beets are particularly solid when they are young. Since both beets and carrots are root veggies, I like to compare them.

Fresh beets are firm when they are young; something is wrong when they start to wrinkle. Also, look for bruises.

While a lack of moisture may cause some wrinkling, others may indicate poor health. Throw them out if they are wrinkled.

Although fresh beets should be as solid as a tennis ball, beets may have a mushy exterior. The beet has probably gone bad if it is as soft as a tomato.

Taste

Occasionally, people experience the misfortune of a beet going bad too soon. One would suppose it has to do with how they kept the beets.

Test it by taking the bad one out of the fridge after a few days and chewing on it. It’s terrible if the flavor lacks the sweetness and mellowness a nice beet should have and is too harsh and dry.

What are the Side Effects of Consuming Beets?

Beets, especially juices and supplements, can have adverse effects, one of which can cause your urine to turn pink or crimson. This is only a side effect of the beet’s pigments and not a reason for alarm. Heart attacks can result from kidney disease’s elevated potassium levels. This is because news cannot effectively absorb potassium, and this nutrient may accumulate excessively in the body.

While potassium is essential for maintaining blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart disease, it can be problematic for people with kidney illness; as a result, your doctor may advise you to steer clear of beets due to their high potassium level.

Beet allergies are also uncommon, but they can happen to some people. Hives, diarrhea, vomiting, and stomach pains are signs of a beet allergy. Additionally, anaphylactic responses have been documented.

Reference: Blood pressure-lowering effects of beetroot juice and novel beetroot-enriched bread products in normotensive male subjects

After consuming four doses of beetroot juice (BJ), 0, 100, 250, and 500 g (n 18), or three bread products, control bread (0 g beetroot), red beetroot- and white beetroot-enriched slices of bread, ambulatory blood pressure (BP) was recorded over 24 hours (n 14). Total urine nitrate/nitrite (NOx) concentrations were assessed pre-ingestion, 2, 4, and 24 hours afterward. Compared to drinking water, BJ consumption significantly and almost dose-dependently decreased systolic (SBP, P 001) and diastolic (DBP, P 0001) blood pressure over 24 hours. Additionally, 100 g of red or white beetroot added to bread products reduced SBP and DBP over 24 hours (red beetroot-enriched bread, P 005), with no statistically significant variations between the two beet varieties.

Conclusion

If you like the taste of beets, it is important to know how long you can store cooked beets in your fridge. They can last for several weeks if stored correctly.

First, you need to make sure the beets are clean. Beets that are soiled can quickly spoil. Clean them by peeling off the leaves and stems and removing any dirt. After this, please place them in a plastic bag. You can also use a freezer bag. Once you have cleaned the beets, you can now freeze them. When freezing, you need to keep them in airtight containers. . This method effectively preserves the color and texture of beets.