Easy Beets with Balsamic-Citrus Glaze

This delicious and easy Beets with Balsamic-Citrus Glaze recipe will be the perfect, nutritious side dish to any meal you make! Made with only a few ingredients that you are most likely to already have in your pantry, this dish is sauteed and done within minutes. So let’s go and make the easiest beet recipe guaranteed to win over any eater in your home!

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What are Beets?

Beets are lovely root vegetables that come in many colors, but deep purple is my personal favorite. They cook up to look like little gems and are so stunning to set on the table for any casual meal or if you’re hosting a dinner party. I feel that beets have had a bad reputation for “tasting like dirt” and people refuse to even try them. Most of these people have probably only had canned beets also. Please do yourself the favor of trying this amazingly easy recipe with fresh beets before saying you dislike beets!

Why eat them?

Beets are crazy nutritious! They are:

• Rich in folate
• High in fiber: 3.8 g per serving!
• Contain nitrates that help to widen our blood vessels
• Are a good source of iron
• High in potassium 442 mg
• And are packed with countless essential minerals and vitamins!

With these benefits, everyone should be including beets in their regular diet. Just check out the many benefits for yourself and maybe this will convince you to try them if you don’t love them already.

What do beets taste like?

Yes, they are earthy in flavor, but maybe don’t just eat a plain beet unless you’re into that kind of thing. I feel like I have turned into a bit of Dwight Schrute from the show, The Office. I fell in love with beets and now want to share the joy of eating beets with anyone who will listen! This vegetable is so versatile. It is easy to cook them into many dishes or use them cold in salads. This easy Balsamic Citrus Beets with Goat Cheese recipe is nice and sweet, paired with a fresh, creamy tang from the goat cheese, and will win over any picky eater!

How to Cook Them?

Beets can be cooked in a number of ways for any kind of dish. After removing the left greens and the little tuber from the bottom of the beet, I usually will pop them into the instant pot for about 25 minutes for normal-sized beets with a natural release at the end. I can do this early on, and then remove the skin easily after they’ve cooked and cooled. I can do this a day before if I know I could use a little time the next day!

Another alternative if you don’t have an instant pot, is to wrap them each in foil and roast them in the oven on a baking sheet for an hour at 400 degrees. Either way you cook them, just make sure they are tender. A knife should slide easily into the center. 

Beets will stain!

Yes, be careful because beets will stain your hands and clothes with their glorious purple juice! Wear gloves to work with the cooked beets when you remove the skin from them. Once they have cooled, I place them on a plastic cutting board and gently run a spoon over the flesh to remove the tough skins. Just discard the skins. 

Don’t hold it against the beets if they stain anything. They only meant good for you and your family and by no means wanted to upset you. I love beets too much. 

Ingredients for Balsamic-Citrus Beets

• Balsamic vinegar. It is always worth spending more money when it comes to balsamic vinegar. The vinegar should be dark and syrup-like in consistency for best taste. 
• Beets. I favor purple organic beets, but a mix of purple and gold would be beautiful and taste great as well. Any size will do when looking for beets, but note that large ones might be bitter or tough. Usually, a size about like a tennis ball or smaller is perfect in my experience. 
• Goat cheese. I cook often with goat cheese! Costco has a great value on goat cheese so I always have it in my refrigerator. The creamy, tangy, cheese is a must for this dish…please don’t skip it. Even people who don’t usually like goat cheese will enjoy how well it pairs and compliments the beets. If you love goat cheese, check out my easy Fried Goat Cheese for a pleasing appetizer!
• Orange juice. Sure, you could squeeze some fresh oranges if you have them around, but orange juice from the bottle is all you need for this recipe.
• Brown sugar. Sweetening beets are my favorite way to eat them, honestly, and it’s the obvious win for kids (and husbands) to get them to try and like the beets. Feel free to use another sweetener here, as well. I have often swapped out the brown sugar for honey or maple syrup and had equally as delicious results. If you need it sweeter, just add a little more sugar to your balsamic citrus glaze before adding the cubed beets.
• Herbs. I prefer the lighter flavor of a sprig of fresh thyme in this dish, but a little dried Italian herbs or herbs de Provence is always a go-to for me when I don’t have fresh herbs available.
• Garlic. I like to throw in one clove of garlic–whole. Just let it simmer and flavor the glaze. If you aren’t into garlic or find that you are out of fresh garlic, don’t worry, this dish will be just fine without.
• Salt and pepper

Ingredients:

• 3 tennis-ball-sized beets. Cooked, skinned, and cubed into small wedges or bite-sized cubes.
• ½ cup orange juice
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, whole
• ¼ tsp salt and pepper, or to taste
• ¼ tsp herbs (fresh thyme, dried Italian or herbs de Provence)
• Goat cheese

Instructions

Combine orange juice, balsamic vinegar, and sugar in a medium non-stick skillet and bring to simmer over medium heat. Stir often. Once a simmer has been reached, add the herbs, garlic clove, salt/pepper, and lower the heat to a medium-low simmer for 10 minutes or until the mixture has thickened slightly. Then add the cooked beets and cook another 10 minutes to heat through, and this will incorporate the flavors. Serve the beets topped with crumbled goat cheese and enjoy!

Easy Beets with Balsamic-Citrus Glaze and Goat Cheese

Print Recipe

Easy and delicious beets with a balsamic-citrus glaze, topped with tangy goat cheese creates a winner of a side dish sure to please everyone with its beauty and taste!

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

• 3 Red Beets tennis ball size. Cooked, skinned, cubed or cut into wedges.
• 1/2 cup Orange Juice
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 Garlic Clove, whole
• 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
• fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp Herbs (fresh thyme, dried Italian, Herbs de Provence are all good)
• 6 oz Goat Cheese

Instructions

• Combine the orange juice, balsamic vinegar, and sugar in a medium non-stick skillet and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
• Once at a simmer, add the herbs whole garlic clove, salt/pepper, and lower the heat to a medium-low. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the glaze has thickened and can slightly coat the back of the spoon.
• Add the cooked and chopped beets to the glaze and toss the beets to cover in the glaze. Cook another 10 minutes.
• Remove the garlic clove and place the beets into a dish. Top with Crumbled goat cheese (as much as you would like).
• Enjoy!