How to Roast Beets and Easily Freeze Them For Later (Picture Tutorial)
Yes, you CAN freeze beets! With this easy step-by-step tutorial learn how to roast beets and then freeze them to preserve for the year. After thawing they taste just like you cooked them fresh! Roasted, frozen beets are perfect for salads, sides, and other recipes – and may just win over non beet lovers, too.
✩ What readers are saying…
“This recipe worked perfectly! When I took them out of the freezer for use, it was like I had just cooked them. Thank you! ” -Suzy
Have you noticed that beets can be a pretty divisive vegetable? It seems you either like them or you think they “taste like dirt.”
Personally, I don’t get it. I mean, cooked correctly beets can be as sweet as carrots – which are also grown in the dirt and most people seem to like.
But I’m the lone beet fan in my family. The kids won’t touch them and Brian merely puts up with them. Which means I don’t serve them very often and I don’t grow a ton of them in our garden, just a couple of rows for me.
But you know what happens with even a few rows, right?
Most of the beets are all ready to be harvested at once. I had the problem of too many beets for just me – but then none for the future. Which made me wonder if beets could be frozen.
Can beets be frozen successfully?
Pickling seems to be the most popular way to preserve beets, but my few small rows never made enough to pickle (update: not since I discovered this easy way to pickle jar-by-jar!), so I decided to try freezing some that I had oven roasted–even though I had never heard or read of it being done.
Seems like I’m a rebel like that – see my non-blanched frozen green beans, corn freezing experiments, and best ways to freeze basil tests.
I roasted them in the oven, in their skins to preserve moisture, then chopped and added them to freezer baggies in small portions.
The Results – Tested on Guests
Surprisingly, the beets tasted just as good after a couple months in the freezer as they did the day I roasted them!
So I made my favorite salad with them, Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, and served it to company.
Um, didn’t I just say beets are divisive…and I served a salad with beets to company?
In my defense, I thought I was safe because our company was a gardener, and don’t most gardeners grow beets? Well, not the one sitting at my table.
He promptly said, “Beets are the one vegetable I don’t eat” and proceeded to give me the dirt comparison. Great – of all the vegetables on the planet I pick the one he didn’t eat.
Of course I said he didn’t have to eat them, but he decided to try them anyway. The verdict?
“These are the best beets I’ve ever eaten. They don’t taste like beets!”
Now I make sure to grow enough rows to be able to freeze beets in small packages to last me through the winter (as well as now pickling a few jars of these easy, honey sweetened beets).
Though I only serve them to people I know will enjoy them – I don’t want to waste them!
How to Prepare, Oven Roast and Freeze Beets
Here is a step-by-step tutorial to prepare, cook, and freeze beets because I didn’t know how to prepare them when I first started growing beets and I’m pretty sure there are some people out there who may be as clueless as I was.
Of course, this is just one method for cooking beets (like cooking beets in a slow cooker or Instant Pot!), but most of these steps are the same no matter how you decide cook them.
Step 1: Wash and trim. Wash beets thoroughly with a vegetable brush in order to get all the dirt off. Trim the greens off, leaving about an inch of the tops. Trim the roots as well, if needed.
Step 2: Prepare for baking. Place the beets in a shallow baking dish and pour in about 1/4 cup of water.
Note: I suppose this isn’t true “roasting” like when we toss vegetables with olive oil (which you can do with beets, by the way… they get nice crispy edges which is great for that application, but not what I want on a salad…), but it’s like roasting meat, I guess. We don’t want the beets to dry out too much or they won’t freeze as well.
Step 3: Bake. Cover well with foil and bake at 400 degrees for up to an hour, depending on the size of the beets.
Step 4: Test and let cool. Check doneness by inserting a small knife into the thickest parts of the beets. Let cool until you can comfortably handle them.
Jami’s Tip
The beets pictured were fairly large so I cut them in half to speed the cooking time (small to medium beets can be left whole). They were done in about 45 minutes.
Step 5: Peel. Cut the rest of the tops and bottoms off and skin the beets by pulling with a small knife.
TIP: Some directions say to put gloves on and “rub the skins off” but that hasn’t worked well for me, but you do what works for you. And I don’t wear gloves- I just wash my hands afterwards and don’t have a problem with staining.
You can use the beets any way you’d like now – serve right away with butter or on a salad.
Or read on to see how to easily freeze cooked beets:
Cut beets. Cut the cooked beets into any shape you’d like – I typically cube the beets into bite-size pieces. You can also, slice, julienne or cut into wedges.
Freeze. Place the cut beets in a freezer bagging or container, label, and freeze.
Big TIP: I remove the air from my freezer baggies with a straw and it keeps most of the frost out of the packages. (And no, I don’t need a food saver – this has always worked great and is less expensive, lol!)
Storage
Try to use the frozen beets within 6-9 months for best flavor and texture.
One time, though, a few baggies got shoved in the back of my freezer and I found them a year later. I served them anyway and was shocked that they were still pretty tasty, even after a year.
However, a baggie I found after 1-1/2 years didn’t fare as well and the beets were shriveled and soggy.
(Of course this was before I had the chalkboard freezer organizer which helps me keep better track of what we have for planning menus and using up food.)
Freezing Beets FAQs
I simply defrost in the fridge or in warm water – it doesn’t take much. And then use cold in salads or gently warm as you’d like (similar to refrigerated cooked beets you can buy in the stores).
Yes, but they will not be as convenient as already cooked. Cut the raw peeled beets into small dices, transfer them into a freezer bag, label and freeze. Any beet variety can be frozen like this.
If you’d like grated beets, you can freeze them raw – grate and lay out on a cookie sheet to flash freeze before transferring to freezer containers.
Yes, if the beets are peeled and cut into smaller pieces first (or grated like above).
It depends on how you want to use them – grated raw or diced beets are good for using raw in salads or adding to soups. Roasted beets can be used to top salads or heated as a side dish with butter that only has to be thawed and warmed.
Beets store in the freezer about 6-12 months.
More Vegetables You Can Easily Freeze
- How to Freeze Green Beans without Blanching
- How to Freeze Snap Peas Without Blanching
- Three Ways to Freeze Corn
- How to Freeze Broccoli – Blanched & Unblanched
I hope you love how these beets turn out – if you do this, be sure to leave a recipe rating so I (and others) know how you liked it!
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How to Roast Beets and Easily Freeze Them For Later
Ingredients
- 8 medium to large beets*
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- To Roast: Wash the beets thoroughly and trim the roots and greens off, leaving about an inch of the tops. For even cooking, cut any large beets in half.
- Place the beets in a shallow 13×9-inch baking dish and pour in about 1/4 cup of water.
- Cover well with foil and bake in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the beets. To check if they’re done, insert a small knife into the thickest parts of the beets. (If there are smaller beets cooking with larger ones, remove the beets as they finish cooking.)
- Cut the rest of the tops and bottoms off and skin the beets by pulling it off with a small knife.
- Cut the beets into chunks or slices and serve right away or freeze for later.
- To freeze for later: Place the beets in a baggie or other freezer container, removing as much air as possible, label and put in the freezer. Use within 6-9 months for best quality, or up to a year.
Notes
Nutrition
This article has been updated – it was originally published in June of 2010 and updated in 2022.
PARSNIPS? Can they be frozen? If yes, how is the best way?
Yep, I’ve done the same thing with parsnips as beets, except I just roast them like potatoes – cut them, coat with a bit of olive oil and roast. Let cool and freeze.
I cook mine in my slow cooker. Don’t even wash them if they are from the store. Put about two cups of water in the bottom and top up as many beets as I can fit in. Turn it on high and walk away for 6 hours or so. When they are done, let them cool a little and put they liner in the sink and fill with cool water. Put rubber gloves on and rub the skins off. All done. Make a beet salad with beet chunks, oil, vinegar, red onion garlic salt, and pepper. Wonderful.
What a wonderfully easy method, Ginny, I can’t wait to try this. Thanks for sharing it!!
Thank you so much for this. It was our first year for frowning beets and I just dug them out yesterday. (Good thing, it’s snowing today !). I had no idea what to do with them. Now I can have some for thanksgiving AND for the winter. You’re the best!
Wonderful, Annmarie! I bet they are wonderfully sweet, too, after being in the ground when it was cooling.
Jami, thank you for this post! I love beets and have several favorite recipes for beet salads. In Russia, where I am from, beets are one of the main root vegetables (think borsch!). I bought a laundry basket full of beets at a farm and was trying to come up with a way to preserve the beets. Last year, only half of them made it through winter in a fridge. I am in the same situation as you are – the lone beet-eater, my husband is severely allergic to beets. Thanks to you, I have a way to save the sweet purple goodness! 🙂
I’m so glad, Tatiana! Beet lovers unite. 😉
i just scrubbed mine very well and set them on a pan lined with foil, in case they leaked. set the oven to 375º and cooked for 1 hour. when the time was up i turned off the oven and left them in there until it cooled down… this was out of laziness, not technique. but they came out perfect. i ate them plain just as they were, no nothing. they were huge, though, so i *was* wondering in they would freeze well. i usually like to eat them with a really good chunky blue cheese dressing but i was out.
I freeze all sizes – I just cut into chunks first.
Thank you for sharing your beet-freezing experience. Oddly, my dad who is super picky, includes beets among the few vegetables he likes and will eat. Now that mom is gone I am fixing freezer meals for him and I would like to include beets. I roast mine most of the time so I’m going to try your method!
I’m one of those freaks who eat raw beets in salads along with raw kale. They taste ok to me though I wouldn’t say there’re all that tasty but they are good for you so I can deal with it.
I have a theory that today’s processed foods overwhelm your taste buds and kill your sense for subtle flavors. They are sooo good once in a while but don’t over do it. That’s my 2 cents.
Take care all!
Fashionably late, as usual, but just have to let you know how very happy this post has made me! I learned last year that beets grow well for me (I’m both gardening- and soil-challenged), and I’ve been wondering how I’m going to preserve this year’s crop, since last year’s crop didn’t fare so well in the basement or the garage. I’m also contemplating learning to can — if nothing else, my friends will probably find much to be amused about in this endeavor.
Jami, thanks to you I’ll be eating delicious beets from my garden all winter long!
Oh, it’s never too late to learn a new food preservation method, Jane. 🙂 I hope you enjoy this delicious way to keep beets as much as I do (notice I didn’t say ‘we’ ’cause my family doesn’t like them as much as I do, ha!).
Cooked this up this morning and they are on a pan in the freezer. After they freeze solid I will food seal them and keep them in the freezer. The things I freeze in the food sealed bags do not usually dry out, unless there was not enough air vacuumed form the bag. The food sealer was an investment a few years ago that I am glad I made. Thank you for helping me come up with a way to freeze this years farm share! We like them raw also, but can’t keep up with the farm share unless we preserve.
I am so glad you posted about this! I have had many readers ask this specific question, so I linked to your post in my latest blog about beets: http://www.thescribblepadblog.com/2014/07/farm-share-101-beets.html
Thanks, Shannon!
My cook book says to just freeze them raw (washed and trimmed). First time I’ve tried it but they do seem rather soft now I’ve defrosted them. OK after cooking though. Roasting sounds a great idea so might try that next time – guess it depends if you have more time to cook them before or after freezing.
I like them raw and grated in a salad or even a sandwich, but looks like this won’t work after freezing!
I shread beets in a processor and freeze raw, but I add a little oil to them. I use sandwich bags filled less than half, rolled to get air out. I think the oil keeps the moisture in the vegs, so they don’t get freezer burned. Any other suggestions for cooking?
PS – I’m also going to also try this with sweet potatoes (i’m traveling for a week and trying not to throw away everything in my fridge) and see if they fare as well; we’ll see…
So glad you found this helpful – I know it was a revelation to me! Let us know how the sweet potatoes turn out. 🙂
I know I’m late to the party, but that’s the great thing about google and blogs. “freezing roasted beets” produced your answer and I am elated to know this. Sometimes, well usually, I cook more than I use right away, and this is a great way to ensure freshness and reduce waste! Thank you!
How do you cook beets that have bee frozen ?
I cook & peel them before freezing, Ben, so all I have to do is defrost them to use in a salad, which is how I mostly eat them. If you want them warm, just heat gently until the temperature you’d like!
Thank you for this post! I have a ton of beets to harvest, and I didn’t want to pickle them. How long do they take to defrost?
Not long if they’re cut like I do – I set the bag in warm water to thaw, though I haven’t timed it – maybe 15-20 min?
We’re short on freezer space and long on canning supplies. I know we’d have to use a pressure canner, but have you tried roasting and then canning? Our first pass at boiling / canning beats was a bit bitter.
Ann from NE Portland OR
I haven’t, Ann. I’ve actually only ever tried canning pickled beets. There might be something out there, though, for canning roasted beets – I just haven’t seen it. Sorry I couldn’t be more help!
yes, absolutely, you can raost till done.. dunk into a pot/bowl of icy cold water to seperate the skins for easier peeling, then follow your recipe for canning… less messy than boiling the beets
Thanks for the info. I was searching to see if I could freeze beets and found your site. I’m going to try freezing mine whole and see what happens. I just have the ones that didn’t look like they were ready when I pulled the first batch, so they only fill a quart size bag. I will let you know how that works out in case you may want to do the same sometime.
Thanks so much for this vote of confidence that I can freeze my roasted beets. I want to savor them later, not force myself to eat them all now. I love roasted beets. On a short list of things that have surprised me in my 50s. Had them at a garden club recipe tasting and was amazed how wonderful they were. And could they be any easier to prepare? Don’t think so!
This is so helpful! I just got beets from my CSA and as someone new to the kitchen, I had no idea what to do with them. Is this the same roasted beet that typically pairs well with goat cheese?
Yep, sure is Morgan – in fact I linked to my favorite salad – Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese that I serve with an organ vinaigrette. Yum! 🙂
Thanks for the information and the beautiful pictures. I can’t resist the sale price of beets right now and wondered if I could freeze them. I love to bake and cook and share my bounty with family members but still had a lot of beets left. Now I know I can freeze them.
Thanks! This is great! I went looking on the internet for freezing roasted beets, specifically because I didn’t want to parboil them and I figured someone else had done this. I have the same issue as you — I’m the only beet-eater in my household and didn’t want this last little row to go to waste.
I’m also happy to discover your blog! I love the tip about using a straw to vacuum-seal freezer bags. Like you, I’m not a big gadget fan, except I also cannot live without my (30-year-old) Cuisinart and microplane grater. (Got an immersion blender for a wedding present and returned it – maybe I’ll invest in one some day). Thanks again, and I look forward to checking out more of your posts.
Caroline (urban homesteader in Nashville, TN)
So glad to have you here, Caroline! 30 year-old cuisinart? wow- hope mine last that long. And yeah for urban homesteading! 🙂