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These roasted beets with goat cheese are heaven! Earthy, tender beets paired with creamy goat cheese and topped with fresh chives? Perfection.

Roasted beets with goat cheese
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WOW. I didn’t think I could be wow’ed by beets. But this recipe…you’re in for a treat. Roasted beet rounds are dolloped with creamy, tangy goat cheese, then topped with olive oil and fresh chives. Sounds almost too simple, but it tastes like a symphony. Alex served this plate to me and I almost jumped out of my chair. “Whoa! These taste amazing.” I didn’t think I was that big of a beet fan. He proved me wrong! It’s become one of our favorite beet recipes (with this salad and hummus as a close second). Here’s all you need to know about making roasted beets with goat cheese.

How to cook beets

How to roast beets

Let’s start with the cooking method: roasting! We have three methods for how to cook beets, and roasting takes the longest of the three. So why do it? Slow roasting brings out an earthy, sweet flavor from beets that you can’t get in any other method. (If you don’t have over an hour to roast your beets, we have a shortcut for you below).

Here are the main steps for how to roast beets (or go to the full recipe below):

  1. Wash the beets and cut off the greens. (You can save the beet greens: here’s the best recipe for beet greens! And how to store beets.)
  2. Rub the beets with olive oil and place in an oven safe dish. If you don’t have this type of dish, you also can wrap each beet individually in aluminum foil and place them on the oven grates.
  3. Roast the beets for 45 minutes (small beets) to 1 ½ hours (very large beets), until tender when pierced with a fork. The time depends on the size of the beets and freshness. Typically we find medium sized beets take about 1 hour, so use that as your rule of thumb.
  4. Rinse the beets under cool water and rub off the skins with your fingers: they should pop right off! Your fingers will turn a lovely shade of pink, but it will wash off later.

It’s nice to cook beets in big batches, and you can do that with this recipe. Roast a bunch of beets at a time, and then just use 4 beets for the recipe below.

Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese

A shortcut method: the Instant Pot

Want a quick way to make this roasted beets with goat cheese recipe? Use your Instant Pot! If you have a pressure cooker, Instant Pot beets take only 30 minutes. It’s an easy way to get beets cooked fast.

One difference between the Instant Pot and the oven is that oven roasting brings out a sweeter, more developed flavor. So if you use the Instant Pot to make this recipe, taste the beets and add a little more salt than called for in the recipe if necessary.

Peeling the skin off of baked beets

Tips for making roasted beets with goat cheese

Once you’ve got the beets cooked, there’s not much left to this recipe! All you’ve got to do is top it. Here are a few small notes to consider:

  • Because this recipe is so simple, ingredient quality is key. The fresher the beets, the better the goat cheese and higher quality the olive oil, the better the recipe. (We used local farmers market beets and local goat cheese.)
  • Serve it warm, room temp, or cold. These beets are fantastic after roasting when they’re still a bit warm: this is our favorite way to serve it! But to make it ahead, roast the beets one day and refrigerate them whole. On the day of serving, slice the beets and assemble the salad.
Oven roasted beets

How to serve these roasted beets!

Now, this roasted beets with goat cheese is a stunner of a healthy side dish recipe! Because beets are seasonal in both the spring and fall, there are a lot of vibes of food that work well with them. Here are a few meals that it would pair well:

Wondering: What are you planning to serve these beets with?

We want to know! Let us know in the comments below.

This roasted beets with goat cheese recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, omit the goat cheese.

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Roasted beets with goat cheese

Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese


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4.7 from 3 reviews

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour
  • Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
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Description

These roasted beets with goat cheese are heaven! Earthy, tender beets paired with creamy goat cheese and topped with fresh chives? Perfection.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 beets (you can roast up to 8 beets at a time; use 4 for serving)
  • Olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • 2 ounces soft goat cheese (optional)
  • Thinly sliced chives, for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.*
  2. Wash the beets. Trim off all but about 1 inch of the beet greens (you can save them for later and use them in salads). Leaving on the stem helps keep the beets from “bleeding” out red juice in the oven.
  3. Rub the beets lightly with olive oil. Place the beets in a covered oven proof dish. (You also can wrap each beet individually in aluminum foil and place them on the oven grates).
  4. Roast the beets for 45 minutes to 1 ½ hours, depending on the size and freshness, until tender when pierced with a fork. Check every 10 minutes until tender; we’ve found medium sized beets take about 1 hour.
  5. Allow them to cool for a few minutes. Then place them under cool water and rub off the skins with your fingers. You can serve immediately, or refrigerate the whole beets until serving and serve them cold.
  6. To serve, slice the beets into rounds and arrange them on a plate. Drizzle the top with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 pinch kosher salt. Top with goat cheese dollops and thinly sliced chives.

Notes

*Note: To shortcut the time, you can also use this Instant Pot Beets method to cook the beets. Roasting gets them a little sweeter and more flavorful, but the Instant Pot method works too. If you use this method, you may need to use a little more kosher salt for the final flavoring.

  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: Roasted
  • Cuisine: Vegetarian

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Hi, we’re Alex and Sonja Overhiser, married cookbook authors, food bloggers, and recipe developers. We founded A Couple Cooks to share fresh, seasonal recipes and the joy of cooking! Our recipes are made by two real people and work every time.

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12 Comments

  1. Linda says:

    I PLAN TO MAKE THESE BEETS AS A SIDE DISH TO MY SCALLOPED POTATOES & HAM






  2. Cecelia Lawrence says:

    I was looking for something a little different to add to our Thanksgiving day menu. My family loves beets and usually serve with butter and sour cream. This recipe is IT! Thank you!






  3. MARLENE BOCTOR says:

    I never thought of roasting beets……thank you for the super idea. I used the tin foil method and goat cheese and presented the sliced beets, crumbled cheese, and green onions on top of some curly pasta to make it a main meal. DELICIOUS!!!!!!!
    This will be my go to recipe for fresh beets.






    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      So glad you enjoyed it!

  4. Kate Harrington says:

    Could you use feta cheese instead of goat?

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      Yes!

  5. Melissa says:

    First time beet cooker here… what about the spangly roots on the other end of the beets? Just leave them alone?

    1. Sonja Overhiser says:

      Good question! We usually leave it on, and then it falls off after roasting when you’re peeling it! Let us know how it goes.

  6. Mark Mohr says:

    First time beet cooker. I loved your recipe but thought 425F was way too high. Also, I was using smaller beets….and had peeled and sliced them first. Mine were done after 30-minutes. Didn’t roast them whole and attempt to peel the skin off with my fingers after. The goat cheese topping was magical.

  7. Alison Bodden says:

    For your roasted beet recipe, you give us the cooking time in the oven, but not a temperature. This can make a drastic difference… I guess I’ll be winging it and testing for softness. I hope I don’t burn them since i don’t know what temp to set oven at!

    1. Alex Overhiser says:

      Hi! Step 1 is preheat the oven to 425F.

      1. Rem says:

        🤣Step 1: Read step 1 before commenting.