Beet Chips - Turning from a Beet Hater to a Beet lover!


Beet ChipsI was a self proclaimed beet hater. Not many foods can claim to cause me to hate it, but beets were one of the few. I mean I'm a lover of brussel sprouts, asparagus, cold pizza and cold spaghetti.

To put it simply, I like food. Beets, however, were never something I was even remotely fond of, I think this is mainly because of the way I've eaten beets in the past. Pickled was what my mother would do to the poor root veggie we'd have out of the garden, and I would have none of it. Until the other day.

I saw that they had a bag of fresh beets on sale, and throwing away my distaste for the red-violet colored root I decided to get one to see if I could find a way to enjoy them. I even called my mother to get some ideas. She suggested Harvard beets and read off the recipe. It sounded like it would have a lot of the same flavor as pickled beets, so I ignored that idea. There were a few other ideas she came up with. One of which was called Beet Baskets, but I couldn't find the recipe online anywhere, but it did sound like it might be good. After the phone call I decided to look up things on my own and ask some of the wonderful people on Twitter what ideas they had.

Beet ChipsRoasted beets was one I heard a few times, and one from Divina over at Sense & Serendipity that was a beets and lentils recipe that looked delicious. The unfortunate thing about the recipes is that either I didn't have one of the ingredients or that it wasn't something I thought the little one would eat. I then realized that beets aren't normally soft. That comes from boiling them, which most beet recipes tend to call for.

Chips. That sounded like something I might actually like. The hubby may like them too and perhaps even the little one! I looked at a few different recipes for beet chips and mainly found besides slicing them thinly, between 225F and 325F seems to be the ideal cooking temperature in the oven if you aren't frying them.



I chose to slice mine with a knife fairly thinly, anywhere from 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Make sure to be careful because the beets are a little slippery after being peeled (I know. I have a nice little cut on my thumb because of it) and also the deep red-violet color can stain the hands for a little bit, though it does wash away after a good scrubbing with soap.

I didn't do what a lot of recipes called for, which was to boil them in sugar water. I instead put the slices in a big zip lock bag with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some garlic salt. If it gets too salty add in a little sugar to help balance it. Use the bag to toss the beet slices with the oil and salt. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, making sure they don't overlap. Set in the oven at 300F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, checking every 10 to 15 minutes.

Beet Chips

When they came out of the oven the thin ones were quite crisp and the thicker slices were dry but had a bit of a bite to them. After a couple of days they actually get a bit chewy but still taste good (I'm actually eating them as I type this up :D)! The taste is a salty sweet at first, but for me it tastes a bit bitter at the end. I however have a very hard time stopping myself from eating 'em! The hubby liked the initial taste but isn't fond of the bitter aftertaste. The little one however didn't try them, but I found a different beet recipe that he actually likes which I'll share later! I'll definitely will make these again, if not just because I love the taste but the color of them is to die for!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

oooh! I made this beet salad a couple weeks ago with some roasted beets (as well as boiled beets) too! I have always had a love-hate relationship and didn't realize it was so polarizing. I added honey-balsamic vingar to mine to balance out the bitterness. Your chips look really great - thin and crunchy!

Divina Pe said...

Any leftovers for me? :D I'm even featured on this post. Thanks Rochelle. I think I would skip the red beets and lentils for this one for awhile. I hate beets but I'm loving them now. I'm sure I will definitely love this. Very nice photos.

Robin, David, Simon and Leo said...

Beautiful. I can't wait until the beets in our garden mature to give these a try. I think even our boys would be tempted to eat beets in this form. And, so convenient that the color matches so perfectly with the blood from your self-inflicted wound!

Unknown said...

I'm sorry you cut yourself. The beets do look great. I'm glad you found a way you like them. as you know I have always loved beets in just about any way. I will try these next summer when I can get fresh beets or can grow them.
Mom

Farmer Jo said...

Those look great! I am recent beet convert, and I am going to have to try these!

Cocina Savant said...

I completely understand! Fresh beets are amazing! I like them pickled alright, but roasted beets are delicious, and these beet chips look tasty!!!

Cookin' Canuck said...

I've never been a huge fan of beets, but this looks like a great way to enjoy them!

Whats Cookin Italian Style Cuisine said...

I love beets!! sounds delicious....I always have them in my salad with blue cheese dressing!

Mother Rimmy said...

I'm with you, I've never been big on beets, but I roasted them this summer and was pleasantly surprised. I'll have to give this a try. They sure look good!

Liz Marr, MS, RD said...

I love beets. What a great way to fix them.

Marisa said...

Oooh nice! I can buy these chips readymade at a deli in town (super-expensive of course) and am crazy about them. Thanks for sharing the recipe so I can now make them at home.

Unknown said...

experimentalculinarypursuits - I'll have to remember the honey/balsamic vinegar thing next time I make these! Thank you for the great idea!

Divina Pe - Thank you! They are good if you aren't a beet fan. Great way to try something you aren't fond of is to try it in a different way. Thank you again for your idea, when I get some lentils I'll give it a go :)

Vegetable Matter - I'm glad you like the idea :) I'm sure that your boys will be more interested in beets in the form of chips!

Mom - As you know I'm always inflicting myself with cooking war wounds (burns, cuts, etc) but that's what happens in the kitchen :) You have to remember to let me know how the kids like these when you get the chance to make 'em!

Farmer Jo - Having a new found fondness for these root veggies is great along with new ways to try them :)

Cocina Savant - Thank you!

Cookin' Canuck - I definitely suggest these for a new way to have them. I think the texture helps to make them more palatable.

pegasuslegend - fresh beets with blue cheese dressing sounds great!

Mother Rimmy - I definitely need to do the roasting way, when I can and not have to worry about feeding others :)

Liz Marr, MS, RD - Glad you like this different way to make them :)

Marisa - I don't know if these turn out the same way as the ones you are used to but they taste great either way :)

Tasty Eats At Home said...

Ooh yum! Of course, I love beets - I didn't used to, when I was a kid I ate them canned. Blech. But roasted? Yum! These chips sound awesome.

Anonymous said...

Awesome idea to make beet chips! This will definitely work for my daughter - she loves crunchy crispy textures and would love these!

Stacy said...

Yum! These look great! I love beets and I love chips...perfect! :)

Karine said...

That is the first time I see a recipe about beet chips. It is so original!

Toni @ Imperfect Pregnancy said...

Hmm... I myself am not a big fan of beets but the husband likes them so maybe I should look into ways that we can eat them together. I'm a big fan of anything made into a "chip" so I may have to give this a go.

Caitlin said...

So interesting! Plus you could use golden beets, yellow beets and make a pretty range of beet chips, yum : )

 

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