Roasted Beets with Apple Cider Glaze

Apple Cider Glazed Beets

Recipe Adapted from Various Sources

I’ve tried roasting root vegetables many times and have always come to the same conclusion about turnips and rutabagas: DON’T! Unless they are very small, they are just too fibrous for the dry heat of the oven. Moist heat cooking suits them better. On the other hand, even large beets these days are tender enough for roasting, and this naturally sweet cider glaze plays up the beets’  sweetness.



You can use red, golden, or white/rose beets. This method will also work for carrots, young (tender) parsnips, and butternut squash. Red beets will turn everything else red, so be sure to bake them in a separate dish if you’re roasting other veggies along with them.

Roasting Verdict: Rutabagas No! Beets Yes!

Either apple juice or apple cider (or combination) can be used. What’s the difference? I asked a man from Happy Girl Kitchen who was demonstrating cider-making about that. He said that cider is fresh-pressed from apples, a raw product with a short shelf life that requires refrigeration. Apple juice has been heated after bottling to kill various molds and bacteria that occur naturally on apples. It comes in a sealed bottle and has a long shelf life (two years or more) until opened. Cider and juice are interchangeable in any recipe that requires heating.

This sounds like a lot of beets but they do shrink because of dehydration in the roasting process.

Beets Shrink During Roasting

Roasted Beets with Apple Cider Glaze

serves about 5

2 ½ lbs. beets (2 large bunches)

1 – 2 tbsp. olive oil

salt & pepper

2 cups apple cider or juice

2/3 cup white wine

1 tsp. smooth Dijon mustard

Put cider and wine in saucepan and whisk in mustard. Boil to reduce to ½ cup, whisking if mustard foams. This will take approximately 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Peel and cut beets more or less same-size pieces, around ¾ inch. Put into 8” x 11” baking pan and brush with olive oil, mixing with your hands to ensure all beets are covered on all sides. Start with 1 tbsp. Add more as needed. The beets will look glossy and there should be a very thin film of oil on the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle beets with a little salt and pepper. Put baking pan in oven and roast about 25 minutes. Remove pan from oven and pour glaze over beets. Use a basting brush to get the glaze on all of the beets.

Return beets to oven for about 15 minutes. When glaze starts to look less like liquid and more caramelized, remove from oven, toss to coat all surfaces with glaze, and serve.