Beets grow very well here in Montana and the hubby loves beets so that is a good combination. I process most of them for the freezer but I do pickle a few for him like these Orange Spiced Pickled Beets. I didn’t know that I could freeze beets until a neighbor clued me in. Learning how to freeze beets was a real time saver over canning them. The hubby likes the way they taste better too so it’s a win/win!
How to Freeze Beets
First the hubby brings the beets in. I trim the greens. I keep some to use the next few nights for him for dinner, I freeze a few and the rest go in the mulch pile.
Once they are trimmed I set them in my dish drainer to make it easy to clean them. Root vegetables are full of dirt. And earwigs. I HATE earwigs. Stupid, ugly, prehistoric looking, nasty bugs. But back to the beets.
I trim them further to get them ready to boil. I cut down the leaf ends and snip off most of the root end. After they are all trimmed I sort them by size because they will cook evenly when I put them in the pots to cook.
The really small ones I hold back for roasting over the coming week. The hubby loves roasted baby beets.
I had two pots going so the boiling went pretty quickly. I cover the beets with water, bring it to a boil and I let them cook until they are just tender. The timing depends on how big the beets are. I just keep testing them starting at 15 minutes.
When they are ready I pour them into the sink and run cold water over the beets. The skins should slip right off. With the different sizes and using two pots they get done in shifts so it’s not too bad.
When I have a batch peeled I put them in bowl and get ready to cut them up for freezing. I trim off the tops and the roots and then I slice them.
The cuts are about 1/4″ thick. I then package them in reusable containers in one person serving sizes as I don’t like beets.
How to Cook the Frozen Beets
To cook them from the freezer I either roast them with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar at 350 or I can saute them as well. I am so glad that my neighbor told me how to freeze beets ’cause it has saved me a lot of time and shelf space.
