Learn how to cook beets in the Instant Pot. It’s really fast and the skins peel right off after they’re cooked, which means less mess.
I absolutely adore beets. Not only do they taste delicious, but the color is just stunning. I always marvel at the natural beauty of them when they’re cooked and cut up like little jewels.
Ways To Cook Beets
I know how to roast beets really easily, but I figured there had to be a faster way to pressure cook them in the Instant Pot. The Instant Pot is my new best friend, these days. I’m known to keep cooked beets on hand so I can whip up a batch of my Borscht whenever I want, or if I have friends stop by I can make some Beet Hummus quickly.
The Instant Pot came through again, and I was right! It’s a faster and easier way to cook beets perfectly every time. I’ll tell you how I do it.
Beets In The Instant Pot
You want to work with really clean beets. I spend some time scrubbing them, and then I trim off the greens on the stems, leaving about 1 inch. Don’t throw away those greens though, here’s how I cook beet greens – they’re delicious.
To cook them, all you do is add some water to the bottom of the Instant Pot and put the beets on in. I pressure cook them for 20 minutes and let it naturally release for a bit before releasing the pressure manually.
Once you let them cool to the touch, the skin slides right off. You won’t believe it! Make sure you peel them on a plastic cutting board or over the sink so the mess stays contained and you don’t stain anything.
Now you have perfectly cooked beets to use in whatever you’d like.
More Instant Pot Basics
Below I’ve gathered up some links for you to some of my favorite Instant Pot recipes for making basic things, like these beets.
- Instant Pot Farro
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Instant Pot Plain White Rice
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash
- Instant Pot Collard Greens
- Instant Pot Black-Eyed Peas
If you’d like to browse all of my Instant Pot recipes, head over here.
Podcast Episode: Cooking Beets In The Instant Pot
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make these beet greens, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
How to Cook Beets in the Instant Pot
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Learn how to cook beets in the Instant Pot. It’s really fast and the skins peel right off after they’re cooked, which means less mess.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. beets (about 3 large, or 5 small)
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Scrub the beets well and trim the greens off, leaving a 1-inch stem.
- Pour the water into the bottom of the Instant Pot.
- Place the clean beets in the Instant Pot.
- Put the lid on and turn the valve to “Sealing”.
- Select “Pressure Cook” or “Manual” on high pressure and set the cycle to 20 minutes.
- Allow the cycle to run and let the Instant Pot naturally release for 10 minutes.
- Carefully perform a manual release.
- Remove the beets from the Instant Pot, and allow them to cool so you can handle them without burning yourself.
- On a plastic cutting board, or over the sink, peel the skin off the beets simply by pressing with your fingers. They should slip right off.
- Serve or store in the fridge for about a week!
We have a GARDEN FULL of beets and I want to pickle them. I need to cook first, of course. How many med-large beets can I put in the instant pot and will the time be the same?
Glenda, the number of beets, how large they are, and their individual density is going to be an issue here. I honestly think the easiest and tastiest thing for you to do is to instead roast them like this – https://cookthestory.com/how-to-roast-beets/ Using that method, you can do as many as will fit into the pans that you have, and you can test each individual beet, or spot test like 10% of them, to make sure they’re cooked the way you’d like. It will take longer but will be a more reliable method.
Also, beets roasted with their skin on like this retain more flavor that those cooked in the Instant Pot or simmered in water. Some of the flavor is lost in the water/steam. With the roasting, the flavor all stays in there. If you leave their skin on and wrap them as instructed, they won’t get any darkening either and will be perfect for pickling. Just let them cool and then skins will pop off pretty easily, then you can cut them how you’d like and pickle them.
Whatever you try, please come back and let me know how it all goes. I’m super-interested to hear about it!
Can I stack beets in the instant pot
Jean, yes, you can stack the beets. However, whenever you add more items to the Instant Pot, it can affect the cooking time. What I’d do is to follow the recipe as written. Once you take the lid off, use a skewer or fork to test if the beets are fork tender. If they’re not, put the lid back on and leave the Instant Pot set to Keep Warm. It will continue to cook the beets, and you can test them every so often.
This procedure of using Keep Warm to continue to cook something is explained in more detail over here – https://cookthestory.com/instant-pot-pork-loin/#Cooking_Instant_Pot_Roasts_Perfectly_The_Important_Hack
This was easy, delicious, and healthy! I made the beet greens with your recipe at the same time and it was a perfect dish. Thank you!
That’s wonderful to hear, Nate. I love the beets and the greens too!
My new way to cook beetroot delicious and quick
Isn’t it great, Patricia? So glad you loved it as much as I do!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. My electric pressure cooker is also my best friend especially as we have to cook quickly due to electricity load shedding. I also love beetroot and will even eat it raw.
So glad it’s helpful information for you, Sheena!
We just brought home some fresh beets from our farmers market. I wanted them for lunch so I used your recipe for the Instant Pot. They came out just perfect.
That’s fantastic, Christine! I love produce from the farmer’s market.
I love beets too and this is a great way to cook them up quickly without heating up the kitchen.
This recipe is perfect!
Thank you, Penny!