You’re going to love how easy it is to make Instant Pot Beets. This mess-free method is the absolute best way to cook beets.

bowl of cooked beets in front of an Instant Pot

Recipe Highlights

If you’ve ever made beets in the oven, you know it takes a lot of time and can be very messy. The Instant Pot cooks them 16 minutes cooking time on high pressure, and then you can just use a paper towel to wipe off the skins. It’s so easy!

Beets are a summer vegetable, but you can find them throughout the whole year nowadays. I like to buy them fresh at the farmers’ market where they often have red beets, orange beets, yellow beets, and candy cane beets (Chiogga beets), which are striped red and white.

Cooked beets can be used in a variety of ways, including in a salad, as a juice, as a side dish, or even in a smoothie. Beets are an incredibly healthy food, aiding in detoxification, blood pressure, and energy.

Chiogga beets ready to be cooked

Recipe Steps

Step One

Unlike oven cooking where you have to wrap each beet in foil, all you have to do to prep beets for the Instant Pot is to give them a scrub and remove any greens.

Step Two

Next, place a trivet in the base of a 3-quart, 6-quart, or 8-quart Instant Pot pressure cooker. Set the beets on top. You can cook as many beets as you like at one time, as long as they do not reach above the “max” fill line of the Instant Pot.

uncooked beets in Instant Pot

Step Three

Set the cooking time based on the size of the beets. For small beets, set the time to 12 minutes. For medium beets, set the time to 16 minutes. For large beets, set the time to 20 minutes. 

Step Four

Once the cooking time is complete, let the pressure come down naturally for about 10 minutes. Then, use the natural release and carefully remove the lid.

Step Five

The last step is to cut off the tops from each beet using a paring knife. Then, to remove the skin, carefully hold each beet under cold running water. Use a clean paper towel to wipe the skin off of each beet. Then, you can serve the beets or store them in the refrigerator.

Serve your beets plain or however you like to prepare them. I recommend this Cold Beet Salad that is sooo good!

striped candy cane beets

FAQs

How do you eat cooked beets?

I love to eat cooked beets in a salad, or freeze them and put them into smoothies (check out this Strawberry Beet Smoothie recipe). Cooked beets can also be blended into desserts as a hidden vegetable.

How long will cooked beets last in the refrigerator?

Cooked Instant Pot beets will generally last about a week (or sometimes longer) in the refrigerator. Store them in a tightly sealed container.

cooked chiogga beets in a white bowl

More Easy Instant Pot Vegetable Recipes You Might Like

Here’s my printable recipe:

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Instant Pot Beets

striped cooked beets in a white bowl

★★★★★

5 from 7 reviews

You’re going to love how easy it is to make Instant Pot Beets. This mess-free method is the absolute best way to cook beets.

  • Author: Carrie Forrest, MPH in Nutrition
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 12 minutes
  • Total Time: 37 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Side dish
  • Method: Instant Pot
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegan
Scale

Ingredients

  • 1–2 pounds fresh beets, scrubbed and rinsed*
  • 1 cup water

Instructions

  1. Remove any greens from the beets and discard or save to use later. 
  2. Place the trivet on the bottom of your Instant Pot and add one cup of water.
  3. Place the beets on top of the trivet. 
  4. Set the time to 16 minutes on high pressure (see the notes below for information on timing). 
  5. Once the cooking time is up, let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes, and then use the quick release.
  6. Remove the lid and use tongs to carefully transfer the beets to a plate.
  7. Use a paring knife to cut the ends off of each beet. Then, hold each beet under running water and use a paper towel to gently wipe off the skin of each beet.
  8. Serve immediately, or store the cooked beets in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to a week. 

Notes

1 pound of beets is equal to about 5 small beets or 3-4 medium beets.

You may need to adjust the cooking time depending on the size of your beets. For small beets, set the time to 12 minutes. For medium beets, set the time to 16 minutes. For large beets, set the time to 20 minutes. 

Keywords: how to make beets in the instant pot, cook beets in pressure cooker

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