When you use an Instant Pot to pressure cook beets, you can have fork-tender, finger-staining vegetables in 30 minutes, from start to finish!

A bowl of instant pot beets.

But did you nonetheless stop buying ’em because you always inadvertently leave them to rot in your crisper? Yeah, I know—it’s hard to find time to roast them in the oven. If you’ve got an Instant Pot, however, I’ve got the solution to your woes: Pressure-steam those magenta beauties!

A pile of cooked, peeled, and chopped beets.

By using a pressure cooker, you can have fork-tender, finger-staining sweet beets ready to eat in about 30 minutes, from start to finish!  Sure, the cooking time varies depending on the size of your beets, but even gigantic, softball-size beets take just 30 minutes to cook under high pressure. (No Instant Pot? You can use my trusty oven-roasted method to cook up your beets—but you’ll need to allot about 90 minutes.)

Ready to pressure-steam some beets?

Time to make Instant Pot Beets!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Equipment:

Method:

Wash and trim the beets so that the stems are about ½-inch long and the roots are no more than about 2 inches long. (If you bought beets with the greens attached, reserve the leaves for a tasty stir-fry!)

Someone holding a raw beet.

Grab your Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker) and add 1 cup of water into the insert.

Someone pouring water into an instant pot for instant pot beets.

Place a steamer insert inside…

Someone inserting a metal rack into an instant pot.

…and arrange the beets in a single layer on top.

Three beets in an instant pot.

Lock the lid and make sure the valve on the lid is pointed at the “Sealing” position. Press the “Manual” button (or “Pressure Cook” if you have the new IP-DUO Plus60) and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.  (Size matters, people. If you have smaller beets, it might take just 10 minutes to cook. Larger beets, however, will take 20 to 30 minutes to cook.)

An instant pot interface reads 15 minutes on high pressure.

When the beets are finished cooking, turn off the Instant Pot and manually release the pressure by turning the valve on the lid towards “Venting.”

Someone manually releasing the pressure on an instant pot.

Unlock the lid. Once the steam dissipates, use a sharp knife to poke the beets. If the knife pierces the flesh without too much resistance, they’re done. If the beets still seem a little too hard, cook them under high pressure for 2 to 5 more minutes.

Three cooked beets are in an instant pot. Someone is stabbing one with a knife to check its doneness.

Once the beets have cooled, slice off the tops…

Someone slicing off the bottom root of a cooked beet.

…and slide the skins off. Now, you can toss the beets into salads or right into your mouth! Of course, if you don’t use gloves, your manicure will be ruined, but it’ll be worth it. (Psst! Try this baking soda trick to get the beet stains off your hands.)

Someone peeling the skin of a cooked beet.

You know what you can make with these cooked beets? Beet Hummus!

A bowl of paleo beet hummus with sliced carrots and cucumbers surrounding the bowl on a plate.

I also love making quick pickles with my steamed beets like in this recipe. Simply slice up the beets into uniform pieces…

Someone cutting instant pot cooked beets.

…season to taste with salt and pepper, and add a liberal splash of balsamic vinegar. Marinate the beets for at least 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, before adding a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil.  (If I’m eating the beets later, I add the olive oil right before I serve it.)

A bowl of instant pot beets.

You can keep the cooked beets in your fridge for up to a week.


Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes on my iPhone and iPad app, and in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2021).


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Instant Pot Beets

4.75 from 4 votes
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Servings 4 servings
When you use a pressure cooker to steam beets in an Instant Pot, you can have fork-tender, finger-staining vegetables in 30 minutes, from start to finish!

Ingredients  

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Instructions 

  • Wash and trim the beets so that the stems are about ½-inch long and the roots are no more than about 2 inches long. (If you bought beets with the greens attached, reserve the leaves for a tasty stir-fry!)
  • Grab your Instant Pot (or other pressure cooker) and add 1 cup of water into the insert.
  • Place a steamer insert inside and arrange the beets in a single layer on top.
  • Lock the lid and make sure the valve on the lid is pointed at the “Sealing” position. Press the “Manual” button (or “Pressure Cook” if you have the new IP-DUO Plus60) and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.  (Size matters, people. If you have smaller beets, it might take just 10 minutes to cook. Larger beets, however, will take 20 to 30 minutes to cook.)
  • When the beets are finished cooking, turn off the Instant Pot and manually release the pressure by turning the valve on the lid towards “Venting.”
  • Unlock the lid. Once the steam dissipates, use a sharp knife to poke the beets. If the knife pierces the flesh without too much resistance, they’re done. If the beets still seem a little too hard, cook them under high pressure for 2 to 5 more minutes.
  • Once the beets have cooled, slice off the tops and slide the skins off. (Try this baking soda trick to get the beet stains off your hands.)
  • I love making quick pickles with my steamed beets like in this recipe. Simply slice up the beets into uniform pieces, season to taste with salt and pepper, and add a liberal splash of balsamic vinegar. Marinate the beets for at least 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, before adding a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil.  (If I’m eating the beets later, I add the olive oil right before I serve it.)
  • You can keep the cooked beets in your fridge for up to a week.

Video

Notes

Beet size will affect cooking time. Here's my general guideline for tender (but not mushy beets):
  • <2-inch diameter: 10 minutes under high pressure
  • 2-inch diameter: 15 minutes under high pressure
  • 2 to 3-inch diameter: 20 minutes under high pressure
  • >3-inch diameter: 25-30 minutes under high pressure

Nutrition

Calories: 53kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Fiber: 3g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Like this? Leave a comment below!

About Michelle Tam

Hello! My name is Michelle Tam, and I love to eat. I think about food all the time. It borders on obsession. I’ve always loved the sights and smells of the kitchen. My mother was (and is) an excellent cook, and as a kid, I was her little shadow as she prepared supper each night. From her, I gained a deep, abiding love for magically transforming pantry items into mouth-watering family meals.

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14 Comments

  1. Thank you for posting this-I am excited to try it. I have been oven roasted beets for a long time. Do you notice a big difference between the flavor concentration in your IP beets vs. the oven roasted ones? Thank you! I love your recipes!

    1. The oven ones taste earthier. I actually preferred the pressure-steamed ones, but Henry (the true beet connoisseur in the family), loves the roasted ones.

  2. I LOVE roasted beets–don’t even take the skin off. I’ll try this–the beets look like little jewels when they shed their coats.

  3. the hummus is gorgeous! will have to try! I like to wrap cleaned skin-on whole beets in foil and oven roast – agree with below they are SO earthy!

  4. I ‘lost’ some beets in the frig for a few weeks and wondered whether they might still be good cooked this way?

  5. THANK YOU for this recipe!!! I have an IP and have been more than a little intimidated by it. I just flawlessly cooked beets from our CSA and now I am hoping for more beets this week 🙂 Awesome recipe. Thanks.

  6. This is really great work. Thank you for sharing such a good and useful information here in the blog for students.

    1. 5 stars
      My three year old loves these. I put them in his lunch. We eat them on salads. So easy in the IP thanks!

  7. Thank you for this!!! I have shown my mom of 78years that its so simple to cook with the Instant Pot. She is loving that fact that you have made it simple again to cook. And please my kids in eating her foods again

  8. It never occurred to me to try beet hummus so, thank you for sharing, it’s delicious! I use your recipe as a default instructions when it comes to prepping beets.

  9. Wonderful! My first use of my instant pot, thanks for making it easy. My tip: I let the beets cool slightly and remove the skin with a paper towel, it is less messy. I’m saving this recipe and will try the hummus soon, thanks! 🙂