How Much Chopped, Sliced, or Grated Beets are in a Pound?

Here’s how much we discovered is in a pound of beets.

We ended up with about ½ cup of chopped cubes from 1 medium sized beet. If you need a full cup of cubes, you will need to use 2 beets.

When slicing 1 medium beet, you will be able to get about ¾ cup. So if you need a cup of beet slices, you’ll need to purchase 2 beets but you’ll have some leftovers.

When grated, the shredded pieces of beet are a little bit fluffy in the measuring cup. This causes a beet to produce a larger quantity than a more compact piece of beet such as a slice.

One grated beet created ⅘ of a cup. If a recipe calls for 1 cup you can either purchase 2 smaller beets or 1 medium-large beet in order to get the needed quantity.

Here’s what we found out about beets!

A beet is considered a root vegetable because the purplish-red bulb portion we eat is the root of the beet plant. In some countries they commonly call this vegetable a "beetroot", instead of just a "beet".

There are many kinds of beets and are talked about in a variety of different ways.

There are several heirloom beets, such as Crosby Egyptian, Cylindra and Golden to name a few. An heirloom vegetable is another word for a variety that’s old or something that’s been around for many years.

Baby beets are sold as a specialty item in some markets. They are actually any variety that has been harvested when the bulbs are still small. Both the root and the greens are still quite tender. One of the classic ways these come about is when a farmer thins his crops in the field so there is enough room for the remaining veggies to grow to their best.

When farmers cross pollinate different types of beets, new hybrid strains are developed. Sometimes they are designed for a particular taste, color, shape, or culinary use.

Some beets are grouped by their shape or their color. A formanova beet has a nice cylinder shape so these are selected when you want to produce uniform slices for a fancy dish.

There are several varieties of golden beets. All of these have a milder sweet flavor. Touchstone Gold is a newly developed hybrid beet.

Common Red Beets are easily found in your local grocery store year round. These easily absorb the flavor of food that they are combined with. The Crosby’s Egyptian, Detroit Dark Red and Crapaudine beets are examples of these. The Common Reds are the ones normally found in commercially canned beets at the grocery.

There are various other red and white striped types such as the Bassano and Chioggia. These beets are used interchangeably for both red or golden beets.

The Bulls Blood beet is grown for its tasty, tender green leaves.

Sugar Beets have more of a whitish color and are shaped more like a carrot. They are still a member of the beet family and are primarily grown commercially. About ⅕ of all white sugar made comes from sugar beets, while the other ⅘ is produced from sugar cane.

Most people agree that beets taste earthy and sort of sweet. To some folks they have a slight bitter taste. Depending on how they are prepared, their sweetness can increase.

In general a beet is a root vegetable that is a reddish-purplish round bulb with green leaves growing out of the top. However, some appearances change depending on the variety of beet.

In addition, the color can also be golden, bright red, deep purple, and even white. Some colors are solid, others striped, and still others veiny looking.

The most common beet you find in a U.S. grocery store year-round is a basic red beet.

Many countries around the world consume both hot and cold prepared beets in their daily diets, particularly in European cuisines. Mexican dishes use beets in both main dishes and some drinks, where France is really big in sugar beets.

Beets are often added to a green leaf salad or made into a beet salad. It seems that both goat and feta cheeses are preferred accompaniments with beets.

Soups are another popular way to eat beets. This can range from hot creamy, to cold soups, or the famous hearty beet borscht.

For a party, you can make either a hummus or sour cream beet dip for crackers or vegetables. My family loves pickled beets!

Carrots or parsnips are probably the closest texture-wise but the taste is definitely not the same. In a pinch, you could also use sweet potatoes or turnips, but the texture and taste is quite different.

Depending on the dish you are making, if you want some of the red color to show, you could include some chopped red cabbage.

As a small part of their diet or as an occasional treat, it’s fine for dogs and cats to eat either cooked or raw beets.

Beet leaves are also okay for pets to eat, but with too much they can cause stomach distress and vomiting.

Before cutting a beet, you will need to get it ready by trimming off the green leaves end and the opposite root end.

Wash the beet to remove any clinging dirt if you plan to leave the skin on. If not, peel the skin before you begin to cut.

For slices, place the side of the beet on the cutting board and with a sharp chef's knife cut across the beet, parallel to the flat end. The cut should be made to achieve the desired slice thickness. Continue cutting across the beet making uniform width slices.

To make stick shaped pieces of beets, place the stack of slices flat side down on the cutting board. Repeat making uniform cuts across the slices. Now you have a pile of sticks.

To make cubed or diced pieces, first slice and then make sticks. Turn the stack of sticks 90 degrees and cut across the sticks. Make the cuts the same thickness as the other 2 cuts you just made. You now have a pile of cubed (or if smaller, diced) pieces of beets.

The skin of a beet is safe to eat, so you don't need to peel it off before you eat it. However, many people seem to prefer the taste of a peeled beet better. Either is fine.

Use a standard vegetable peeler to remove the skin from a raw beet. You can also cook the beets with the skin still on, then remove it afterwards. The red beet juice will easily stain your hands and clothing.

The beet greens are often juiced and included in with other healthy juiced vegetables for a robust flavor.

Raw beets are normally cut into medium size chunks that will easily fit into the electric juicer. Turn the machine on and juice starts flowing. Beet juice stains your hands, cutting boards and countertops so take care when working with beets.

If you bought your beets with the greens still attached, cut the greens off of the beet bulb portion. it will prolong the freshness of both when they are stored separately. It is also best not to wash the dirt from the beets until right before you are going to use them.

Beets don’t do real well at a normal room temperature, they are much happier when stored closer to 32F (0C). Beets can be left out on the kitchen counter for a day or 2 if they will be used by then.

If you don’t have room in your refrigerator to store your beets, you could place them in a cool spot in the basement or root cellar. The beets should last for several weeks.

After separating the beets from their greens, you can either loosely wrap them in plastic wrap or place them into a paper bag before putting them into the refrigerator. This applies to both the bulbs and the greens, just wrap or bag them separately.

These should last for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

For the best flavors, I like to roast or steam beets. Simply wrapping them in foil with a little oil and spices and popping into the oven can make a great addition to any meal.

When eaten raw, grated or cut into thin strips gives a leafy lettuce salad some pop with both flavor and color. Folks use beets in making borscht.

The green leaves of the beet plant are safe to eat and enjoyed by many. They actually have a sweeter and milder taste than kale. Beet greens are also often added to juiced drinks for a healthier treat.