Photo via Food52

We love beets and we love the blog Food52. So when Food52 did a post on roasting beets we found ourselves in food blog heaven. According to Food52′s Amanda, the trick to cooking beets is to “soften them while also concentrating their sweet flavor.” Apparently, traditional roasting techniques and boiling are not the way to go. Unless you like beet “jerky” or beets a la “soggy sponge,” that is.

Amanda recommends a roasting technique she read about in Tom Colicchio’s book, The Craft of Cooking. The Top Chef judge roasts beets in a foil packet. This way “the roasting condenses the beets’ sweetness while a layer of steam inside the packet keeps them moist.” Sounds good to us! Here’s how to do it:

1. Heat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut off the leggy root and the tops. Then scrub the beets if they’re dirty. We recommend a Chef’n PalmBrush.

3. Lay a large piece of foil on a baking sheet, leaving half the foil hanging off one end. Place the beets on top of the foil. Sprinkle the beets with olive oil — just enough to dress them like salad greens — and season with salt and pepper. Fold the foil in half to make a packet and crimp the edges.

4. Bake until the beets are tender (you can check by piercing a fork through the foil). Approximately 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. Let them cool in the foil packets.

5. When the beets are cool enough to touch, remove them from the packet and peel off the skins — they should slip off like Concord grape skins.

Ta da! Perfectly roasted beets :)