Saturday, July 7, 2012

Beets in the Slow Cooker


We've been experiencing heat like I've never experienced before.... many consecutive days of 100+ degree temps. So, in an effort to keep our house cooler, I've been trying to contrive many ways to NOT cook in the kitchen.

One item that we've been able to grow in spades in our garden is beets. Normally I would boil beets for 45-60 minutes, depending on how big the beets are. I wondered if I could try using my slow cooker to cook the beets, instead. I put the slow cooker out in my laundry room, which is in a building a few steps away from my house.

All the recipes I discovered online for doing beets in a crock pot said to individually wrap each beet in aluminum foil. I decided to try not using the aluminum foil and just putting about 1-2 cups of water in the bottom instead.

I scrubbed the beets, and jammed as many as would fit comfortably inside my slow cooker. I turned it on high, and about four hours later, there were cooked beets. The skins will slide right off when done. I usually put the beets in some cooler water to help get the skins off, and not scald my hands.

A cooler way to prepare beets, if I do say so myself!

4 comments:

  1. Thank you so much. I was cruising the Internet looking for a way to cook beets WITHOUT the aluminum foil. You provided it. Thank you for doing the experimenting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do I have to use water? Can I just put the washed beets in the slower cooker so I have all the nutrients left in the beets?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never tried it without water, but I would think you'd at least need some water... maybe you could try less, like barely covering the bottom of the slow cooker. I would think that would still leave in the nutrients. Or, you could just try it without water and just monitor it! Good luck!

      Delete