Instant Pot Candied Beets
Instant Pot Candied Beets make your holiday menu a bit more hands off, and a whole lot more delicious!
I use my Instant Pot year round, but it gets over time use for the holidays!
You know during the holidays when you are trying to prepare a turkey and all of the sides at once, and you turn your back for one second, and whatever is on the stove has boiled over, and whatever in the oven has been forgotten about and is now burned?!
oh, is that just me?!
Enter Instant Pot, where no more worrying about boiling over, and it beeps at you when your food is ready!
Instant Pot beets is one of the times, I use the steam button on my Instant Pot, versus the manual (or pressure cook button) I normally use.
The steam function on the Instant Pot gets hotter faster and is a higher heat setting. This is still a pressure cook function, so what you are doing is pressure steaming your beets.
You MUST use a steamer basket or a trivet on this setting.
I love this Instant Pot steamer basket because it is the easiest to pull out and the handle has a wrap that makes it much less hot (and much safer)!
Why pressure steam vs bake?
If you have ever made Instant Pot hard boiled eggs, you know that they peel like a dream.
Same with beets! The skills just slide off!
Also, then you can use the saute feature, to make your sauce! Less dishes, and freeing up kitchen space to prep the turkey and all the other sides, yes please!
How long to cook my beets in the Instant Pot?
You pressure cycle time is going to be completely dependent on the size of your beets. You are looking at approximately 20 minutes. But the pressure cycle time will change a bit depending on the size of your beets.
I have been cooking beets in my Instant Pot for years, and my rule is:
10 minutes per inch in diameter.
This means: 2 inch beets, 20 minutes, 3 inch beets, 3o minutes, and so on. I also prefer to do 10 minutes natural release – no matter what the size is.
The basic run down for Instant Pot candied beets is:
- Put 1 cup of water in your liner, and load the beets into an Instant Pot steamer basket or on a trivet.
- Pressure cook.
- Natural release for 10 minutes.
- Allow them to cool. Cut the ends off, and the skins will slide right off.
- Use the saute feature to make the sticky delicious candied sauce.
- Dice up your beets and return to the pot! Stir and serve!
Are you ready to add Instant Pot candied beets to your holiday menu?!
If you make these, I want to see! Tag me @mealplanaddict on Instagram, or post a photo and review in the Meal Plan Addict Community!
Looking for more holiday menu ideas? Check out the Holiday Menu section of the blog!
Instant Pot Candied Beets
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Steamer Basket
Ingredients
- 5 Whole Beets (2 inches in diameter) I use a mixture of red and golden beets.
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts, or pecans for more budget friendly option
Instructions
- Add the water to your Instant Pot liner.
- Load the whole beets to your steamer basket (you can also place on a trivet).
- Close the lid and set to sealing.
- Set your Instant Pot to the steam function, and set the time for 20 minutes. My general rule is 10 minutes per inch in diameter. Modify pressure cook time based on the size of your beets.
- Once the pressure cycle is complete, allow the pot to naturally depressurize for 10 minutes. Quick releasing any remaining pressure after that time.
- Pull the beets out of the pot and allow to cool to the touch.
- Dump the water out of the liner, and give it a quick rinse and set back into your Instant Pot base.
- Once beets are cool enough to handle. Slice each end, and push the skins off. Wear gloves to prevent your hands from getting stained.
- Dice the beets into bite sized pieces and set aside.
- Select saute on your Instant Pot. When hot, add the butter, maple syrup, and brown sugar. Allow to heat until the sugar dissolves and the sauce thickens to the consistency of a thin maple syrup. This is about 3 minutes. Take care not to burn in.
- Add the chopped beets back into the liner and gently combine with the sauce.
- Add pine nuts (or walnuts or pecans) and serve!
Notes
- If you want this less sweet, cut the brown sugar down to half.
- If you want this more savory, increase the butter.
- If you want a more budget friendly dish, swap the pine nuts to pecans or walnuts.
Nutrition
I cooked my beets exactly as you suggested. Altho cooked thru the skins did not slip off as expected. Should I have cooked longer? I did not want to overcook them so I had to peel with a manual peeler.
I love these beets. I have been making this recipe for a few years now. I make it 2-3 times a year. I usually only do 3 beets just because I’m the only one who eats them. Other than that I follow the recipe to a tee and it’s perfection. Thank you for making beets less intimidating!