Sautéed Beet Greens with Garlic and Crushed Red Pepper

Beet greens are edible and tasty! This sautéed beet greens recipe will show you how to cook them easily and quickly. Just a few ingredients, vegan, gluten-free and ready in 20 minutes!

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Sautéed beet greens cook up quickly in a skillet like spinach or swiss chard, or any other hearty greens like kale. Look at 'em! So pretty! I also like to chop up the stems and add them for texture and color.

If you've ever bought fresh beets with the stems and leaves attached and thought that it seems a shame to throw them out, well... that's because it is! Let's promise to never do that again!

This is kind of a recipe without a recipe. It's going to depend on how many beets you bought and how tall the leaves are. And one important note: save all the seasoning for the end, so you can adjust to your taste and the amount of greens you have.

Jump to:

• Are beet greens and stems edible?
• Sautéed beet greens are quick, easy, tasty, and a great way to reduce food waste!
• Ingredients you'll need
• Recommended tools and equipment
• How to make sautéed beet greens
• Tips for cooking beet greens
• Storage instructions
• How to serve sautéed beet greens
• More ways to use beet leaves and stems
• FAQ
• Try these beet recipes
• Recipe

Are beet greens and stems edible?

Beet greens and stems are 100% edible, (why wouldn't they be?) and can be eaten raw or cooked. And they are just about the easiest side dish recipe you could ever wish for on a weeknight.

If you know how to cook other leafy green vegetables, you know how to cook beet leaves. They're heartier, more like swiss chard or kale than spinach, but they still cook very quickly so they make a good alternative to longer cooking collard greens.

Beet stems can be chopped up and sautéed, they add wonderful texture to soups or other simmered dishes like risotto.

Sautéed beet greens are quick, easy, tasty, and a great way to reduce food waste!

• Vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, and dairy free!
• Ready in less than 20 minutes.
• Easy to make using only 3 ingredients.
• Making sautéed beet greens is a great way to reduce food waste. Instead of throwing out beet leaves and stems, let's eat them, they're delicious!
• Customizable: add more or less garlic and chili flakes to your taste.

Ingredients you'll need

Sautéed beet greens could take on an endless variety of flavors. For a simple side dish, I just like to add a bit of garlic and crushed red pepper.

• Beet leaves: Just cut the beet greens away from the beet and rinse them well.
• Beet stems: Yes! We're using the beet stems, too. They add a great contrasting texture.
• Olive oil, garlic, crushed red pepper, kosher salt: Simple seasonings to let the flavor of the greens shine through.

Recommended tools and equipment

• Chef's knife and cutting board: To chop the beet greens and stems, and to dice the garlic.
• Large, wide skillet: Use a skillet that is wide, so you can add all or most of the beet greens at once for even cooking. I used my Lodge carbon steel skillet, because it's lightweight, cooks evenly, and it's nice and shallow so it can hold all of the mounds of raw greens. But a wide non-stick skillet would also work well.
• Tongs: I find that tongs work much better than a spatula for turning the beet leaves as they cook.

Disclosure: am a part of the Lodge Cast Iron Blogging Partners Program. This skillet was provided to me free of charge by Lodge Cast Iron. All opinions are my own.

How to make sautéed beet greens

Step 1: Prep the beet greens and stems

Remove the stems from the beet leaves, then chop them into a small dice.

Give the greens a rough chop.

Step 2: Cook the stems and prep the garlic

Add olive oil to a skillet over medium heat, then add the beet stems and let them reduce down and start to get brown and crispy, about 5 - 7 minutes. Meanwhile, chop a few cloves of garlic.

Step 3: Cook the garlic and beet greens

Add the garlic to the pan and sauté just until it becomes fragrant, about one minute.

Add the beet greens to the skillet and use tongs to keep moving them and the garlic around. You don't want the garlic to get stuck on the bottom of the pan and burn.

PREP TIP Beet greens start out looking like you'll never be able to fit all of them in your pan, but you can just keep cookin' 'em until they shrink down to almost nothing. They are mostly water, after all.

Keep turning the beet greens, allowing them to wilt. I prefer mine sautéed until they have just barely wilted. I like them when they are heated through, but still have some heft and substance to them.

Once the greens have cooked down, season with salt and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes and serve. See tip below.

Tips for cooking beet greens

• Beet leaves can be sandy or gritty since they are low to the ground, so be sure to wash them thoroughly.
• It's very important to wait until the beet greens are cooked down to salt them. They start out as a LOT in the pan, but they cook down so much. If you salt at the beginning, you will have greens that are way too salty to eat. Trust me, I've done it. Just give them a kiss of salt at the end. 
• This is really a use what you have kind of recipe. If you don't have 6 cups of beet greens, sauté them anyway. If you have more? Same. Adjust garlic to your liking and season with salt at the end and you're good!

Storage instructions

Fresh beet leaves will keep longer in the refrigerator if you cut them away from the beets as soon as possible. Wash them to remove any sand and grit, give them a spin in the salad spinner or allow to dry, then store them in the refrigerator as you would lettuce greens.

Leftover sautéed beet greens will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can reheat them in the microwave or over low heat in a skillet. They will continue to wilt, so don't overcook them when reheating.

How to serve sautéed beet greens

Sautéed beet greens are a simple side dish that pairs well with a variety of flavors. Try them alongside boneless chicken thighs with capers and lemon, they'll taste great with grilled beef shortribs, make them part of a Southern food feast and serve in place of collard greens with slow cooker pulled pork.

More ways to use beet leaves and stems

Beet leaves are tender and can be used as salad greens, sautéed and eaten as a side dish, or cooked and added to other recipes. Try these ideas.

• Add the sautéed beet greens and stems to pasta for a quick dinner. Just cook this recipe as directed while boiling the pasta noodle of your choice and voilà: an easy vegetarian pasta. Add parmesan or breadcrumbs, etc.
• Use beet leaves to make pesto! Either on their own, kind of like what I do with my kale pesto recipe, or just add them to classic basil pesto for an earthy flavor.
• Use them in a rice casserole.
• Throw them into soups and stews.

FAQ

Try these beet recipes

We've learned how to cook the beet tops, so here are some ideas for the beets themselves!

• You've probably only got beet greens around because you're planning to make the beets themselves, so I suggest Oven-Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese, Orange Vinaigrette, and Mint.
• Beets add a rich earthiness to this Roasted Vegetable Salad with Charred Lemon Vinaigrette.

Recipe