Make tender and nutritious Instant Pot beets in under 20 minutes. This recipe will teach you how to cook delicious Whole30 and paleo beets in a pressure cooker.
Cooking beets (beetroot) can take forever. Too long in fact.
The good news is you can bust out some freaking rad steamed beets in under 20 minutes in your Instant Pot. And I’m going to teach you how. You sit tight and read on.
If you are new to pressure cooking and the Instant Pot, check out this post on recipes for Instant Pot beginners.
How Long Do You Cook Beets in a Pressure Cooker?
The simple answer is it all depends on the size of the beet(s). Wee little baby beets can be cooked in 10 minutes, bigger ones might take as long as 20-25 minutes. The beets in this photo were 2.5 inches wide and took 13 minutes.
How to Make Instant Pot Beets
*A detailed and printable recipe card is at the bottom of the post
Other recipes might recommend cooking the beets with the root and skin still on and then peeling them after the fact. That requires your hands to look like a scene from Carrie and plus, you’re going to be dealing with some hot AF beets.
You though? You are super smart and you’re cutting the skin off first and then steam. Cut the beet top and beet butt (technical people will call it the root end, but whatevs) off. Place the root end on a cutting board and using a sharp knife, cut downward to remove the skin. Save the greens for a salad, Instant Pot sous vide egg bites or a quiche.
Put a trivet/steamer basket in your Instant Pot and add 1.5 cups of water. Place the beets on top of the trivet.
All the cool people have stained Instant Pots.
Secure your lid. Set the vent to “sealing”, then Manual>High Pressure>13 minutes.
When the cook time is up, use a dishrag to carefully flip the vent to “venting”. Remove beets from the Instant Pot and allow to cool. Slice and enjoy!
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- You can stack a few layers of beets in the Instant Pot if you want to cook a bunch at once. Add 2 minutes of cooking time if you’re cooking more than two pounds.
- Even if you cook fewer beets, you need a minimum of 1 cup of water in the Instant Pot for it to function correctly.
- Store beets in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week.
How to Serve Instant Pot Beets
- Eat.them.plain. Just do it. They’re amazing. Maybe a sprinkle of salt and that’s it.
- They are amazing in this Instant Pot Farro.
- Slice them and serve them in salads, or on a crudites platter.
- Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts and a round of fried goat cheese for this amazing salad.
- Use them in Hasselback Roasted Beets, Encurtido, Refrigerator Pickled Beets, or with Freezing Beets.
Other Recipes Like This
- Instant Pot Cauliflower
- Air Fryer Roasted Beets
- Instant Pot Asparagus
- Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice
- Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts
- Instant Pot Steamed Broccoli
- Air Fryer Cauliflower
- Instant Pot Jasmine Rice
- Spicy Green Beans
- Air Fryer Asparagus
- Fried Cabbage With Bacon
Pressure Cooker Beets WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving of Pressure Cooker Beets has 0 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Instant Pot Beets {Pressure Cooker Beets}
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Cut the beet top and root end off. Place the root end on a cutting board and using a sharp knife, cut downward to remove the skin.
- Put a trivet/steamer basket in your Instant Pot and add 1.5 cups of water. Place the beets on top of the trivet.
- Secure your lid. Set the vent to "sealing", then Manual>High Pressure>13 minutes.
- When the cook time is up, use a dish rag to carefully flip the vent to "venting". Remove beets from the Instant Pot and allow to cool. Slice and enjoy!
Stovetop Instructions
- Follow the first step above. To make the beets cook more quickly, chop into bite-sized pieces.
- Place a steamer basket in a pot and add enough water to cover the bottom.
- Place a lid on and steam for 30-50 minutes or until the beet is easily pierced with a knife.
Notes
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Amazing. I liked the way you arranged the steps to follow
If you slice them you must put diced or sliced onions
between the layers of beets.
Sounds delicious!
I’m right there with you, I love beets too – so smart for you to make them in the pressure cooker. I just love your recipe!
Deb, so glad it worked out for you, AND I’m thrilled to meet a fellow beet lover! 🙂
This is both delcious and easy to make! I love that about all of your recipes!Â
So glad you enjoyed them!
My husband cooks up a batch of beets once a week because he thinks they make him run faster. Usually he does them in the oven, but now that I have an Instant Pot I gave this method a try and woah are those beets ever good. And so easy! I also love that they’re contained so the clean up is easier. Will definitely be using this technique from now on!
Faster beets make for faster runners. That’s just science.
Sometimes I double wrap the beets in tin foil and nestle them near the front of the embers in the woodstove. Oven roasted is good but fire roasted is a step beyond that.
That sound sooooooo fun! I’m totally doing that in a few weeks. Do you ever roast potatoes like that?
Not since I was a kid, but it’s an interesting idea. Potatoes are a little less dense than an beet so it would not take as long. I think.