Juicing a beet is straightforward: wash it, trim the ends, cut it into pieces that fit your juicer’s chute, and feed them through. One pound of raw beets yields about 6 to 8 ounces of juice. The whole process takes under five minutes once you know a few tricks for better flavor, more yield, and less mess.
Prep Your Beets
Start by scrubbing your beets thoroughly under running water to remove any dirt. Then cut off the top (where the greens attach) and the thin root tail at the bottom. From here, you have a choice: peel or don’t peel.
Peeling removes the earthy, dirt-like taste that beet skin carries, giving you a cleaner, smoother juice. Most people who juice beets regularly prefer to peel them for this reason. The skin does contain some nutrients, but the difference is minor compared to the flavor improvement. A standard vegetable peeler works fine. Once peeled, cut the beet into quarters or wedges small enough to fit your juicer’s feeding tube.
One important note: use raw beets, not cooked. Raw beets retain more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants than cooked ones. If you want to soften them slightly for easier processing in a less powerful juicer, a very brief steam (under 15 minutes) is acceptable, but raw is ideal.
Choosing the Right Juicer
Both centrifugal and masticating juicers handle beets, but they produce different results. Centrifugal juicers spin at high speed, which means they can power through tough root vegetables like beets in seconds and usually accept larger pieces, so you spend less time on prep. They’re also more budget-friendly. The trade-off is thinner juice with more foam, fewer retained nutrients, and a tendency to separate if stored overnight.
Masticating (slow) juicers crush and press the beet through a filter at low speed. This squeezes out more juice with less waste, produces thicker juice with more nutrients, and generates less heat and oxidation. If you plan to store your juice rather than drink it immediately, a masticating juicer gives you a better shelf life and fresher taste. For occasional beet juicing on a budget, a centrifugal model works perfectly well.
The Juicing Process
Feed your beet pieces into the juicer one at a time, using the pusher to guide them down. Alternate beet pieces with softer, water-rich produce like cucumber or apple if you’re making a blend. This helps flush the beet pulp through and maximizes extraction. Expect about 6 to 8 ounces of juice per pound of beets, which is roughly two to three medium beets.
Beet juice stains everything it touches. Wear an apron or dark clothing, and wipe down your juicer, cutting board, and countertops immediately after juicing. Rinse the juicer parts right away rather than letting pulp dry on them.
Taming the Earthy Flavor
Beets contain a compound called geosmin, which gives them that distinctive earthy, almost soil-like taste. Some people love it. If you don’t, a few additions transform the flavor completely.
Lemon is the single best addition. It adds brightness and cuts through both the earthiness and the sweetness. Fresh ginger gives the juice a sharp, warming zing that masks the soil notes. Cucumber mellows the intensity and adds hydration without competing flavors. A classic combination is two medium beets, one lemon (peeled), a thumb-sized piece of ginger, and one cucumber. If the result is still too earthy or tart, run a couple of carrots or half an apple through the juicer to add natural sweetness.
Storing Fresh Beet Juice
Fresh beet juice is best consumed right after making it, when nutrient levels are highest. If you need to store it, pour it into an airtight glass jar, filling it as close to the top as possible to minimize air exposure. It keeps in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours with a centrifugal juicer, or up to 72 hours with a masticating juicer, though color, antioxidant content, and the deep red pigments called betalains all degrade over time. Give stored juice a good shake before drinking, since separation is normal.
Performance Benefits and Timing
Beet juice has become popular among athletes for a specific reason: it’s one of the richest dietary sources of nitrates. Your body converts these nitrates into nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes blood vessel walls and improves blood flow. This means more oxygen reaches your muscles during exercise.
If you’re juicing beets for exercise performance, timing matters. Nitrate levels in your blood peak about 2 to 3 hours after drinking beet juice, so aim to drink it roughly 90 minutes before your workout or event. The effective dose used in most research is about 500 milliliters (roughly 17 ounces) of beet juice, which means juicing about two pounds of beets. Some studies suggest highly trained athletes may need a bit more.
Side Effects Worth Knowing About
The most startling side effect is completely harmless: beeturia. About 10 to 14 percent of people notice their urine turns pink or deep red after drinking beet juice. It looks alarming but is a benign condition. The percentage rises significantly in people who are iron deficient, so if it happens to you consistently, it could be worth checking your iron levels. Your stool may also take on a reddish tint for a day or two.
Beets are high in oxalates, which bind with calcium to form the most common type of kidney stone. The National Kidney Foundation lists beets among foods to limit or avoid if you have a history of calcium oxalate kidney stones. If that applies to you, daily beet juicing is probably not a good fit. Eating calcium-rich foods alongside high-oxalate foods can help bind the oxalate in your gut before it reaches your kidneys, so pairing beet juice with a meal containing dairy is one strategy for occasional consumption.