This would go well with any holiday feast. Pork or roast turkey go nicely with it. The dish can be prepared a day in advance and heated in a double boiler.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 3 cups |
Ingredients
- 3 medium beets
- 5 ounces unsalted butter
- ½ cup minced Vidalia onions
- 1 ½ Bosc pears – peeled, cored and minced
- 2 teaspoons white sugar
- 3 tablespoons cranberry vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Wash beets, and place in a roasting pan. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until tender. Set aside to cool.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onion, pears, sugar, and vinegar; cook, stirring frequently, for 20 minutes.
- When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel and coarsely chop.
- Puree onion mixture in a food processor with metal blade. Add salt and 1/2 of the beets; pulse 4 to 5 times. Add remaining beets, and pulse 2 to 3 times.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 220 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Cholesterol | 50 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 132 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This was so good! The flavor was perfect and we used a currant vinegar as we could not find cranberry vinegar. As a non lover of beets, this was quite a treat!
I used 2 medium beets and 2 pears and served this with Thanksgiving dinner. Not everyone tried it but those that did liked it. I made this ahead of time and microwaved it to get it around room temperature. I will make this again for next Thanksgiving.
I never write reviews but this is so good! I would put it on just about anything or just eat it with a spoon!
This is so decadent, especially with all the butter. Absolutely delicious. I threw it in the blender and pureed it, to be served as a tasting soup. I loved it, my little picky 4 1/2 year olds, were- well picky. That’s ok, when they are older they will like it.
Delicious. Easy to make even with a toddler competing for the attention. Substituted apple cider vinegar and brown sugar.
Quite good. I served it with chicken but it would probably work better with pork chops.
I never liked beets before. I found this recipe because I needed to bring a red dish to a True Blood themed party. I LOVE this now, and am making it for Thanksgiving too. (For True Blood lovers: I call it Talbot Salad, and it gets served in a tall ornate glass candy dish like what Russell kept him in. )
Our family loves beets so I decided to try this for Thanksgiving. I couldn’t believe this little dish calls for 5oz of butter. That seemed a LOT to me so I reduced it to about 1oz and it still turned out great. One suggestion: serve it with a bit of horseradish. Mix it in with beets and the taste is heavenly!
What a great way to serve beets! This was delicious. I like the chunky texture, not completely pureed. I used raspberry vinegar and served it with baked salmon, kale and basmati rice. A hit!
This was okay, I guess. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it.
EXCELLENT! started cooking at 6:45am and glad i did…i doubled the recipe for a dinner party tonight and helped myself to some for breakfast – it is that good! i’m sure my company is going to devour it. i am thinking of toasting some walnuts to sprinkle on top to add another layer of both texture and flavor, however, if i don’t get around to it, no big deal. it is great just the way it is. thanks for a great recipe.
Absolutely delicious! I was intrigued by the reviews & am so glad I tried this! The combination of flavors and the way they blend together is amazing. I had to make a few substitutions: couldn’t find a vidalia onion so I used a sweet onion (not a regular yellow onion). I also couldn’t find cranberry vinegar, thought I had some raspberry vinegar at home but didn’t, so I used balsamic. And in place of butter I used a Smart Balance 50/50 stick (half butter, half SB) to cut back on the fat. Otherwise I followed the recipe. This is a very unique side dish, very rich, wonderful texture, and you can taste the different flavors as you eat it, but in a subtle way, as they meld together beautifully. Finally, I thought it a shame to toss the beautiful greens from my beets, so I found a recipe for beet greens & got another side dish out of those!
Wow! This is good stuff! It’s tart, it’s sweet it’s rich…I understand the other reviewers saying they couldn’t stay away from it. I used less butter, but if you’re making it for a special occassion, go for the full amount, it really adds to the flavor. I had beets I’d cooked earlier in the week. I couldn’t find cranberry vinegar (I really wonder what it is like–I’ll keep looking), so used cider vinegar. I don’t have a food processor, so I cooked the onions and pears in a saucepan and after adding the beets used an immersion blender. I tried to be careful, but there was still a little beet splatter! Aside from the mess, the blender worked well to get the right texture.
If you can try only one new recipe this year, be sure to try this one! I was invited to some friends house a couple of days ago for Easter dinner. I don’t know why, but they said earlier they were going to serve turkey and that was just fine with me because it finally gave me a good reason to try this fantastic side dish. Everyone–including me–thought it was simply wonderful. It is far too good for any king or queen who ever lived. I will definitely make this again.
Made an excellent side, as well as an interesting cracker dip
This recipe is so good! I really didn’t think I liked beets. I had to use brown sugar and apple cider vinegar. It was great on the fish that I cooked.
I made this recipe for my family and they loved it. It was great the second day. My only fault was the preparation took longer then expected but it was worth it.
Excellent. It’s like a fresh twist on pickled beets. Sweet, tangy, and yummy. I really liked this recipe.
I’m just a simple country girl, so this unusual combination of flavors and food was a stretch for me and my BF. Our little grocery store didn’t have cranberry vinegar, but I did have balsamaic raspberry vinegar, which I used. I tried it after it was first pureed, and couldn’t decide. The flavor was unique, but not unpleasant. I let it come to room temp while I made the rest of our meal, and sampled it again and then couldn’t stop “sampling”. I really, really like this (BF is still unsure). This is not your mother’s canned beets! This is a “impress your friends and family” recipe. It’s that good.
This is the perfect complement to roast pork, chicken, or turkey. So pretty on the plate. A nice alternative for those of us who don’t like cranberry sauce. You can easily double or triple this recipe for larger crowds. I kept mine warm in a double boiler while I got the rest of the dinner together. Update: I made this again last year and loved it just as much as ever.
This lick-smacking delicacy goes perfectly with pork! The color and texture are to-die-for and the flavors marry beautifully. Wow your family and friends!