Benefits of Canned Beets

It’s worth trying canned beets even if you don’t prefer canned vegetables. Unlike other vegetables that taste different than their fresh or frozen counterparts, canned beets retain a flavor that rivals fresh beets. They also maintain about the same nutritional value as fresh beets, giving you a good source of fiber, iron and folate.

Convenience, shelf-life and cost are benefits of canned beets. Canned vegetables retain their nutrients for two years, so you can buy them on sale, stock the pantry and have them available any time. Even when they’re not on sale, canned beets usually cost less, sometimes even half the cost of fresh beets. Having beets that are already cooked and ready-to-use is a time-saving benefit because fresh beets take 35 to 60 minutes to cook and then they must be peeled before you can use them in a dish.

With only a few exceptions, canned beets have about the same nutritional value as fresh beets. Fresh beets have double the phosphorus, potassium and folate, but 1 cup of sliced, canned beets has 14 percent of the recommended daily intake of folate and 4 percent of phosphorus and potassium. The same serving size has barely a trace of fat and only 31 calories, yet it delivers 8 percent of the daily intake of dietary fiber. Men get 37 percent and women gain 16 percent of their recommended daily intake of oxygen-carrying iron in a serving. You’ll also gain 7 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamins C, B-6 and K as well as magnesium.

Beets have pigments called betalains that are responsible for the beet’s color. These pigments provide health benefits by functioning as antioxidants, lowering inflammation and reducing your risk of heart disease. One of the betalains — betaine — offers benefits to support an active lifestyle. A 2017 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, for example, reports that there’s some evidence that betaine helps improve your strength.

Preparing and serving canned beets is as simple as draining them and adding them to a salad or heating them and mixing in a little butter or a splash of lemon juice. Since they retain so much natural flavor, canned beets can be used to replace cooked fresh beets in any recipe, including beet soup or borscht. Canned beets work well with sauces made from orange juice or apricot fruit spread. Top a plate of beets with cottage cheese and a touch of horseradish or sour cream mixed with a splash of red wine vinegar. Beets are even sweet enough to be used in cakes and other desserts.