Peeling Beets is Such a Mess—This Simple Trick Saves Your Counters, Towels, and Time

Your cutting board looks like a crime scene. There's crimson splatter on the counter, your hands look like you lost a fight, and for a brief, horrifying moment, you wonder if you should apply pressure and call for help. Relax. You haven't had a horrible knife-wielding accident. You just peeled some beets.

Roasted beets are so good: jewel-toned, candy-sweet, deeply earthy—nature's candy with a dirt-core soul. We all want to eat more of them. We really do. But beets are intimidating, and not because roasting them is hard. As our former culinary director Kenji has pointed out in his guide, roasting beets is wonderfully hands-off: Wrap them in foil, stick them in the oven, and walk away.

No, the real problem is what comes after cooking them: Peeling those slippery, stain-happy little grenades without turning your kitchen into a Tarantino set is challenging. Truth be told, if you want to avoid most of this mess entirely, you could just skip red beets. Golden and chioggia beets still stain, but without the dramatic, horror-movie-level crimson. That said, red beets are delicious and worth the effort, and the good news is that it doesn't need to be difficult or messy. You just need to be smart about the process. Here's how.

The Key Steps to Peeling Beets With Less Mess

1. Roast them properly. If beet skins are clinging to the veggie and not budging, the beets simply aren't cooked enough—or they were roasted too dry. Beets need a humid environment to cook evenly and loosen their skins. Wrap them tightly in foil (or cook them covered with a splash of water and oil) so they steam as they roast. Cook until a knife slides in with zero resistance. When beets are fully tender and cooked in moisture, the skins will come off much more easily.

2. Set up a mess-reducing workstation. Do not peel beets directly on your cutting board unless you enjoy chaos. Work over a large non-porous bowl that won't stain— such as metal or glass, not wood or a light-colored ceramic— or line your surface with parchment paper. This catches every peel and every drop of juice, so nothing hits your counters.

3. Use your hands (yes, really). Once the beets are cool enough to handle—give them at least 15 minutes—the skins should rub right off with gentle pressure. You can nick one spot with a paring knife or peeler to get started, but fingers work best. For less staining, wear rubber gloves or use paper towels as a buffer. I know, I know—I hate wasting paper towels too. But this is not the time to sacrifice a beloved kitchen towel unless you own a dedicated “beet rag” and have fully accepted its fate. Another option is to peel them under cool running water in the sink, which helps the skins slide off cleanly and keeps beet juice from splattering everywhere.

Once the dreaded dead is done, just fold up the parchment, dump the contents of the bowl straight into compost, or rinse out the sink and admire your mess-free work area.

Roasted beets shouldn't feel like a hazard. Cook them right, peel them smart, and enjoy nature's candy.