Beautiful Vegan Chioggia Beet Recipe

This Chioggia beet recipe highlights the natural flavor of beets. It pairs the flavor with a beetroot-flavored vegan cream cheese and herb oil to create a complex, beet-loaded dish. Furthermore, we will add parsnip chips for some natural sweetness and a contrast in texture. Pickled radishes will introduce flavor and acidity. This dish might feel more elevated and complex, but it is overall easy to make. Once you have the condiments on hand, you only need to pair them with freshly prepared beets. I recently cooked this dish for a larger gathering of friends, and it was no problem making 18 servings of this dish on the spot, as I could make all of the condiments (except the parsnip chips) ahead on the day before. Still, it involves quite some preparation work. So, if you are looking for a complex and impressive dish for a group of beet-lovers and you have the time for a extensive cooking session, you are in the right place.

Ingredients for making this Chioggia Beet Recipe:

• Chioggia beets
• Parsnip chips
• Vegan butter substitute
• Vegan Beetroot Cream Cheese
• Parsley Herb Oil
• Pickled Radish
• Sugar
• Salt & pepper

I got my hands on some beautiful organic Chioggia beets for this recipe, but you can try other varieties of beets as well. I think the bold, earthier flavor of red beetroots can almost be too overpowering in this context, and you might not be able to present the dish as beautifully as the condiments might not have the same nice contrast. Golden beets would also be a perfect choice for this recipe. The dish will look beautiful, and the sweeter, milder flavor of golden beets will pair nicely with this selection of condiments. I’d recommend high-quality fresh beets for this recipe and not pre-cooked ones. Regarding the vegan butter substitute, I opted for a product without the strong characteristic taste of traditional margarine. If you cannot get your hands on a tasty option, delicious olive oil or neutral cooking oil are great choices as well.

Ingredients for making the Condiments:

I recommend making the condiments (except the parsnip chips) a day ahead. While each condiment is simple to make, the preparation time will add up.

For the parsley herb oil, you will only need a lot of fresh parsley and high-quality olive oil. This herb oil is a fantastic versatile condiment to add color and flavor to your plates. Aside from this dish, it makes a perfect addition to finish soups such as this peppery parsnip soup.

The same goes for the vegan beetroot cream cheese. It has a bold and intense flavor, which you can enjoy with some crackers, as a topping for sandwiches, or as a dip for fresh veggies. For this condiment, you will need beetroot, cashews, nutritional yeast, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and seasonings.

Pickled radish makes a fantastic addition to your fridge. It lasts a long time, and the flavor and color make the pickled radishes a delicious condiment to level up salads or sandwiches. You will need radishes, white wine or apple cider vinegar, water, sugar, and salt.

The parsnip chips only need a parsnip, some olive oil, salt, pepper, and some garlic powder for an additional kick. They can be made using an air fryer or simply by oven-baking them.

How to make this Beautiful Chioggia Beet Recipe:

Firstly, you will need to sort out the condiments for this recipe. Once you have those on hand, cooking the beets and bringing everything together is straightforward. As it would take too much space to explain how to make each condiment here, check out their recipes by following the links in the ingredients section of this recipe. I’d recommend making the condiments (except the parsnip chips) a day or two ahead. When the condiments are mise-en-place-style ready, everything will go nice and smooth. I like to slice the pickled radishes in half to distribute their flavor a bit more.

Cooking the Chioggia Beets:

With the condiments out of the way, we can cook the Chioggia beets. Clean the beets before boiling them. The cooking time will vary based on the size of the beets. Boil them until you can poke them easily with a fork. Once cooked, you can peel the beets. If you want to make this step ahead before bringing the whole dish together, toss the boiled and peeled beets with some olive oil until evenly coated before covering them to prevent them from oxidizing.

Cut the beets into cubes. Toss them in molten vegan butter substitute on medium heat while seasoning them with salt, pepper, and sugar. Check for seasoning.

Once they are nice and hot, you can go ahead with plating.

Plating this Dish:

Add a generous ladleful of the cubed beets to the center of the plate. I’d recommend warming the plate beforehand. Garnish it with a nice pattern of herb oil and vegan beet cream cheese. The green and pink are such a beautiful color contrast. Garnish with a few slices of pickled radish, and top everything off with the crispy parsnip chips.

This recipe is a bit of a change to my usual comfort-food-style, quick and easy recipes. I want to spend some time exploring complex flavors, pairing and balancing ingredients, and, most importantly, finding ways of spotlighting the amazing natural flavors of vegetables like beets. But I will, of course, keep the easier and quicker recipes coming as well.

Still, I’d recommend daring to explore recipes like this or play around to find ways of balancing ingredients, flavors, and textures, or combining colors and shapes when plating to make the dishes look most appealing. It’s something to learn a lot from as a cook, which you can utilize for any simple recipe. I’m still at the start of that journey as well, but I can’t wait to explore it further.

Let me know what you think, and most importantly, have fun! Cheers.

Some Recipe Suggestions:

• Vegan beet soup
• Radicchio salad with blood orange
• Vegan apple crisp
• Blood orange salad with Belgian endive
• Easy panzanella salad
• Vegan lasagna recipe

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