One-Pot Wonders

French "Peasant" Beets

Name: French "Peasant" Beets
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: Serves 2 for dinner, 4 as a side
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 4 Beets with greens (up to 6; I like a mixture of golden and red beets); 1 bunch Swiss chard; 3 tablespoons butter; 1 shallot; 1 pinch Salt, or more to taste; 1 pinch Freshly ground pepper, or more to taste; 2 tablespoons white wine (Muscadet is my preference); 2 tablespoons water; 1/2 pound Bucheron Cheese (room temperature); 1 loaf crusty peasant style bread (warmed in oven

by: Amy_N-B

March 30, 2021

11 Ratings

Prep time 15 minutes
Cook time 30 minutes
Serves 2 for dinner, 4 as a side

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Author Notes

Between our CSA and garden, we found ourselves up to our eyeballs in beets a few summers ago. I concocted this dish as an homage to a simple French peasant dinner. When I explained the concept to my husband, he riduculed me, "What peasants eat boucheron and drink Muscadet with their beets?" "Um, French ones?" - Amy_N-B —Amy_N-B

Test Kitchen Notes

In our next life, we'd like to be French peasants, or at least, eat like them. We have a soft spot for beet recipes that utilize both the sweet root and minerally tops. Here, Amy_N-B has you caramelize slices of yellow and red beets (we used 4 large beets total; might do 3 next time) and then add a mix of beet tops and Swiss chard, cooking them just enough to wilt. You'll love the dish at this point, but you'll be riveted if you serve it with oozy boucheron and good country bread. —The Editors

Test Kitchen-Approved
Your Best Beets Contest Winner

What You'll Need

Ingredients

4 Beets with greens (up to 6; I like a mixture of golden and red beets)
1 bunch Swiss chard
3 tablespoons butter
1 shallot
1 pinch Salt, or more to taste
1 pinch Freshly ground pepper, or more to taste
2 tablespoons white wine (Muscadet is my preference)
2 tablespoons water
¹/₂ pound Bucheron Cheese (room temperature)
1 loaf crusty peasant style bread (warmed in oven

Directions

Scrub and peel the beets. Remove the greens and chop coarsely. Set the greens aside in a large prep bowl. Slice beets into 1/4 inch rounds.
Remove the ribs from the swiss chard and coarsely chop and toss into bowl with the beet greens.
In a large sautee pan, melt butter. Sautee shallots.
Add beet rounds to the shallot butter mixture. Crack some pepper over the beets and a toss on a pinch of salt. Reduce heat and sautee beets, turning over to ensure even cooking.
About 15 minutes later when beets are begnning to glaze and become tender, add greens and chard. Sautee for about 5 minutes, then add wine and cover. Cook until greens are wilted, adding water if necessary. Allow liquid to be mostly absorbed into greens, adjust seasonings.
Scoop greens and beets into a low shallow bowl. Garnish with a sizeable wedge of bucheron and some crusty bread. Crack a little bit of pepper over the entire dish.

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75 Reviews

Britshaehemi June 29, 2021

Hello all. 👋 I got this recipe from my Alexa when asking, "what's a great recipe for beets.?" It was the 3rd or 4th suggestion. The name caught my attention. So I started. Instead of peeling, I left it on. We all know how hard it is to cut lol. Once done I used one table spoon of butter and sautéed the shallot and put in the beets. Added olive oil to the mix and some garlic. Pepper and salted Once done I used the greens from the beet and added the white wine. Ehh, nothing special from publix. Let it sit and my kid came 🏃‍♂️ running, mouth watering. I heated some oag bread made it crispy. It was Spectacular!!! Thank you so much for this. ♡ I will be making again soon.

Danielle E. June 30, 2019

This is AMAZING!!!! I am using fresh beets from my garden, the ones that are red and white, and using the greens from them instead of Swiss chard. I added one glove of garlic and added zest of one lemon. Used goat cheese! I am in heaven!!!!! Thank you so much for this easy and delicious recipe.

Danielle E. June 30, 2019

Lol that is a clove of minced garlic.

Maaahia March 12, 2019

A couple of years ago, when I was a poor student with a tiny kitchen and also a vegetarian I found this recipe, liked it A LOT and from then on made it at least once a week. It was always great, even with cheap wine and cheese (mozarella is not bad here) :) i need to add this back into my rotation... Thanks for posting!

K September 8, 2018

This was amazing! I served it with a thyme and oregano risotto, added black kale to the greens and user choggia beets. My husband who hates both beets and kale said “wow”’after his first bite and cleaned his car late. So did my five year old. So happy I made enough for a another meal. Also, the whole meal only took me 40 minutes to make! Incredible!

Moema B. July 12, 2018

So I have made this recipe a few times and every time it’s always beautiful. I don’t usually have bread with my beets because I just make some couscous from a box and a nice glass of wine. So delicious!!

Steve March 4, 2018

I have friends coming over tonight for dinner. I'm making roast duck with apricot glaze and was looking for an interesting side dish and came upon this. People are coming soon, but I just sampled it and it is perfect.

Your husband should never ridicule you again.

Hannah S. February 28, 2018

This is probably my favorite way to prepare beets, and I've made this recipe many times. I love how easy to make yet sophisticatedly flavored the recipe is. Also love a beet recipe that incorporates the greens without just throwing them in as a salad afterthought. Usually sub in goat cheese, and the last few times I've served on homemade bread (Alexandra Stafford's peasant bread - so easy and so good). Posted about it here: https://thankles.com/2018/02/27/cabbage-rolls-french-peasant-beets/

Susan November 7, 2017

This is a wonderful basic recipe that leaves plenty of room for interpretation. I made this recipe in a black cast iron skillet with a pile of small beets from our garden. It took about 25 minutes of sauteeing and steaming to get the beets carmelized. We did not have any Bucheron, so served with chevre toasts and a poached egg. I added a pinch of chervil and fresh rosemary. The results were lovely! I will make this again.

Jan S. September 25, 2017

You should proofread your recipes. This one is full of typos and misspellings. Looking forward to trying the dish!

judy September 11, 2016

I like the skin on. The large slices allow plenty of surface area to absorb butter. I also toss these in a bowl with melted butter and a little garlic and roast in the oven. I add the greens at the last 5 minutes. I always make sure the greens are a beautiful as the roots. Love beet greens.

Millicent August 31, 2016

We didn't have any chard, so it was less leafy but still delicious. For anyone wondering about which wine to use & possible substitutions, I didn't want to open a bottle just for this -- husband was drinking one of those trendy sour beers, so I used that instead, and it was great. The acidity keeps the beets from being too sweet.

Jess August 27, 2015

Lovely dish! We skipped out on the cheese, and served this as a side dish to sherried sardine toasts with mashed avocado. I think next time I'll double the swiss chard -- I always want more greens, and this recipe can definitely handle them.

Melanie June 21, 2015

These were amazing. Used spinach instead of Swiss Chard. Had Sauvignon Blanc in the fridge and used that. Also, organic goat cheese from Texas... Yummy.

Diane P. October 6, 2014

Donna, I did peel and slice the raw beets so they'd absorb the butter and wine while cooking. It wasn't hard with a vegetable peeler and no more clean-up than peeling potatoes or carrots. I'm not sure how much flavor you'd lose if you roasted the unpeeled beets first, then peeled and sliced them, but that might be easier.

Donna October 5, 2014

Am I missing something with this recipe? It says 'simple' but peeling raw beets and slicing them 1/4" thick is a task that is anything but simple!!!!! Not to mention the cleanup involved. How did everyone handle this part of the recipe?

Erin February 27, 2015

Donna, I would recommend a mandoline--makes slicing the beets a breeze!

Lucy August 16, 2014

Tried this for dinner tonight and it was delish, but plenty for two without the chard and cheese. We added toasted walnuts to the mix and it was heavenly, with a great crunch

Fr3nch1e July 27, 2014

Made this for lunch and it was great! Such a nice way to eat beetroot. We did not have the boucheron but I bet it is nice with it! I saw a comment suggering to put some mint leaves and I would try next time, the idea of beetroot and mint sounds nice

Diane P. July 16, 2014

This was a hit last night, served as a warm salad after a first course of pan-fried scallops and risotto. Substituted chevre medallions for the boucheron because that's what my store had. We'll have the leftovers tonight with cucumber-yogurt salad.

heatheranne April 16, 2014

This was tasty...of course, anything cooked in butter will be!

Re: trouble cooking them. I covered them, thinking that would help them soften up faster. It took more than 15 minutes, but not a ton more than that. I had it on medium heat.

katie March 29, 2014

No one else mentioned any difficulty cooking the beets. Mine were still not cooked through after 40 minutes of sauteeing them - even though mine were cut thinner than the ones in the pictures above. My shallots ended up burning after so long in the pan. I'm wondering if I had the heat too high? the beets too thin? I can imagine how good these would be if I could perfect the method.