Every night your kids eat the same thing. The bread, pasta (if you’re having it) and maybe some fruit. Vegetables? Nope.

You’d love it if they were even willing to give a vegetable a taste!

Air fryer beets should be on your list to serve at an upcoming family meal. They’re colorful, crispy, and in a familiar chip form, making kids more likely to feel comfortable giving them a try.

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What You’ll Need

Supplies

• scrub brush
• medium bowl
• measuring spoon
• mandoline
• cut resistant gloves (for kids to help)
• air fryer (I LOVE this one because it also serves so many other purposes, so we don’t need as many appliances cluttering the kitchen)

Ingredients

• 3 medium beets
• 2 tablespoons oil of choice
• 1 teaspoon salt

How to Make with Your Child

This air fryer beets recipe offers many ways that you can get your child involved in helping. When kids help in the kitchen, not only do they gain life skills, but they grow more comfortable around a variety of foods. This supports them in increased acceptance of foods (like vegetables) over time!

Scrubbing the beets offers a nice warm up to touching the beets. If they greens on top, cut those off, along with a small bit of the top of the beet, so you have a flat surface.

As they scrub them (or watch you), use descriptive language to help them learn:

• “These beets are hard and have a skin on them.”
• “Beets have tiny roots coming off of them and one main point on the bottom. They have leafy greens on the top.”
  • You can continue to elaborate about beets growing underground, how roots help the plant get nutrients/water to grow, how the leaves collect sunlight, etc., if your child is taking interest.
• “It’s important we scrub them clean since they grew in the dirt!”

Next, use the root end of the beet to hold and place the flat side on the mandolin. Yes, kids can use a mandolin; it can actually be quite satisfying and fun for them. However, I highly recommend having them use cut resistant gloves to protect them from the sharp blade.

• “Look at how smooth the beet is on the inside. It looks a lot like a potato, but a much different color!”

Now the fun part, tossing the beet slices with the oil and salt. This is a great opportunity to experience the wonder of beets turning things colors – including your child’s fingers! If they aren’t into that sort of thing or are nervous to touch a new food, you can give them gloves.

• “Did you know that beets make a great dye? They are used to make other foods (like fruit snacks, freeze pops, food coloring, and more) red or pink, just like they’re making your fingers pink now.”
• “When you eat beets they can also make your poop turn red!”

Once everything is tossed together, it’s time to let the beets sit. This is an important step and one that you can use to teach a little bit of science. It’s also a great time for your child to take a break (so cooking doesn’t get boring or overwhelming).

• “Why do you think we’re letting the beets rest?”
  • ANSWER: The salt will pull the water out of the beets (you can talk about osmosis here if you have an older child), which will help them crisp up quickly, thus better keeping their shape and color (AKA, they’ll look prettier and we eat with our eyes first!). This is called sweating. Just like water comes out of you when you sweat!

Then it’s time to drain the liquid off. It can be fun to show your child how much liquid results after they rest. It’s a concrete example of what you talked about at the start of their rest.

Once the liquid is drained off, it’s time to lay the beets on your air fryer tray. Your child can wear gloves during this step if they still aren’t sure about touching them directly. They can also practice fine motor skills and use tongs.

Challenge your child to not let ANY beets overlap. This is important to having the crispiest air fryer beets. And if you’re the one laying them out, you can always ask your child to “inspect” your work.

Now it’s time to use the air fryer to crisp the beets! Set the temperature to 300 degrees F and cook for 15 minutes. Flip, check to see if any of the smaller rounds are done and can be removed and then cook for 15 additional minutes.

If any beet slices remain very soft, continue cooking for a few more minutes, checking on them often. Also keep in mind that they will continue to crisp slightly as they cool.

How to Store

Air fryer beets can be stored in an air tight container at room temperature for a few days.

How to Serve

Serve at room temperature, and consider tossing with a chip your child already enjoys. When in the same bowl, they can quickly see the similarities, helping them become more comfortable with this new food.

And even if they only pick out their favorite, they are still engaging with and learning about a food that they can learn to like with time! You can help them continue the learning through the language you use as you eat them.

• “These beets are crispy and salty, just like a potato chip.”
• “They have a mild flavor that is earthy and a little sweet. I enjoy the slight sweetness of the beet combined with the salt.”

Ready for more recipes and activities that give you exact steps and language to use to help your picky eater continue to learn to like beets – just like these air fryer beets? The Explore Beets download can help! It’s 25 pages of easy to implement strategies to explore beets, and each one builds upon the other to work toward tasting and eating. And the best part? As part of my financial accessibility policy, it’s a priced in a pay what you can format! Happy eating!

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Kim Slack is a Registered Dietitian, Quality Improvement Professional, Parent Coach and founder of On Your Table, LLC.  She helps parents stress less about feeding and children to learn to eat a varied diet.  Kim has helped countless families have happier, calmer mealtimes and grow competent eaters.  Kim also has 2 boys of her own at home.  Learn more about her from her about page.