Whenever some one reads my Red Velvet cake recipes (Eggless red velvet cake, Red velvet cake), I get a query about substituting the food colour with something healthier. I have tried with beetroot juice, ground beetroot but the colour of the cake was not as effective as the ones I made with food colours. Then one day I came across beetroot powder which was sold commercially. It was expensive and was not available anywhere near my area. Some how I forgot about all these after some time. Recently, I was watching Master-chef Australia and there was one master class by Gary (he is one of the chefs anchoring the show – for those who don’t watch Master-chef) He did a monochromatic dish with beetroot and finally sprinkled the whole dish with beetroot powder. And he also gave a tip about making it at home. This actually made me remember all about the queries I was getting. So one fine day I tried to make my own beetroot powder at home and I was so excited with the result. The process is very simple but it takes nearly a day to dehydrate the beetroot. What we are going to do is, peel the beets and slice it in a mandolin slicer. And these thin slices are spread out on baking trays as a single layer and placed in oven at the lowest heat setting. The water content in the beetroot is totally evaporated in that mild heat and we will be getting crispy beet flakes. These flakes are then ground to a fine powder! That is it. Isn’t it simple. I am yet to test it in recipes but when I poured water into the mixer the resultant water was so lovely red in colour. So I am so optimistic that the cake would also turn good in colour.
Updates: I am updating the post with all the queries from readers.
Oven is not the only way to dehydrate the beetroot slice. You can use microwave or if it is extremely hot and sunny in your place, you can opt for sun drying.
And the time taken to dehydrate the slices depends on how thin the slices are. Mine are slightly thick and I think that is why it took a day for the drying. But if you can slice it extremely thin, the time taken will be drastically lowered.
Someone asked whether grating beetroot will work. I think grating will result in loss of so much juice and in turn the colour. But it doesn’t hurt to try.
How much electricity would the oven take for a day of dehydration? – I have no idea. I felt this was way too easier than roaming around the city in search of the powder. So if you are worried about your electricity bills, then go for sun drying. It will be economical. But it can only be seasonal.
Note 0n Using the powder: Mix a spoon full of the powder with a tablespoon of water and set aside for it to dissolve. Varying the quantity of water and the powder will give you various shades of red. Add it to the recipe instead of food colours.
Ingredients:
Beetroot 2 medium sized
Procedure:
Wash and peel the skin of beetroot.
Slice it into thin slices using a mandolin slicer.
Spread it as a single layer on baking trays.
Heat oven to the lowest temperature setting.
Place the trays in oven and let the beets dehydrate for a day.
When the beets are very crispy, remove from oven and transfer to a clean mixer jar.
Grind it to fine powder. It will be very fine, so don’t open the jar immediately. Allow it ten minutes to settle before opening the lid.
Carefully transfer to an airtight jar and store in refrigerator until further use.
Homemade Beetroot Powder
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Beetroot 2 medium sized
Instructions
Procedure
- Wash and peel the skin of beetroot.
- Slice it into thin slices using a mandolin slicer.
- Spread it as a single layer on baking trays.
- Heat oven to the lowest temperature setting.
- Place the trays in oven and let the beets dehydrate for a day.
- When the beets are very crispy, remove from oven and transfer to a clean mixer jar.
- Grind it to fine powder. It will be very fine, so don't open the jar immediately. Allow it ten minutes to settle before opening the lid.
- Carefully transfer to an airtight jar and store in refrigerator until further use.
Notes
And the time taken to dehydrate the slices depends on how thin the slices are. Mine are slightly thick and I think that is why it took a day for the drying. But if you can slice it extremely thin, the time taken will be drastically lowered.
Someone asked whether grating beetroot will work. I think grating will result in loss of so much juice and in turn the colour. But it doesn't hurt to try.
How much electricity would the oven take for a day of dehydration? - I have no idea. I felt this was way too easier than roaming around the city in search of the powder. So if you are worried about your electricity bills, then go for sun drying. It will be economical. But it can only be seasonal.
Note 0n Using the powder: Mix a spoon full of the powder with a tablespoon of water and set aside for it to dissolve. Varying the quantity of water and the powder will give you various shades of red. Add it to the recipe instead of food colours.
Wow! Trying this out!
That’s really brilliant..good one Gayathri..
I’m huge fan of Masterchef Australia gayathri!! This is an awesome idea!!!!
Thanks for letting us know that apart from making juice beetroot can be use as a flaour. Interesting in the pilau rice
Great Gayathri !! I’ll try out. Lowest temperature means @ what temperature should we bake & for how many minutes?
The lowest temperature setting in your oven. And it took nearly 24 hours for my beets to become flaky..
I m sure gonna try… U r a wonderful person plus creative… Loving all of u
Hi gayathri.. Nice idea. Would def try this. One quick question. Is it possible to do the same with other colors? Like spinach for green, red cabbage for dark pink etc
I think you can Maithri. Need to test it..
A must try, can use it for all recipes which use colouring. Have you tried using it in icing? Please let me know the result.
Thank you,
Shivani Khanna
Hi thts really wodeful…would like to know whether we can use this colour for chicken marination and other recipes?
You can use it in any type of cooking or baking..
4.Heat oven to the lowest temperature setting.
For this step, I have a question Gayathri.
Do we need to preheat the oven at lowest temperature. If YES/NO, do we need to bake the beetroot slices at lowest temp (yes/no) and for what amount of time it needs to be baked, if the answer is yes. can u tell me the steps in detail here.
Or we are just supposed to pre-heat oven at lowest temperate and bake for a certain time n leave in the oven for a day or so to let it dry and be crispy at the same time.
Please clarify it.
Thsnks in advance 🙂
Hi Antara, this is not about baking the chips but dehydrating it. Think it as sun drying. So Just adjust your oven to the lowest temperature and switch it on. The oven will be on until the beetroot becomes crisp. Mine were slightly thin so it took nearly a day to become dry. You can slice it really thin so that the beetroot looses moisture in 4-5 hours.
Hi Gayathri, Thanx for sharing this wonderful recipe of beetroot powder. I was planning to try it now but just a thought that can this be done in Air Fryer as well. Any idea about it. As I feel the Air Fryer has hot air also blowing so might take a little less time. Kindly share your thoughts on it. Thanx in advance.
I haven’t worked with air fryer, so couldn’t give you an opinion. If you can control the temperature inside the fryer, then try it. Make sure that the beet root dries and not bakes. Else the colour will change to brown.
I am a huge fan of your cooking Gayathri. Does it mean that I need to bake for longer hours like 4 to 5 hours. Please clarify.
Thank you Mitha. You need to bake it for long, until it becomes nice and crispy..
Wow thats beautiful.
nice but i have one question what is the shelf life of beetroot powder.
It stays good in fridge for a long time, may be even a year..
So kind of you. Thanks for sharing. Indeed helpful. Stay blessed.
Can I use a dehydratder
Yes, you can
Did you try baking with the homemade beetroot powder? Did the bakes retain the bright red colour?
I tried a few, but the colour either turned pink or brownish. Not bright.
Do you boil the beetroot before peeling and slicing and finishing with oven?
No, it is peeled and sliced raw.
Hi omit baking soda and use only the baking powder , pressure cook beets with out peeling off before making beetroot puree for cake
Refer divinetaste.com for red velvet cupcakes with a vibrant colour. I’ve tried it many times and it’s a sure shot success