Beets in a smoothie
Earthy, deeply colored, and the raw-or-cooked question changes the drink.
About ½ cup (chopped) in a glass — 68 g and 29 calories at that amount. The readings are 1 of 3 for thickening, 0 for creaminess and 1 for sweetness. Nothing gets above one, so the texture of a blend is not set by beets — the body has to come from elsewhere in the glass.
Beet is the strongest color in the vegetable list and one of the sweeter vegetables you can blend, which is why it survives in a fruit smoothie where celery or kale would not. It contributes a little body and no creaminess, so it is an addition to a blend rather than the base of one.
In the ratio model every ingredient fills one of five roles. Beets are a flavor add: nothing in the texture changes when it goes in, so the ratio model gives it no share of the glass. That is what decides how much of it goes in, which is the next question on this page.
How many beets to put in a smoothie
The ratio model does not portion beets at all — it takes up no meaningful room, so it goes in on top of a finished blend rather than instead of something. One 1/2 cup (chopped) is 68 g.
There is no texture penalty for using more of it, only a flavor one — and overshooting with beets is easier than people expect. Taste before the second spoonful, not after.
The model portions one amount for this role, so there is no range to work within.
Change the amount and this moves with it — the calorie calculator does the arithmetic as you build.
What beets do to the texture
Every ingredient on this site is rated out of three on the only three jobs that matter in a blender. Those ratings are what the substitution engine scores against, so they are the same numbers the rest of the site works from.
Expect a small amount of body from beets — enough to notice against water, not enough to build a blend on. Take it as a bonus rather than the reason it went in.
No richness is left behind. A blend built around beets needs a yogurt, a nut butter or an avocado somewhere, or it will read thin and sharp however thick it is.
Faintly sweet at most. Not enough to carry a blend on its own, and not enough to fight a tart fruit either.
Nothing gets above one, so the texture of a blend is not set by beets — the body has to come from elsewhere in the glass.
Beets nutrition
Per 100 g so it can be compared against anything, and per 1/2 cup (chopped) so it matches what actually goes in the jar. One 1/2 cup (chopped) of beets weighs 68 g.
Figures for beets (raw). Everything on the site — every recipe, every calculator — sums from these same numbers, so a total you see elsewhere will always agree with this table.
What goes well with beets
Its best partners
cherry , strawberry , fresh ginger , orange juice and lemon juice . Each of those either covers something beets do not do, or leans the same way hard enough to make the drink taste deliberate.
What to use instead of beets
Each stand-in is scored against beets on all three jobs at once, by the same engine behind the substitution calculator. Calories and sugar are for one everyday measure of the replacement; the smaller figure underneath is the difference against the same measure of beets.
Browse from here
Blueberry and mixed-berry blends — the deepest color on the site.
Fast, easy carbs from banana, dates and tropical fruit, light on fat and fiber so it sits well before training.
Banana, dates and oats — carbohydrate you can actually taste working.
Build a blend around it
Put beets in, add whatever else is in the kitchen, and watch the calories and macros move as you go.
Open the calorie calculatorEstimates, not advice. Every figure on this page is calculated from published per-100 g reference values and standard household measures, so your own brands, portions and equipment will move it. Nothing here is medical, nutritional or dietetic advice — talk to a qualified professional before acting on it, particularly if you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or feeding a child.