Best Spices for Roasted Beets: What Each Does

Roasted beets don’t need much more than oil, salt and pepper. Oregon State University’s Food Hero recipe roasts a pound at 400°F with 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper, then suggests trying thyme or cumin.¹ Worried that olive oil can’t take the heat? One lab study says smoke point is the wrong test anyway. A sweet glaze is the other easy finish.

At a glance

Seasoning	Job	Notes
Oil (olive or vegetable)	Carries heat and seasoning	2 tsp vegetable oil per lb (OSU); 2 tbsp olive oil for 8 to 10 beets (Rutgers)¹²
Salt	Seasoning	1/4 tsp per lb in the OSU recipe¹
Black pepper	Gentle bite	1/4 tsp per lb in the OSU recipe¹
Thyme	Woodsy herbal counterpoint to the sweetness	Suggested by OSU¹
Cumin	Warm, earthy spice	Suggested by OSU¹
Italian herbs	Mixed herbal note	Rutgers recipe²
Balsamic glaze, honey or maple syrup	Sweet, glossy finish	Optional; in neither recipe

Two baseline recipes

	Oregon State Food Hero (4 servings)¹	Rutgers Cooperative Extension²
Beets	1 lb (3 to 4 medium)	8 to 10 fresh beets
Oil	2 tsp vegetable oil	2 tbsp olive oil
Seasoning	1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper; try thyme or cumin	A sprinkle of salt, pepper and Italian herbs
Oven	400°F, 45 to 60 minutes	400°F, 35 minutes

These are the extension services’ recipes, not ours.

Why beets taste earthy

That earthy smell comes from geosmin.³ Whether you play against the earthiness with herbs, a bright acid or something sweet is up to you.

The seasonings and what each one does

Oil, and the olive oil smoke point question

Both recipes coat the beets in oil before roasting at 400°F: vegetable oil in the OSU recipe, olive oil in Rutgers’.¹²

You’ll often hear that extra virgin olive oil has a low smoke point and turns toxic at roasting temperatures. One lab study says smoke point isn’t the right test. De Alzaa, Guillaume and Ravetti (Modern Olives Laboratory Services, Australia) heated a range of commercial oils and found that smoke point doesn’t predict how an oil holds up when heated. In their tests, extra virgin olive oil produced low levels of polar compounds and oxidative by-products, and its smoke point after both heating treatments averaged 191.6°C (about 377°F).⁴ That’s one lab study, not a regulator’s ruling. Either oil in the recipes above is a fine choice. The main difference is flavor, and that’s your call.

Salt and black pepper

The OSU recipe uses 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and black pepper per pound of beets.¹ Grind the pepper fresh if you like. We found no measurement of fresh versus pre-ground pepper on vegetables. See black pepper and sea salt.

Thyme

The OSU recipe suggests thyme as an add-in.¹ Thyme has a sharp, savory taste. Fresh and dried both work. You’ll often read that dried thyme is weaker than fresh. The University of Delaware’s general rule is the opposite: dried herbs are stronger, with 3/4 to 1 teaspoon dried equal to 2 to 3 teaspoons fresh.⁵ See thyme, fresh vs. dried thyme and lemon thyme.

Cumin and other spices

Cumin is the OSU recipe’s other suggestion.¹ Its warm, earthy flavor is a natural match for an earthy vegetable. See cumin and cumin uses.

Sweet glazes: balsamic, honey, maple syrup

Neither extension recipe uses a glaze. Balsamic glaze, honey and maple syrup are all popular finishes for roasted root vegetables. Balsamic brings acidity and fruit along with the sweetness, honey a floral sweetness, and maple syrup is the usual swap for honey in vegan cooking. A good starting point: toss the hot beets in a spoonful of glaze right out of the oven, then season again with salt.

“Roasted Beets”, Food Hero, Oregon State University Extension Service. extension.oregonstate.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹
“Roasted Beets”, Rutgers Cooperative Extension. extension.rutgers.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
“Genotype Is Primarily Responsible for Variance in Table Beet Geosmin Concentration…”, Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science, 2019. journals.ashs.org · Peer-reviewed ↩
De Alzaa, Guillaume and Ravetti, “Evaluation of Chemical and Physical Changes in Different Commercial Oils during Heating”, Acta Scientific Nutritional Health, 2018. actascientific.com · Peer-reviewed ↩
“Using Herbs and Spices”, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, revised 2025. udel.edu · Reference work ↩

The Best Spices for Roasted Beets, and What to Know About the Oil