How-To: Red Food Coloring

For those wanting to make red food coloring without any artificial ingredients, here is a great way using red beets. The beets are boiled until the water reduces and turns deep red. Recipes usually call for such a small amount of food coloring that you don’t taste the beet at all!

Peel and chop the beets

First, remove the tops, peel, and chop red beets into about 1 inch pieces.

Cover the beets with water

Place the beets in a small to medium saucepan and cover with water.

Bring water to boil

Bring the water to a boil.

Simmer until beets are tender and water is red

Reduce heat to medium- medium low and simmer the beets until fork tender and the water is deep red. Strain the water and store in refrigerator in airtight container for up to a week.

How-To: Red Food Coloring

Adapted from Back to Her Roots

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How-To: Red Food Coloring

Course Sauce

Cuisine N/A

Keyword beet, red food coloring, vegetable

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

0 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 large red beets
• Water

Instructions

• Remove the greens from the beets, peel, and chop into about 1 inch pieces.
• Add the beet pieces to a small saucepan and pour in just enough water to cover them. Bring the water to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Simmer until the beets are fork tender and the water is reduced by half, down to a few tablespoons.
• Strain the water and store in refrigerator for up to a week.