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Two beetroot, bloodied my chopping board at 6.20am on Tuesday, and I still haven’t worked out a way to do this without staining something. The tea towel’s a write-off now, honestly. But that’s about the only complaint I’ve got, because this is the juice I’ve made most consistently since spring, and the reason is simple: it doesn’t leave me jittery by ten o’clock the way a flat white on its own sometimes does.
I started making a beetroot apple ginger juice after a few too many mornings where I’d skip breakfast entirely, swim at Terrigal, then wonder why I was flat by mid-morning. This isn’t a cure for anything, and I want to say that plainly before we go further. It’s just a drink that sits well, tastes properly good, and gives me something other than coffee to reach for before the day gets going.
Why this combination keeps earning its place
Beetroot on its own is earthy, almost too much so if you’re not used to it. Apple softens that right down, and ginger does the lifting at the end, that warm catch in the throat that wakes you up without any caffeine involved. I’ve noticed the three together land somewhere between a tonic and an actual drink you’d want twice. Nutrition Australia’s general guidance on vegetable intake is that most of us fall short of the recommended serves most days, and a juice like this isn’t a replacement for whole vegetables, but it’s one more way beetroot ends up in the week rather than sitting forgotten in the crisper.
The other thing worth saying: this is not a juice cleanse, and I’m fairly sceptical of that whole framing. A glass of this alongside actual food does more for me than any juice taken in isolation ever has.
What you’ll need
Nothing unusual here, which is half the point. You want produce that’s reasonably fresh rather than anything specialty. I buy mine most weeks from the Saturday stall near Wyong Road, where the beetroot still has dirt on it and the ginger’s knobbly and strong, not the pale stuff that’s been sitting under plastic for a fortnight.
Ingredients
- 2 medium beetroot (about 300g), scrubbed and trimmed
- 2 green apples, cored (Granny Smith holds its tartness well here)
- 1 knob fresh ginger, about 3cm, peeled
- 1 lemon, peeled
- 1 small carrot, scrubbed (optional, for body)
- 250ml filtered water, to thin if needed
- Ice, to serve
Method
- Roughly chop the beetroot, apples, carrot and ginger into pieces that will fit your juicer feed chute.
- Feed the beetroot through first, then alternate with apple, carrot and ginger. This helps push through any fibre that clings to the juicer walls.
- Juice the lemon last, straight into the jug, to add brightness and help cut the earthiness.
- Stir well. If the juice tastes too concentrated, thin with 50-100ml of filtered water to taste.
- Pour over ice and drink within fifteen minutes for the best colour and flavour. It does oxidise and turn a duller brown fairly quickly, which is normal and not a sign anything’s gone wrong.
Serves 2, makes about 500ml.
If you don’t own a juicer
A blender works, with one extra step. Blend everything with the water until smooth, then strain through a nut milk bag or a fine sieve lined with muslin, pressing to get as much liquid out as you can. It’s messier and a bit more hands-on, but the result is close enough that I’ve done it this way for months when my juicer’s been in the cupboard unused, which, if I’m honest, is often.
A serving idea for the slower mornings
On weekends I’ll pour this over ice with a few mint leaves bruised into the glass, alongside something like the spinach and ricotta baked eggs, which gives the morning some actual substance rather than leaving the juice to do all the work. If you’re someone who skips breakfast most days, I’d point you toward the piece on simple breakfasts for mornings when you have no appetite, because a juice this sweet on an empty stomach isn’t always the gentlest start, despite how good it tastes.
A variation worth trying
Swap the apple for a small pear and add a stick of celery through the juicer. It mutes the sweetness slightly and gives the whole thing a greener, more savoury edge, which I actually prefer by Thursday when the week’s caught up with me and I don’t want anything too sugary. This version pairs well with the reading in why fibre matters more than most of us think, if you’re curious about where juicing fits against eating the vegetable whole.
One opinion I’ll hold onto
Bottled beetroot juice from the supermarket, the long-life kind in a carton, tastes nothing like this and I’d argue it isn’t really worth the price given how cheap and quick the fresh version is. It’s one of those products that trades on convenience but loses almost everything that makes the fresh drink worth having in the first place.
How this actually fits into a week
I don’t drink this every single day, more three or four mornings a week, usually after a swim when my appetite hasn’t quite arrived yet but I still want something in my system before coffee. Healthdirect’s general dietary guidance notes that juice lacks the fibre of whole fruit and vegetables, which is worth keeping in mind if you’re leaning on it heavily rather than as one part of a broader plate. I think of this less as a meal replacement and more as something that sits alongside actual food, the way I’d think about a side of greens rather than the main event. If you want a broader sense of how that balance works without turning it into another restrictive plan, the piece on how to build a more balanced plate without dieting covers it better than I can in a paragraph here.
The beetroot stains fade off the chopping board eventually, same as everything else that feels like a hassle in the moment. What stays is the ten minutes it buys me most mornings, and a glass that tastes like something I made on purpose rather than something I grabbed on the way out the door.
– Tanya Pryce, Golden Door Living
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