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Make Your Own Beetroot Juice: 5 Recipes + Runner Field Test

Make Your Own Beetroot Juice: 5 Recipes + Runner Field Test

Name: Beetroot juice with pomegranate, apple, ginger & lime
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 300 ml
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: 200 g beetroot (fresh and unpeeled); 100 g pomegranate seeds; 125 g apple (with peel); 35 g or 1/2 lime (with peel); 5 g ginger (with peel)

Make your own beetroot juice: 5 recipes + real-life runner test

Make your own beetroot juice – glasses and bottles filled with beetroot juice

Beetroot juice is often described as a real superfood – packed with vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. And yet, it’s not only kids who turn up their noses as soon as they think of the red bulb. What we’ve discovered: You can use beetroot to create incredibly delicious juices that make our culinary hearts skip a beat. Its earthy, slightly sweet flavour pairs beautifully with citrus notes, ginger and herbs such as mint or lemon verbena. You really don’t need much more than that to lure even stubborn beetroot sceptics into a purple-tinted experiment. Because honestly: is there any more seductive colour to drink than beetroot juice?

And of course, homemade beetroot juice doesn’t just taste better than store-bought, it’s also likely to contain significantly more nutrients. We’ll introduce you to this red root vegetable and share our favourite beetroot juice recipes. You’ll learn everything you need to know about making fresh beetroot juice – right up to choosing the right juicer. We’ll also take a closer look at the hype around why so many endurance athletes swear by beetroot juice for boosting performance – because Carla put it to the test in real life!

Make your own beetroot juice: left beetroot in the field; right Hurom E30-ST juicing beetroot

Make your own beetroot juice: overview

Why is beetroot juice so healthy?
Beetroot juice for endurance athletes: Carla’s real-life test
How can I make beetroot juice myself?
Which juicer is best for beetroot?
Make your own beetroot juice: 5 favourite recipes
Frequently asked questions about beetroot juice

Why is beetroot juice so healthy?

Beetroot (also called red beet) is one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables out there. Among other things, it provides us with minerals and trace elements such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium and iron, B vitamins and vitamin C, as well as important phytonutrients. No wonder this red bulb is a key ingredient in traditional dishes in many countries and cultures – for example in the North German dish labskaus or the Eastern European soup borscht.

Used raw – as in freshly pressed juice – you get maximum root power in your glass, because we juice beetroot using a cold-press method with a slow juicer. This keeps heat-sensitive nutrients such as vitamin C intact.

Key nutrients in beetroot juice:

Nitrates: Converted in the body into nitric oxide and can dilate blood vessels. This can be interesting for endurance athletes – more on that in the next chapter.
Folic acid: Beetroot is rich in folic acid, which is important for the formation of red blood cells.
Iron: Can support oxygen transport in the blood. Not only interesting for athletes.
Antioxidants: Betalains are phytonutrients that give beetroot its intense colour and, thanks to their antioxidant properties, help combat free radicals.

Beetroot is harvested in late autumn and, thanks to its excellent storage properties, is available to us all winter long as a local vegetable – exactly when we need its root power the most.

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Beetroot juice for endurance athletes: Carla’s real-life test

Before I became a mother, I ran two marathons a year for many years – Hamburg in spring and Berlin in autumn. In between there were a few 10K races and at least one half marathon as a performance check. I never really had an off-season – I just kept running. Then my daughter was born – I kept running, but reduced the mileage and lost interest in racing.

A few years ago, I got the bug again – and realised that I had seriously lost speed. My daughter isn’t even of age yet and, after a few months of training for a 10K, completely outclassed me. That makes my runner’s heart very happy and at the same time motivates me to at least keep up a little. Structured training is back on my agenda – long runs, tempo runs and intervals – and thanks to those “few extra years on the clock”, I now pay very conscious attention to fine-tuning every little screw between loading and recovery so I can improve my performance while staying as injury-free as possible.

And this is where my beloved beetroot juice comes in. Back in the marathon game, I suddenly kept seeing hordes of runners on Instagram who, for days or even up to a week before their marathon, were posting stories of themselves forcing down beetroot juice from cartons in the hope of boosting their race performance. My interest was piqued, and I was more than ready to use freshly pressed, delicious beetroot juice as a natural performance booster. First, though, I wanted to really understand why and how this is supposed to work. You’ll find what I discovered in theory below – and my subjective experience after two years of testing in the conclusion:

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Beetroot juice in a glass with straw – set-up with beetroot, passion fruit and citrus fruits

How can beetroot juice boost your performance?

Beetroot juice has established itself in the sports world as a natural performance enhancer – completely legal and without serious side effects. Numerous studies suggest that people who regularly drink beetroot juice may be able to measurably improve their endurance performance. The secret lies in the natural nitrates in beetroot. In the body, these are converted into nitric oxide (NO), which can have several positive effects:

Potential benefits for athletes:

1. Improved oxygen utilisation

Mitochondria are thought to work more efficiently
Potentially less oxygen is needed for the same output
Fatigue may be delayed

2. Dilated blood vessels

Blood flow to the muscles may be improved
Nutrient transport may be faster
Oxygen supply may be optimised

3. Increased VO2max

VO2max (maximal oxygen uptake) describes the maximum amount of oxygen your body can take in, transport and use in the muscles per minute during intense exercise. The higher your VO2max, the more oxygen your muscles have available for energy production – and the longer and more intensely you can maintain endurance efforts.

Maximal oxygen uptake may be increased
Studies suggest possible performance gains in endurance sports
Time to exhaustion may be extended

4. Faster recovery

Anti-inflammatory properties may come into play
Muscle soreness may be reduced
Recovery after intense sessions may be faster

As a beetroot fan, it was a no-brainer for me to test the juice as a performance booster. If even just two of these four points proved true – perfect. It’s also said that recreational athletes notice performance-enhancing effects – such as a lower heart rate at the same workload or a longer time to fatigue – more clearly than elite athletes. The reason: in elite athletes, the systems for oxygen transport and utilisation are already highly optimised, so the effect of beetroot juice on performance is much smaller. Still, even that small effect can be interesting – especially when seconds or hundredths matter.

And of course, beetroot juice isn’t just interesting for runners – it’s relevant for all endurance sports: cycling, triathlon, duathlon, swimming, and more.

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Timing is everything: When should you drink beetroot juice?

Before training or a race

Recommended timing: 2–3 hours before your session

Nitrate levels in the blood tend to peak after about 2–3 hours. This is likely when the performance-supporting effect is at its strongest. If I’m doing a tempo run around midday, I drink my juice sometime between 9 and 10 a.m.

Dosage: 300–500 ml of beetroot juice is commonly recommended as a guideline. For a pre-workout juice, I prefer the recipe Runner’s Booster. This creation combines beetroot and citrus fruits with a good pinch of salt to support your electrolyte balance.

Tip for race day:
You could start a daily “juice protocol” 3–6 days before a race and drink about 400 ml of beetroot juice in the morning. This may help top up your nitrate stores. If you tolerate it well (definitely test this during training first!), I would then drink about 300 ml of juice roughly 2.5 hours before the start on race day.

After training

Recommended timing: Within 30–60 minutes after your session

The anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidants can support muscle recovery and reduce oxidative stress.

Dosage: 200–300 ml, ideally combined with protein. For example, you could combine beetroot juice after training with a protein source (protein shake, quark/cottage cheese, nuts).

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Carla’s tips for maximum performance

Always test it in training first
The most important tip of all: Before you use beetroot juice in the lead-up to a race and on race day, test it in training. That’s the only way to know whether beetroot juice agrees with you and is easy on your digestion. Some people reportedly experience stomach issues – you really don’t want to discover that for the first time on race day.
Prioritise organic quality
If you drink beetroot juice regularly and frequently, it’s worth buying organic. Conventional beetroot can contain pesticide residues.
Don’t overdo it
More than 500 ml likely doesn’t bring additional benefits. Pay attention to how you feel and to your enjoyment of the drink.
Freshly pressed is far more effective
Freshly pressed juice offers the highest nitrate content – studies suggest that pasteurisation can significantly reduce nitrates. Storage and exposure to light also degrade nutrients over time. If you do buy ready-made juice, look for “unpasteurised” or “cold-pressed”, at least 90% beetroot content, and choose small bottles with a recent bottling date.
Freshly pressed tastes better
Taste is subjective and self-praise is no recommendation – but I’d still bet that any of our recipes tastes better than the carton alternatives from the supermarket. That way, your race preparation or training becomes a culinary highlight instead of something you have to choke down.

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Carla’s conclusion: Not without my juice

First, the outcome of my two-year test in training and racing: I’ll continue to prepare for upcoming races with a one-week beetroot juice protocol – as described above. In harder training sessions, I also feel that beetroot juice is my Popeye move when it comes to chasing a new personal best. That’s why, before tempo runs or threshold intervals, I drink about 350 ml of beetroot juice 2–3 hours beforehand.

Of course, this is my subjective impression, but in both races and training I feel that beetroot juice boosts or at least stabilises my performance – especially when other factors like weather or sleep are less than ideal. Maybe it’s a placebo effect. I’ll gladly take it! The fact is, I love drinking freshly pressed beetroot juice anyway. So why not channel that culinary joy into my running…? If you’d like to test beetroot juice in your own training, feel free to start with our beetroot juice recipes and let us know here which creation you like best – and whether you notice any performance boost.

When it comes to recovery, I generally swear by getting protein and carbohydrates in as quickly as possible after training, usually in the form of a shake. That’s why beetroot juice doesn’t play such a big role for me there. But of course, you can also use its anti-inflammatory properties to support your recovery.

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Preparing beetroot juice ingredients and cutting them into small pieces

How can I make beetroot juice myself? Which juicer is suitable?

To make fresh beetroot juice, you basically have two types of juicers to choose from: slow juicers, which work with a cold-press method, and centrifugal juicers, which extract juice by rapidly spinning (centrifuging) the ingredients. Both methods leave the solid plant fibres behind as pulp.

From our point of view, making beetroot juice with a slow juicer has decisive advantages in terms of flavour and juice quality – which is why we strongly recommend the cold-press method:

1. Maximum nutrient yield through minimal oxidation
Slow juicers operate at low speeds (40–120 rpm) and generate hardly any heat. In contrast, centrifugal juicers run at high speeds (up to 15,000 rpm) and generate heat, which can damage nutrients. With slow juicers, heat-sensitive vitamins, enzymes and especially valuable nitrates are largely preserved. Low oxidation further protects these nutrients.

2. Maximum flavour
Because the juice is processed gently, without heat and with minimal oxidation, it tastes fresher, more intense and more aromatic. Non-oxidised juices have a fuller, more natural flavour.

3. Very good juice yield
The intense flavour also reflects the good to very good juice yield. Horizontal slow juicers with twin gears like the Angel Juicer are extremely efficient when it comes to juicing roots such as beetroot or carrots.

4. Quiet operation
Compared to the loud spinning of centrifugal juicers, slow juicers run very quietly. So you can juice in the early morning without waking everyone else up.

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