Beetroot does not prepare food quietly.
In the kitchen, handling fresh beetroot is less like culinary prep and more like handling critical evidence at a crime scene. One gentle slice and your wooden chopping board is permanently stained, your tea towel looks compromised, and your hands will remain a vivid shade of magenta until roughly next Tuesday.
Yet inside a blender, that stubborn root vegetable is an absolute triumph.
While berries bring sharp, high-pitched sweetness and citrus brings acid, beetroot brings an earthy, rounded richness and an unmistakably dramatic colour. Paired with sweet fruits like mango or apple, its earthy undertones soften into a deep, velvety sweetness that gives morning blends real body and warmth.
Beneath that intense crimson pigment, beetroot also packs serious nutritional credentials.
Here are three reasons beetroot earns its place in your blender.
1. It is a natural source of folate (vitamin B9)
Beetroot provides folate (vitamin B9), an essential B-vitamin that plays several vital roles in daily health.
Folate contributes to normal blood formation, supports the normal function of your immune system, and contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. Adding a portion of beetroot to your morning smoothie is a simple whole-food way to add folate and other nutrients to your smoothie.
2. It contains naturally occurring dietary nitrates
Beetroot is well known in sports nutrition because it naturally contains dietary nitrates.
In the body, nitrate can be converted into nitric oxide, a signalling molecule involved in vascular function and exercise physiology. That is why beetroot and beetroot juice have been widely studied in sports nutrition, although results vary depending on factors such as dose, exercise type and individual response.
So while beetroot is not a magical performance-enhancing elixir, it does contain naturally occurring compounds that have attracted genuine scientific interest.
3. It adds rich colour and earthy sweetness that balances fruit
From a blending perspective, beetroot is one of the most effective vegetables for creating depth of flavour.
Pure fruit smoothies can sometimes taste overly sweet or thin. The naturally occurring sugars in beetroot are wrapped in an earthy, grounding flavour profile that tempers sharp citrus and sweet stone fruits. Combined with ingredients like ginger, apple, or carrot, it turns an ordinary fruit drink into something rich, robust, and visually striking.
Where to Find Beetroot in Love Struck Smoothies
We use chopped, flash-frozen beetroot in our smoothie packs to give you that deep red colour and earthy sweetness without any stained cutting boards or purple hands:
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Dr Beet Smoothie: An earthy, sweet veggie smoothie that blends beetroot with sweet mango, carrot and apple.