Beetroot Raita Recipe: Pink Colour, Benefits and Calories

Last updated: 15 November 2026

Beetroot Raita: Pink, Earthy and Easy to Make

Beetroot raita is the most visually striking raita you can make. That deep pink color comes from betalain pigments in the beetroot — natural plant pigments that also act as antioxidants in lab tests. One serving has about 60 calories. Below you will find the benefits, the calories and the full recipe.

The earthy sweetness of beetroot pairs beautifully with the mild tang of fresh curd and the warmth of a South Indian tempering. You can make this with raw or boiled beetroot, and both versions work. The key is fresh, thick curd that holds the beetroot's color without turning watery.

Beetroot Raita Benefits: Is Beetroot with Curd Good for You?

Beetroot with curd gives you protein and calcium from the curd, and fibre, nitrate and red pigments from the beetroot. One 80 g serving of this raita has about 60 calories, 2.9 g protein and 84 mg calcium. Beetroot raita is a curd side dish made with grated beetroot, salt and spices. Its benefits are real but modest. The curd gives protein, calcium and live cultures. The beetroot gives fibre, nitrate and its red pigments. A serving holds only about 25 g of beetroot, so treat it as a healthy side dish, not a medicine.

• Curd with beetroot benefits, from the curd: one serving gives about 2.9 g protein and 84 mg calcium. India's food regulator, FSSAI, says fermented milks sold in shops must hold at least 10 million (10⁷) live starter bacteria per gram (FSSAI dairy standards, Chapter 2.1). Home curd has live cultures too, but nobody counts them. Live starter cultures are not the same as probiotics: some shop yogurts have extra strains added for their probiotic properties (Kok and Hutkins 2018).
• Beetroot with curd benefits, from the beetroot: beetroot is a natural source of nitrate. A 2022 review of 7 trials pooled 218 adults with high blood pressure (Benjamim et al., Frontiers in Nutrition). Drinking 70 to 250 ml of beetroot juice a day lowered the top blood pressure number by about 5 mmHg. The bottom number did not change. Raita has far less beetroot than that juice.
• Betalain pigments: the red pigments show antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in lab and animal studies (Clifford et al., Nutrients 2015). Human proof is still limited.
• Gut health: a serving has a little fibre (about 0.6 g) plus the curd's cultures. Researchers at the University of Nebraska wrote that "consumption of yogurt and other fermented foods may improve intestinal and extraintestinal health" (Kok and Hutkins, Nutrition Reviews 2018).

If you take blood pressure medicine or follow a diet for a health problem, ask your doctor before you eat beetroot every day. For more on the juice itself, read Beetroot Juice Benefits: What Happens When You Drink It Daily.

Is Beetroot and Curd a Good Combination?

Yes. You can mix beetroot with curd, and many Indian homes do. The two foods add different things. Beetroot brings colour, fibre and nitrate. Curd brings protein, calcium and a cool, sour taste. So beetroot raita is good for health as part of a normal meal.

Beetroot Raita Calories: About 60 kcal per Serving

One serving of this beetroot raita has about 60 calories. A serving is one-sixth of the recipe below, about 80 g. Most of the calories come from the curd and the 1 tablespoon of oil in the tadka. Leave out all the oil and a serving drops to about 40 calories. We added up the ingredient list with Health Canada's nutrient file (Canadian Nutrient File, see Sources).

Calories in 1 Beetroot

One small raw beetroot, about 5 cm across, weighs about 82 g and has about 35 calories. Raw beetroot has 43 calories per 100 g (Canadian Nutrient File, code 2500; serving sizes). A medium beetroot of about 150 g, the size this recipe uses, has about 65 calories. Two small beetroots come to about 70 calories.

Boiled beetroot calories are almost the same: 44 calories per 100 g (Canadian Nutrient File, code 2501). Boiling does not add calories. In this raita, each serving holds only about 25 g of beetroot, so the beetroot gives about 11 of the 60 calories.

Ingredients You Need (Serves 6)

This recipe includes a South Indian-style tempering (tadka) with mustard seeds and curry leaves. You can skip it for a quicker North Indian version.

• Fresh homemade curd, thick — 300g (one and a half cups), from InstaCuppa Automatic Curd Maker
• Beetroot, medium — 150g grated (1 cup), raw or boiled
• Salt — 5g (1 teaspoon)
• Roasted cumin powder — 2g (half teaspoon)
• Green chili, finely chopped — 5g (1 small)

For the tempering (tadka):

• Oil or ghee — 15ml (1 tablespoon)
• Mustard seeds — 1g (half teaspoon)
• Cumin seeds — 1g (half teaspoon)
• Curry leaves — 5 to 6 leaves
• Asafoetida (hing) — a pinch

Garnish: 10g (2 tablespoons) chopped fresh coriander

Step-by-Step Recipe — Boiled Beetroot Version (About 70 Minutes)

The boiled version gives a softer, milder flavor and a beautiful, even pink color. Most of the time is the beetroot cooking on its own. In a hurry? Use the raw version below (15 minutes).

1. Cook the beetroot (about 45 to 50 minutes). Wash 150g beetroot. Leave the skin, the root tip and a little stem on. Boil it whole for about 45 to 50 minutes, or pressure cook it whole, until a fork slides in easily. Cool, then peel and grate. Leaving the root and stem on stops the red colour from bleeding into the water.
2. Whisk the curd (2 minutes). Beat 300g fresh curd in a bowl until smooth and creamy.
3. Saute the beetroot (3 minutes). Heat 5ml oil in a pan. Saute the grated beetroot for 2 to 3 minutes until the raw smell fades. Add 5g salt and 10ml water. Cook covered for 3 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes.
4. Combine (3 minutes). Mix the cooled beetroot into the whisked curd. Add cumin powder and chopped green chili. Stir gently.
5. Make the tempering (2 minutes). Heat 10ml oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds — let them splutter for 10 seconds. Add hing and curry leaves. Pour the hot tempering over the raita. Mix half in and leave the rest on top as garnish.
6. Chill and serve (30 minutes). Refrigerate. The pink color spreads evenly as it rests. Curd is acidic, and beet pigments stay fairly stable in acid.

Why Fresh Homemade Curd Makes Better Beetroot Raita

Beetroot raita is especially sensitive to curd quality because the beetroot releases both moisture and color into the base.

• Thick curd holds the color: Thick curd has less loose whey. So the beet juice tints it evenly and you get a bright pink. Thin curd gives a pale, watery pink.
• No watery separation: Beetroot adds moisture to the raita. Thick, fresh curd takes this in without becoming runny. Thin curd, home-made or bought, lets the beet liquid pool at the sides. If your curd is thin, strain it for an hour first.
• Live cultures: Fresh curd carries live cultures. FSSAI sets a floor of 10 million per gram for fermented milks sold in shops. We found no human study showing that beetroot boosts these cultures, so we do not claim it.

3 Tasty Variations

1. Greek Yogurt Beetroot Raita

Strain 300g curd in the fridge for 4 to 6 hours using the InstaCuppa Greek Yogurt Maker. Mix with grated beetroot and a pinch of garlic powder. It is very thick, with more protein per spoon than regular curd. Strained curd is denser, so a serving has a few more calories than the basic recipe.

2. Coconut Beetroot Raita (South Indian Style)

Add roasted coconut flakes to the tempering for a Kerala-inspired version. The coconut adds crunch and sweetness that pairs beautifully with the earthy beetroot. Coconut adds fat, so a serving has a few more calories than the basic recipe.

3. Spicy Peanut Beetroot Raita

Add 15g roasted peanuts or sunflower seeds to the tempering. The crunch and nuttiness pair well with chaat and street food. 15g peanuts add about 15 calories per serving, so a serving comes to about 75 calories.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Thin, watery curd: Beetroot already adds moisture. If you start with thin curd, the raita becomes a pink soup. Always use fresh, thick, set curd.
• Overcooking the beetroot: Beet pigments dissolve in water and break down with long heating, so a long boil can fade the pink. Cook just until fork-tender. A pressure cooker makes the timing easy.
• Adding hot beetroot to curd: Hot beetroot can make the curd split, and heat can harm its live cultures. Always cool the beetroot to room temperature before mixing.
• Salting raw beetroot too early: Salt draws moisture out of beetroot, making the raita watery before you even start. Add salt to the curd, not the beetroot.

Why Beetroot Turns Curd Pink (Pink Curd and Pink Raita)

Beetroot turns curd pink because its pigments dissolve in water. The main ones are red-violet betanin and yellow vulgaxanthin (Lukitasari et al., Journal of Food Science 2024). The beet juice spreads through the watery part of the curd. That gives you pink curd, and then pink raita. The same study found these pigments stay fairly stable in acid but break down in strong alkali. Curd is acidic, so the colour holds in the fridge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Reading

• Raita Recipes: 12 Variations for Every Indian Meal (2026) (Pillar)
• Raita Recipe: The Perfect Cooling Side Dish for Any Indian Meal
• Mixed Vegetable Raita: Crunchy, Creamy, and Full of Color
• Probiotic Curd: Why Homemade Beats Store-Bought Every Time

Sources

• Health Canada, Canadian Nutrient File: plain yogurt 2 to 3.9 percent fat (code 6961); boiled beetroot is code 2501 in the same file.
• Health Canada, Canadian Nutrient File: beets, raw (code 2500) - 43 kcal per 100 g; serving size 1 beet (5 cm across) = 82 g. Beets, boiled (code 2501): 44 kcal per 100 g.
• University of Illinois Extension: Preparing Beets - boil small beets 25 to 30 minutes and medium beets 45 to 50 minutes; leave the tap root and some stem on to stop colour bleeding.
• FSSAI Food Product Standards, Chapter 2.1: Dairy products (fermented milks, starter culture not less than 10^7 cfu/g)
• Clifford et al. (2015). The potential benefits of red beetroot supplementation in health and disease. Nutrients.
• Lukitasari et al. (2024). pH-dependent stability of major betalains in beetroot extracts. Journal of Food Science.
• Mikołajczyk-Bator and Pawlak (2016). The effect of thermal treatment on antioxidant capacity and pigment contents in betalain fractions.
• Benjamim et al. (2022, Frontiers in Nutrition) and Kok and Hutkins (2018, Nutrition Reviews) are linked in the benefits section above.

This article is general food information, not medical advice.