Beetroot juice never appealed to me. Too earthy, too sweet, too — beetroot. I had made it once, years ago, decided it wasn't for me, and left it alone.

Then I tried this. Beetroot with carrot, red apple and fresh ginger — the carrot softens the earthiness, the apple adds sweetness without cloying, and the ginger cuts through everything with enough warmth to make the whole thing feel alive rather than medicinal. It is now part of the regular afternoon rotation at Casa Adora, alongside the green juice and the pear.

Everything comes from Marta's store in the village. Beetroot, carrots, red apple. The ginger occasionally needs a trip to Martos, but Marta usually has it.

Why This Is a Liver-Loving Juice

Beetroot contains betalains — the pigments that give it its colour and some of its most significant health properties. Betalains have been studied for their anti-inflammatory and detoxifying effects, and beetroot in particular has a well-established reputation for supporting liver function. This is where "liver-loving" comes from — not marketing, but a genuinely useful shorthand for what the ingredients are doing.

Carrots bring beta-carotene, which converts to vitamin A and supports liver enzyme function. Ginger is anti-inflammatory and supports bile production. Red apple adds quercetin — a flavonoid with liver-protective properties — and enough natural sugar to make the whole thing drinkable rather than worthy.

This beetroot juice recipe is the boldest of the three gut health juices I make at Casa Adora — the deepest in colour, the most assertive in flavour, and the one that took the longest to win me over. It was worth the wait.

Beetroot Juice Recipe — The Ingredients and Method

Makes 1 glass (approx. 250–300ml)

Ingredients

• 1 small beetroot (approx. 150g raw), peeled and quartered
• 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 medium red apple, cored and quartered
• 1cm piece fresh ginger, peeled

Method

Feed the beetroot, carrots, apple and ginger through the centrifugal juicer in batches — put the beetroot through last, as it will stain everything it touches.

Pour into a glass. Drink immediately — this beetroot juice recipe is best fresh, before the colour deepens and the flavour flattens.

Notes

Beetroot stains everything — the juicer, the worktop, your hands, your glass. Run a piece of apple or carrot through after the beetroot to help flush the juicer. Clean immediately.

Raw beetroot is considerably harder than it looks. Make sure your centrifugal juicer can handle it — cut into small enough pieces to avoid overloading the machine.

The ginger is not optional. Without it this is a pleasant enough juice but nothing remarkable. With it, the whole thing has a warmth and a lift that makes it genuinely worth making every day.

FOOTNOTE

This beetroot juice recipe is part of my Gut Health Recipes collection — real food from a rural Andalucían kitchen, built around fermented foods, high-fibre pulses, wholegrains and prebiotic-rich ingredients.

Find more recipes and food adventures here.
Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef