Beetroot is one of those foods everyone knows is good for them, but almost nobody eats enough of. It stains your hands, it takes forever to roast, and it's not exactly something you can pack in your work bag for a 3pm snack. Beetroot chips fix all of that. Same earthy, slightly sweet flavour, just crunchier, faster, and purple-finger-free. Here's why they deserve a proper spot in your pantry.
The Quick Version
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Beetroot is rich in nitrates, antioxidants, folate, and fibre
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Beetroot chips can carry those same benefits when they're made from real beetroot
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The beetroot chips benefits include heart health support, reduced inflammation, and better digestion
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How a chip is made matters a lot. Baked or dehydrated keeps the good stuff intact
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Shary's beetroot snacks are made from real beetroot with no artificial additives
What Actually Makes Beetroot a Superfood?
It's not just the colour (although, yes, that vivid red-purple is doing something).
Beetroot is one of the richest sources of dietary nitrates you can eat. Your body converts those nitrates into nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels and helps lower blood pressure. A systematic review published in Biomolecules found that beetroot supplementation consistently reduced systolic blood pressure across healthy, pre-hypertensive, and hypertensive participants.
Then there are betalains, the pigments that give beetroot its intense colour. These aren't just pretty; they're potent antioxidants with demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects. They're also being studied for neuroprotective properties, with emerging research from PMC suggesting betalains may help reduce neuroinflammation linked to conditions like Alzheimer's disease.
On top of all that, beetroot brings folate (important for cell health and heart function), potassium, manganese, vitamin C, and dietary fibre to the table. It's a lot for one vegetable.
Why Beetroot Chips Are Such a Good Way to Eat It
A well-made beetroot chip is sliced from actual beetroot and baked or dehydrated at low temperatures, a process that preserves the nitrates, betalains, and fibre that make the vegetable worth eating in the first place. What you get is a satisfying snack with a crunchy texture, real flavour, and a nutritional profile that holds up.
There's also the convenience angle. Whole beetroot takes 45 minutes to roast, stains anything it touches, and has a shelf life that doesn't play well with a busy week. Beetroot chips sit in your pantry, your desk drawer, or your kid's lunchbox without any of that fuss. Gluten-free and vegan by nature, they're also easy to include for households juggling multiple dietary needs. No separate snacks required for different people around the table!
The beetroot chip benefits you're getting from a quality chip are real. It's genuinely one of the more nutritious options in the snack aisle, provided you pick the right one.
Not All Beetroot Chips Are Created Equal
Plenty of bags labelled "beetroot" on the front are actually made from potato or rice starch, with a dash of beetroot powder added for colour. That's a beetroot-flavoured chip. It's not the same thing, and it's not delivering the same benefits.
A few things worth checking on the label before you buy:
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Ingredients list. Beetroot should be the first ingredient and ideally the only one, or close to it. If it's sitting third behind corn starch and modified rice flour, keep walking.
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How it's made. Baked, dehydrated, or vacuum-cooked are what you're after. Deep-frying adds unnecessary fat and tends to knock out heat-sensitive nutrients like vitamin C and the betalain antioxidants that make beetroot worth eating.
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Sodium. Some snack-aisle "healthy" options pack more salt per serve than regular chips. Under 400mg is a reasonable target.
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Additives. A short ingredient list is a good sign. If you're scrolling past artificial colours, flavour enhancers, and three different preservatives, the vegetable isn't really doing the heavy lifting anymore.
Want a deeper look at how to tell the difference across the whole veggie chip category? Our guide on are veggie chips healthy breaks it down properly, including what to look for and what to avoid.
Beetroot's Not the Only Superfood Getting the Chip Treatment
Once you're across beetroot snacks, it's worth knowing you've got options. Vegetable chip blends made with real vegetables are a great way to mix it up without sacrificing nutrition, and a good way to add more variety to the snack rotation without thinking too hard about it.
If you're curious about what other superfoods are now available in chip form, our guide to superfood chips: beetroot, broccoli, peas and more is worth a read. Spoiler: There are more options than you'd expect.
Make Beetroot Chips Your Go-To
Beetroot chips sit in a rare spot in the snack world: actually tasty, actually nutritious, and actually convenient. When they're made from real beetroot without the unnecessary extras, beetroot chip benefits are backed by the same research that's put beetroot on the radar of sports nutritionists and cardiologists alike.
They won't replace a plate of roasted veg at dinner. But as snacks go, they're a pretty great choice for your desk, your lunchbox, or your pantry shelf, and a much better afternoon option than most of what's sitting next to them in the snack aisle.
Shop Shary's range of plant-based snacks, including beetroot and mixed veggie crisps. Real ingredients, no nasties, plenty of crunch.