Beetroot Oil and Softgels: What's Actually in Them

"Beetroot oil" usually means one of two different things: MCT oil used as a carrier inside a softgel capsule, or a topical skincare product with beet extract added to it. Neither is a beetroot essential oil in the way people search for lavender or peppermint oil, and beetroot's studied nitrate pathway requires swallowing it — it doesn't work through skin contact.

Does beetroot have an "oil"?

Not in the sense of an extracted essential oil. Essential oils come from plants with volatile aromatic compounds — citrus peel, mint leaves, lavender flowers — that can be steam-distilled or cold-pressed into a concentrated oil. Beetroot doesn't produce that kind of oil; it's a root vegetable valued for its nitrate and pigment content, not aromatic oils. When "beetroot oil" shows up on a supplement label, it's almost always referring to something else entirely: the oil used as a filler or carrier in a softgel capsule.

Softgels with an oil carrier

Some beetroot softgel capsules list MCT oil (a medium-chain fat, usually derived from coconut or palm) among the ingredients. That's a carrier for the beetroot extract or powder inside the capsule — a manufacturing choice about capsule format, not an extracted "beetroot oil" itself, and not something that's been shown to change how nitrate is absorbed. A 2023 lab analysis of 50 commercial beetroot supplements found nitrate content varied widely across products and forms, regardless of capsule type — the format alone doesn't tell you the dose. Electric Tiger Beetroot uses a vegetarian capsule with whole dried, milled powder and no oil carrier; see beetroot without fillers for the full ingredient list.

Topical (skin) beetroot products

Beet extract shows up in some skincare products, usually for its pigment (betalains) or as a general plant-extract ingredient. We haven't found a published trial testing a topical beetroot product for any effect. That's a separate product category from an oral supplement — a beetroot cream or serum applied to skin is not the same use case as a capsule, and this page doesn't cover skincare research.

There's also a mechanical reason to expect a topical product wouldn't do what an oral one is studied for: beetroot's researched pathway starts with bacteria on the back of the tongue converting dietary nitrate to nitrite, which is then further converted to nitric oxide in the gut and bloodstream. That conversion step requires swallowing beetroot, not applying it to skin — a topical product bypasses the mechanism the research is actually about.

What about beetroot recipes and food uses?

Searches for things like beetroot ice cream, cream soup, or beetroot with sour cream are food and recipe questions, not supplement ones — beetroot works fine as a food ingredient in sweet or savory dishes, but that's outside what this page or our capsule addresses.

Our beetroot capsule

Electric Tiger Beetroot is 1300 mg of whole organic beetroot powder per two-capsule serving in a vegetarian capsule — one ingredient, no MCT oil or other carrier added — as low as $14.39 a bottle on subscription.

Questions people ask

Is beetroot oil the same as beetroot extract?

No. "Extract" usually refers to a concentrated preparation of the root's compounds (including nitrate), while "oil" on a beetroot label almost always refers to the carrier oil (like MCT) used inside a softgel, not an extracted oil from the beet itself.

Can you use beetroot oil without other ingredients?

If a product is genuinely just an MCT-oil-carrier softgel with beetroot powder or extract, the oil itself isn't the active ingredient — it's the delivery format. Check the supplement facts panel for the actual beetroot amount, not the oil.

Does topical beetroot do anything for circulation?

We haven't found research testing that. Beetroot's circulation-related research is about swallowing dietary nitrate, which starts a conversion process that begins in the mouth — a pathway a topical product doesn't engage.

Related reading: types of beetroot compared: powder, juice, extract and fresh, beetroot without fillers, and how to choose a good beetroot supplement.