Pickled Beets
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This homemade pickled beets recipe is easy to make, they keep for months and taste absolutely fabulous! You can make these to keep in your refrigerator for several weeks or you can water-bath can them for long-term storage, directions provided below!
Homemade Pickled Beets
I’ve always been a fan of pickled beets. I’m not sure how or when this love affair started, but even as a little girl I remember eagerly diving into these, whether at the dinner table or as a quick snack. I also enjoy them in salads and boiled or steamed as a side vegetable for meat and fish. Oh, and grilled with a simple dab of butter, yum! Or how about in a Red Flannel Hash? Beets are also a great addition to baked goods like chocolate cake and brownies.
Use the freshest beets you can find. I’m using beets freshly harvested from my garden. I usually add the beet greens to soups, stews and salads and if I have an overabundance I’ll often blanch and freeze the greens for future use or feed them to our chickens (they love them too!).
But beets lend themselves particularly well to pickling. Stock up on fresh beets while in season, pickle them, and then enjoy them all the year long! Pickled beets are great on their own, as a side, and go great in things like pasta salads, spreads and relishes.
How do you use pickled beets? Share your ideas with us!
Pickled Beets Recipe
Let’s get started!
Thoroughly scrub and wash the beets. Leave the skins on or they will bleed while boiling and lose their color.
Place the beets in a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 20-35 minutes, depending on the size of the beets, until the beets are soft when pierced with a fork. Drain the beets and remove them from the pot to let cool until you can comfortably handle them.
Meanwhile, add the vinegar, sugar and spices to the pot and bring to a boil.
Peel the skins and slice the beets in 1/4 inch thick slices.
Place the sliced beets back in the pot and simmer for another 5 minutes.
Ladle the sliced beets into the jars, spooning enough liquid over them to completely cover while leaving 1/2 inch head space from the top of the jar rim. If you’re not canning the beets for long-term storage, let the beets cool and then transfer the jars to the refrigerator where they will keep for about 2 months.
How to Can Pickled Beets
Ladle the sliced beets into the jars, spooning enough liquid over them to completely cover while leaving 1/2 inch head space from the top of the jar rim.
If canning for long-term storage: Place the canning lids on the jars and process for 30 minutes (35 minutes if in 1000-3000 ft elevation) in a water bath. Carefully remove the jars and let sit undisturbed for 24 hours and then store them in a cool, dark place where they will keep for up to a year.
I use and recommend Granite Ware’s Enamel-on-Steel Canner.
Whether canning or not, wait at least 3 days before eating the beets, preferably 2 weeks. The vinegar will mellow and the flavor will improve with time.
Ways to Enjoy Pickled Beets
There are lot of ways you can enjoy your homemade pickled beets. Here are just a few ideas:
- Straight out of the can!
- Diced and served as a pickled beet salad.
- Diced or sliced in strips and added to leafy green, grain, and other salads.
- On sandwiches, burgers, kebabs, falafel or in wraps.
- Served with a charcuterie or antipasto platter.
- Added to soups like borscht.
- Added to hummus for beetroot hummus.
- Served with cottage cheese.
- Finely diced and added to homemade yogurt with some lemon juice, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper for a fresh and tangy beetroot yogurt dip.
- Use in place of cucumber or in addition to the cucumber in this cucumber raita to make beetroot raita.
Enjoy!
For more pickled goodness be sure to also try my:
- Pickled Banana Peppers
- Pickled Okra
- Giardiniera
- Bread and Butter Pickles
- Refrigerator Pickles
- Pickled Red Onions
- Pickled Carrots
- Pickled Pepperoncini Peppers
- Pickled Green Beans
- Pickled Turnips
- Pickled Asparagus
- English Pickled Onions
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Pickled Beets
Ingredients
- 6 pounds red beets , washed and scrubbed clean
- 4 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
- 1 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1 teaspoon whole allspice berries
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Place the beets in a large pot of water and bring to a boil (do not peel the skins or the beets will bleed and lose their color). Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 25-35 minutes, depending on the size of the beets, until the beets are soft when pierced with a fork. Drain the beets and remove them from the pot to let cool until you can comfortably handle them (discard the beet water).
- Meanwhile, add the vinegar, sugar and spices to the pot and bring to a boil.
- Peel the skins and slice the beets in 1/4 inch thick slices. Place the sliced beets back in the pot with the vinegar solution and simmer for another 5 minutes.Ladle the sliced beets into the jars, spooning enough liquid over them to completely cover while leaving 1/2 inch head space from the top of the jar rim.
- If you're not canning the beets for long-term storage, let the beets cool and then transfer the jars to the refrigerator where they will keep for about 2 months.If canning for long-term storage: Place the canning lids on the jars and process for 30 minutes (35 minutes if in 1000-3000 ft elevation) in a water bath. Carefully remove the jars and let sit undisturbed for 24 hours and then store them in a cool, dark place where they will keep for up to a year.Whether canning or not, wait at least 3 days before eating the beets, preferably longer. The flavor improves with time.Makes about 6 pints.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet August 19, 2015
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
try beets on a plate with feta cheese! soooo good!
Can u use the same brine for other veggies. I have left over and hate to throw it away
Hi Donna, not if you’re planning on canning the other veggies. The reason is that the brine may have already become a little diluted from the beets and when you simmer other vegetables in that same brine it will become even more diluted, potentially altering the pH level and making it unsafe for long-term storage. You CAN use the leftover brine on other veggies if you’re just planning on refrigerating the pickled veggies and eating them within a few weeks.
Thank you Kimberley! First time with beets in the garden and first time making pickled beets, so will see how I make out next weekend. Thanks for your help! (And sorry typo in question…’I See it possible’ was supposed to read ‘Is it possible). Lol
Hi! Wondering about the allspice berries… I see it possible to replace with ground allspice? I could not find the berries version at the local stores. Will it affect the taste.
Hi Charlotte, whole spices are used to prevent the liquid from being murky and to avoid speckled residue on the beets, but aesthetics aside yes, you can use ground or you can simply omit the allspice altogether.
Do you need to have all of the canning equiptment in order to can? I don’t have a canning pot but do have a large tall pot. Would that work? I have read that most people prefer to boil beets. I have always roasted them. I keep a bit of the stems on and the little tails. Then, I roast them in the oven at 350 until they are soft. I found I don’t run into problems of the beets losing their colour and they maintain a lot of their juices.
Hi Elly, no you don’t need all the equipment. You can use a large pot but make sure the jars do not make direct contact with the bottom of the pot or they can crack – place a towel on the bottom or some crumpled up aluminum foil.
Thank you so much for that tip! This will be my weekend project
I was given a couple of jars of pickled beets from my sister & they are generally very good. The last two jars she gave me has the pickles with a pink tinge and pink settled on the bottom. I dont know whether this is just sugar settling or perhaps they are too old and shouldnt be consumeed – what do you think? Carol
I am very interested in pickled and preserved beets without water bath or refrigeration … any guidelines?
Thanx Kimberly
Hi Mj, those are the only methods I’m familiar with for preserving beets.
Beets can be preserved by malolactic fermentation. Here is the method:
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/259109/raw-fermented-beets/
If you are interested in fermentation as a technique, I recommend getting a copy of The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz.
I pickle my homegrown beets without sugar just a little sea salt. They store well in the fridge for a couple of months . I use seasoned rice vinegar. My hubby loves them.