Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

Discover the secret to making the best-pickled beets at home. This easy recipe will have you enjoying this classic dish in no time.

If you enjoy pickled beets, this is the easiest and only recipe you will need.

Once finished, you can give your pickled beets away as Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, etc.

Of course, you have to save some jars for yourself.

Let me show you how it’s done.

Pickling Beets Is The Easiest Kitchen Recipe

I never thought the day would come when I took on the challenge of pickling beets, but here I am sharing my fantastic recipe with you.

Over the past year, I’ve read numerous pickled beet recipes and have eaten loads of pickled beets from grocery stores.

I’ve either found them too salty, over-seasoned, or far too much sugar for my liking.

Although I love pickled beets, now was the perfect time to take on the Ontario beet in the CBB kitchen.

What are beets?

Beets are naturally sweet, red, and comparable to a potato texture when you cut them open.

Beets have been cultivated since pre-historic times in the Mediterranean area and were originally grown only for their leaves.

During the Roman empire, people began to eat the roots as well. Today, beets and beet dishes are still widely popular throughout Europe.

Foodland Ontario

Seasonal Beets In Ontario

When are beets in season?

Come October, you’ll find beets at almost every market and grocery store in Canada, as they are abundant.

Although you can buy beets almost every month, you’ll find the best prices during the autumn season.

If you don’t grow them yourself, the great thing about beets is that the price is low, to purchase them.

I’ve bought 10lb bags of red beets from Food Basics for $2.99, which will make me 14 1 litre jars of pickled beets.

That’s enough pickled beets to last me a whole year, and I won’t have to spend $4 a jar every month at the grocery store. 

I have been buying two jars for some months because I love pickled beets.

Often, if I post my dinner on Facebook and there are no beets on my salad, I get asked where they are.

My fans know me so well, making connecting with all of you enjoyable.

Pickled Beets Prices At The Grocery Store

What I love about preparing pickled beets at home is controlling the sugar and seasoning content.

I also pick the beets I want to use instead of opening a jar and only finding end pieces or seconds.

That’s the difference between buying the no-name beets or the named brand, and I’ve bought both.

Our grocery budget dictates what we can afford, and if the named brand pickled beets are on sale, I’ll buy them; if not, no-name it is.

However, I did something wild this year and decided to pickle beets independently.

I’m the only one who eats them in our house, so they’re all mine, although I’ve already gifted two jars to friends.

This recipe makes a fantastic gift if you have pickled beet fans on your Christmas list.

What Are Pickled Beets?

Pickled beets are boiled until tender, peeled, put into jars filled with hot brine, and then sealed to ferment or pickle.

If I had to describe the taste and texture of pickled beets, I’d say sweet and textured like a potato, but they are red and delicious.

You can even enjoy beets boiled with salt and butter or baked in the oven like a potato.

Borscht is a popular beetroot soup recipe from Russia that comes highly recommended during the beet season in Ontario.

I love winter beet salads, especially mixed with grated carrots and nothing else.

Different Types Of Ontario Beets

According to Foodland Ontario, we have various types of beets that grow in Ontario, such as;

• Detroit Rubidus
• Red Ace
• Ruby Queen; topped for processing
• Avenger; for both uses
• Big Red
• Supra
• Pacemaker 3

If you miss out on beet season, you can still buy beets in cans at the grocery store, packed with vitamins such as iron, folate, and fibre.

Eating beets from the can is delicious, I won’t lie. I’m a beet fanatic and can eat them any way they are presented.

Store beets like potatoes in a root cellar or dry place, or wrap them in a paper towel in the refrigerator crisper.

Beet Greens

Are beet greens edible?

Beet greens are edible and cooked like any other green: steaming and sauteeing.

Beet greens are very tender and sweet and cook better than any other green you’ve had.

You can sautee beet greens with oil, garlic, salt, and pepper and even add a bit of tomato paste for flavour.

I like sauteed beet greens as they are but with a bit of garlic, red pepper flakes, and olive oil, then sauteed in a pan.

Recipe: Sauteed Beet Greens with rice

Beet Greens Nutrition

No Fat or Cholesterol: Beet greens are nutritious as they are rich in Vitamin K, copper, manganese, iron and calcium, but they are great for maintaining a healthy weight, as they contain zero saturated fat and cholesterol.

Source

Beet Nutrition

The Health benefits of beets make enjoying them even more enticing.

Beets come loaded with iron, fibre, potassium, vitamin C, and approximately 50 calories for one cooked cup of beets.

Here is an overview of the nutrients found in a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of cooked beetroot:

• Calories: 44
• Protein: 1.7 grams
• Fat: 0.2 grams
• Fiber: 2 grams
• Vitamin C: 6% of the RDI
• Folate: 20% of the RDI
• Vitamin B6: 3% of the RDI
• Magnesium: 6% of the RDI
• Potassium: 9% of the RDI
• Phosphorous: 4% of the RDI
• Manganese: 16% of the RDI
• Iron: 4% of the RDI

Beets also contain inorganic nitrates and pigments, which are plant compounds with several health benefits. –  Health Benefits Of Beets

Uses For Beets

Raw beets are great for soups and salads or as a bright garnish on a dish you serve.

Peel the beets with a potato peeler and grate them using a grater or food processor.

You can add beets to rice dishes or soups such as Classic Borscht and dips and sauces galore. 

I’ve had a roasted beet and hummus dip, which was to die for.

I’m pretty sure someone has also made a beet ice cream recipe!

Beets are also used as food dye or colouring for Easter eggs, and for anything else, you want coloured red, use beet juice!

Various Ways To Prepare Beets

Raw beets are similar in texture to cutting a potato as it’s a root vegetable and crunchy until it’s boiled, steamed, or roasted.

Cooking beets in water, a crockpot, an oven, or instant pot beets will work.

Don’t overcook the beets as you’ll lose the nutrients as you would in any other vegetable prepared the same.

Types Of Pickling Jars and Tools

Norpro Canning Set is one of those essentials when you pickle anything and something I was told to buy from a reader of mine.

I used tea towels to remove hot jars from my pot of boiling water in the first pickled beets I made.

You can do it this way, but having the canning accessories will make a difference and are inexpensive.

We tend to wash and hang onto glass jars for pickling, which I used for the first batch of pickled beets I made.

I did run out, so I purchased three cases of Bernadine 1-litre wide-mouth canning jars from Canadian Tire for $16.99 a case.

I felt that was very reasonable, considering buying a used 1-litre canning jar at a second-hand shop is $2.99.

If you can’t find them, you can find mason jars on Amazon Canada; however, they are more expensive but worth it.

As for the rings and lids, you can find them at the Dollar store, but if not, just about any grocery store carries them.

You won’t want to reuse the sealed rings, but you can use the metal ring lids repeatedly.

Lastly, you’ll need a large, heavy stockpot, which will make pickling beets easy.

When I moved from the UK, I brought my pots to Canada, so I had a large pot to boil and seal my jars.

The good thing about spending money on pots and pans is that they will last a long time.

Spend the money once instead of repeatedly on products you use daily.

Storage Options For Pickled Beets

I’ll store my pickled beets in our cold room as they are sealed; however, you can also store them in the refrigerator.

A dry, excellent spot is typically the best place to store pickled or raw beets.

Types of Vinegar For Pickling Beets Recipe

Almost all pickled beet recipes you read will use white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar to make pickled beets.

I used white distilled vinegar for this recipe as our homemade crab apple cider vinegar is still fermenting on our counter.

Both would be delicious, so use whichever you like best for this recipe.

Price points on the vinegar will differ, with the white vinegar being the least expensive of the two, which makes it economical.

Spices of Pickled Beets and Brine Water

All spices for the brine or I use at the bottom of my pickled beets recipe are optional.

Suppose you’re not keen on adding any sugar, don’t. Pickled beets with no sugar are still delicious.

• Pickling Salt
• Star Anise
• Whole Cloves
• Black Peppercorns
• Mustard Seeds
• Coriander Seeds
• White Vinegar
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• White Granulated Sugar or Sugar of choice or no sugar beets

The Ultimate Spice Guide List

How To Make Easy Pickled Beets

I used a 10lb bag of beets for this pickled beets recipe and a massive pot filled with cold water.

To boil beets, give them a rinse under the water, whether you pick them fresh or buy them as I have at the supermarket.

If you have the beet greens still attached, you’ll want to cut and remove them, but do not discard them as they are edible, as mentioned.

Preparing Jars For Pickled Beets

I cleaned my 1-litre jars and then sterilized them in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes. 

I also sterilized the lids in a pot of hot water for the same time.

You can do this before it doesn’t interrupt the recipe prep time.

If you want to sterilize using the stovetop method, add your jars to a big pot and fill them with cold water until covered.

Leave them to boil for 15 minutes to sterilize them completely.

Remove from the water before filling them and dry them on a tea towel.

Both methods work efficiently; however, I prefer the oven method to sterilize my canning jars.

Use A Big Pot To Boil Beets

The pot I used was big enough for 10 lbs of raw beets, and then I filled it with cold water to cover the beets and bring them to a boil.

Boil the beets for 10-15 minutes until they are fork-tender, but nothing more, or they will become too mushy.

Remove the pot from the stovetop and pour the cooked beets into a colander to drain the water.

How To Peel Cooked Beets

You can use gloves to protect your hands from getting red from the beet juice, but I did not.

The beets will still be hot when you peel them; however, the beet peels should fall right off in your hands with a bit of a peel.

Another method is to cover the cooked beet with a paper towel and rub it, and the beet peeling will fall off.

Once you have all the beets peeled, let them cool for a few minutes while you tidy up the beet peels.

Ways To Cut Beets For Pickling

Get out a cutting board, a sharp knife, and a large bowl, and slice your beets however thick you want them to be.

Slice the beets around 1/2 inch thick, sometimes more or less, depending on the shape and size of the beet.

You might like to have thin beets, and if you have a mandolin, you can slice the beets to get them to a thinner consistency.

Beets can also be cut with a wavy knife or crinkle cutter, which we’ll use for my second batch of pickled beets.

Packing Beets Into Jars

After the mustard and coriander seeds are added to the bottom of the jars, the sliced beets are then sliced.

Do not fill the beets to the top; you’ll want to leave room for the brine and expansion if needed.

Add the clean jar seal and lid and leave the jars on the counter until you hear them pop.

The popping sound means they have adequately sealed; however, if there’s a jar that doesn’t seal, refrigerate it.

That will be the jar of pickled beets to eat first, which lasts up to three months in the refrigerator for the best quality.

You can store pickled beets for the rest of your life, but they won’t last that long. Haha!

Anything prepared and pickled should last years in a root cellar.

Making Pickled Beets Recipe

The printable recipe for the pickled beets is at the bottom of this blog post.

Pickled Beets Ingredients

• 7 sterilized 1- Litre Jars, including lids and rims
• 10lbs raw beets
• cold water (to cover beets when boiling)
• 1 tsp coriander seeds (each jar)
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds (each jar)
• 1 whole clove (each jar)
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns (optional) (each jar)
• For the Brine
• 3 cups of cold water
• 10 cups of white vinegar
• 1 Star anise (remove before pouring into jars)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 8 tsp Pickling Salt or Kosher

Method for Making Pickled Beets

• Sterilize 7 x 1 Litre Jars, and as soon as you pull from the oven, add the mustard, coriander, peppercorn, and clove to each jar. (including lids and rims)
• If you are boiling to sterilize, ensure the jars are dry before adding the seeds.
• Wash your beets, place them in a large pot, and then cover them with cold water.
• Boil the beets for 30 minutes on high just before fork tender (may take longer depending on size).
• Pour the beets into a colander and run cold water over them to cool them down.
• Put the beets back into the empty pot and fill it with cold water until easy to handle.
• Use gloves to peel if you want.
• Peel with clean hands or use a paper towel to remove the skins.
• Slice the beets around 1/4 inch or to your liking.
• Add the sliced beets to the jars, filling them up without squishing them.
• Pour the hot brine over the sliced beets until 1/4 inch from the top.
• Put the filled jars into a large stockpot filled with water to the rim of each jar.
• Bring the water to a boil, and turn off the stove.
• Remove each jar with your removal tongs and put the sterilized lids and rims over the top to close.
• Please wait for the lids to pop, which means they are sealed.
• If anything does not seal, put it in the refrigerator to eat first.
• Yield 7-litre jars

That’s it.

Pickled beets are easy to make, although many steps go quickly.

Once you’ve got it down, you won’t know you’re doing it, and you’ll have plenty for a long time.

Discussion: What do you like to do with your beets? Do you like pickled beets?

Leave me your comments or reviews on my recipe if you make it down below, and I’ll respond.

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