Pickled Beets
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If you’re looking for a healthy and tasty snack, look no further than this recipe for Quick Pickled Beets! Perfect for snacking, or adding to a salad, pickled beets are packed with vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants. This quick-pickle refrigerator recipe is quick and easy to prep, so you can be snacking on Pickled Beets in no time!
Table of contents
My husband loves anything and everything pickled! Before I met him, I ate the occasional pickle, but pickling was not something I had ever done myself. Fast forward 9 years and you’ll always find homemade pickles, pickled onions and other pickled vegetables in our refrigerator.
Traditionally, pickling was used to preserve foods. Now a quick-pickle in the refrigerator is an easy way to make a delicious snack, or ingredient to add to other recipes.
Pickled beets are both, a delicious snack and something that you can add to recipes. You can serve them in a grain bowl or salad, with cottage cheese, or diced up and added to sandwiches or wraps, just like you would a cucumber pickle.
Pickled beets are cooked first, either by roasting, steaming or boiling the beets. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to steam the beets before pickling them. But if you want to roast or boil the beets, just check out this blog post for how to cook beets 3 ways. The beets are then covered in a pickling liquid made of apple cider vinegar, maple syrup and salt.
The taste of pickled beets is slightly sweet from the maple syrup, and acidic from the vinegar. The texture of the beets should be tender, but not so soft that they fall apart. The perfect pickled beet balances both of these flavors and textures. Follow this recipe and you’ll have the perfect pickled beet in no time!
Ingredients
- Beets – for this recipe, you’ll need 1 pound of red beets. This should be about one bunch of beets at the grocery store. In this blog post, I’ll show you how to steam the beets for this recipe. If you’d like to roast or boil the beets, follow this post for how to cook beets 3 ways.
- Apple cider vinegar – this is my favorite vinegar for making pickled beets. Its the perfect combination of sweet and tangy that pairs well with the flavor of the beets. If you only have distilled white vinegar on hand, you can use that, just note that it will have a more acidic flavor than the apple cider vinegar, with less of the sweet, fruity flavor. White wine vinegar is a better substitute, as the flavor is more similar to that of apple cider vinegar.
- Maple syrup – you could also substitute honey or granulated sugar, but I prefer to use natures sweetener, pure maple syrup, to sweeten the pickled beets, and balance out the vinegar.
- Salt – for this recipe, I used a fine sea salt, but kosher salt or table salt will also work just fine.
Instructions
I’ve included step by step photos below to make this recipe super easy to follow at home. For the full detailed recipe instructions, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Steam the beets. Add 2 inches of water to a large pot on the stove over high heat. Bring the water to a boil. Trim the stems and greens off of the beets, then scrub the beets clean. Add the beets to a steamer basket above the boiling water on the stove. Make sure that the beets do not touch the water. Cover the pot, keep the stove on high and steam the beets for 30-40 minutes, for medium-to-large beets. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and pierce one of the beets with a fork. If the beets are fork tender, that means they’re cooked and you can turn the heat off on the stove.
- Peel the beets. Use tongs to remove the beets from the steamer basket. Run them under cold water, then use your hands to peel the beets. The skin of the beets will easily slide off after they’re steamed.
- Cool and dice the beets. Place the peeled, steamed beets on a cutting board to cool. Once cooled, dice the beets into 1 inch cubes. Add them to a large container, with an airtight lid, like the 50 ounce mason jars, you see pictured in this post.
- Prepare the pickling liquid. Add apple cider vinegar, water, maple syrup and salt to a small saucepan on the stove over high heat, and bring the mixture to a boil. Whisk to combine everything, then simmer for 2-3 minutes, once the liquid comes up to a boil. Remove it from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.
- Pickle the beets. Once the liquid has cooled slightly, pour it over the steamed, cubed beets. Secure the lid on the container and allow the beets to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Refrigerate the pickled beets. After 30 minutes, transfer the pickled beets to the refrigerator and store them for up to 6 weeks.
Ways to eat pickled beets
Now that you have a jar full of pickled beets in the refrigerator, what should you do with them? Well, if you live in my house, just snacking on them straight out of the jar is a perfectly acceptable answer. But if you’re looking for more ways to eat pickled beets, try any of these ideas!
- Cottage cheese + pickled beets – fill a bowl with cottage cheese, top it with pickled beets and sprinkle flaky sea salt and fresh ground black pepper on top. This is one of our favorite ways to eat the beets for breakfast, or an afternoon snack.
- Ricotta pickled beet toast – toast a piece of sourdough bread, spread a layer of ricotta cheese on the bread, sprinkle with salt and pepper, then thinly slice pickled beets and place them on top of the ricotta cheese (you could also use goat cheese). This is another great breakfast, or snack idea.
- Arugula salad – replace the roasted beets on this beet salad recipe with pickled beets. The pickled beets add even more flavor to the salad and pair perfectly with the salty feta cheese.
- Pickled Beet Feta Salad – speaking of salads and feta cheese, to make a super simple salad, or appetizer, simply place the cubed, pickled beets on a plate with cubes of feta cheese. Sprinkle salt over the top, then drizzle the beets and feta with a balsamic glaze. Optionally top with a fresh sprinkle of chopped basil, parsley or dill.
- In a grain bowl – add pickled beets to this Vegan Falafel Bowl with quinoa, this Greek Beef Bowl with lemon rice, or your favorite grain bowl.
- In a wrap or sandwich – thinly slice the beets to add them to a traditional turkey sandwich, or this Grilled Vegetable Panini. Or incorporate the beets into this Prosciutto Provolone Grilled Cheese Sandwich for a tangy addition.
Variations
Give these quick pickled beets some extra oomf by including other ingredients! Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Make spicy pickled beets by adding sliced jalapeños or habanero peppers. Bonus, you can eat the pickled peppers too!
- Red pepper flakes are another great way to give these pickled beets some heat. Add 1 teaspoon into the vinegar mixture before pouring it over the beets.
- For a mild bite, add 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns to the brine.
- Add in some fresh garlic cloves. Pickled garlic is also delicious, and can be eaten whole or thinly sliced!
- Fresh herbs, such as rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil, dill, or cilantro, all offer wonderful flavor. Use only one at a time, or try a combination.
- Dill seeds and mustard seeds are another way to add a unique flavor, much like dill pickles made from cucumbers.
- For a warm and aromatic flavor, add whole cloves and a cinnamon stick to the pickling brine.
- Pop in a bay leaf or two, just don’t forget to pick them out of the jar before enjoying the beets.
Pro tips
- To make this pickled beet recipe really easy, purchase peeled steamed beets at the grocery store. You can usually find them in the refrigerator, in the produce section, near the bagged salads and refrigerated salad dressings. This will reduce your prep time down to 10 minutes for this recipe!
- You can also steam the beets ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator for up to 7 days before making the pickled beets.
- Instead of steaming the beets, you can also roast them in the oven or boil them on the stove. Visit this blog post for how to cook beets for step by step instructions on how to boil beets and roast beets.
- This recipe makes approximately 3 cups of pickled beets. You can double the recipe, but you’ll need a larger container, or two of the 50 ounce mason jars, to pickle and store the beets.
- These pickled beets will stay good in the fridge for up to 6 weeks. I always recommend labeling the jars with the date that you made them. Do not drain the liquid from the beets anytime during this 6 weeks. The pickling liquid is what preserves the beets and keeps them from spoiling.
- This recipe is dairy free and gluten free. It’s perfect for a vegetarian or vegan diet.
- After eating all of the pickled beets, don’t throw out the brining liquid! Instead, prepare and peel 6 hard boiled eggs, then add them to the brining liquid in the jar for 24 hours. Remove the eggs from the jar and make beet deviled eggs. The outside of the eggs will turn a bright pink color and create a visually stunning dish for Easter, picnics or parties.
More kitchen basics
Don’t miss these other easy kitchen tutorials and how-to guides!
Pickled Beets
If you're looking for a healthy and tasty snack, look no further than this recipe for Quick Pickled Beets! Perfect for snacking, or adding to a salad, pickled beets are packed with vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants. This quick-pickle refrigerator recipe is easy to prep, so you can be snacking on Pickled Beets in no time!
Ingredients
- 1 pound beets
- ¾ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup, or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Steam the beets
- Steam the beets by adding 2 inches of water to a large pot on the stove over high heat. Bring the water to a boil.
- Trim the stems and greens off of the beets, then scrub the beets clean.
- Add the beets to a steamer basket above the boiling water on the stove. Make sure that the beets do not touch the water.
- Cover the pot, keep the stove on high and steam the beets for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the beets. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and pierce one of the beets with a fork. If it’s easy to slide the fork in and out of the beet, that means it’s cooked and you can turn the heat off on the stove.
- Use tongs to remove the beets from the steamer basket. Run them under cold water, then use your hands to peel the beets. The skin of the beets will easily slide off after they’re steamed.
- Place the peeled, steamed beets on a cutting board to cool. Once cooled, dice the beets into 1 inch cubes and add them to a large mason jar. I recommend these 50 ounce jars as shown in this post, but you can also divide the vegetables and pickling liquid between two, or more, smaller jars.
Pickle the beets
- In a medium saucepan on the stove, bring the apple cider vinegar, water, maple syrup and salt to a boil.
- Whisk the mixture together and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes..
- Pour the vinegar brine over the beets and place a lid on the container.
- Let the beets pickle in the vinegar mixture at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Serve immediately, or place in the refrigerator for up to 6 weeks.
Notes
- To make this pickled beet recipe really easy, purchase peeled steamed beets at the grocery store. You can usually find them in the refrigerator, in the produce section, near the bagged salads and refrigerated salad dressings. This will reduce your prep time down to 10 minutes for this recipe!
- You can also steam the beets ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator for up to 7 days before making the pickled beets.
- Instead of steaming the beets, you can also roast them in the oven or boil them on the stove. Visit this blog post for how to cook beets for step by step instructions on how to boil beets and roast beets.
- This recipe makes approximately 3 cups of pickled beets. You can double the recipe, but you’ll need a larger container, or two of the 50 ounce mason jars, to pickle and store the beets.
- These pickled beets will stay good in the fridge for up to 6 weeks. I always recommend labeling the jars with the date that you made them. Do not drain the liquid from the beets anytime during this 6 weeks. The pickling liquid is what preserves the beets and keeps them from spoiling.
- This recipe is dairy free and gluten free. It’s perfect for a vegetarian or vegan diet.
- After eating all of the pickled beets, don’t throw out the brining liquid! Instead, prepare and peel 6 hard boiled eggs, then add them to the brining liquid in the jar for 24 hours. Remove the eggs from the jar and make deviled eggs. The outside of the eggs will turn a bright pink color and create a visually stunning dish for Easter, picnics or parties.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 114kcal (6%)Carbohydrates 24g (8%)Protein 2g (4%)Sodium 901mg (38%)Potassium 565mg (16%)Fiber 4g (16%)Sugar 18g (20%)Vitamin A 50mg (1%)Vitamin C 7mg (8%)Calcium 46mg (5%)Iron 1mg (6%)
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One Comment on “Pickled Beets”
So easy and so delicious!