Pickled Beets
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Published
Stop buying Pickled Beets at the store and make them at home instead, it’s super easy! They last up to 6 weeks in the fridge, so you can always have some available for a side, salad, or healthy snack!
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5 STAR REVIEWS
Remember those fantastic pickled beets your grandma used to make? Well, now you can make them too! You simply roast the beets, slice them, make the brine, and poor it over the vegetables, then store in the refrigerator. They last up to 6 weeks, and since they’re so easy to make, you can quickly whip up another batch once you finish them!
Helpful Recipe Tips
- The beets need to be cooked first. Before you pickle the beets, they need to be cooked and sliced. You can boil, steam, or pressure cook the beets, but I prefer my method for roasted beets, which helps preserve all their wonderful flavor and color. Once they’re roasted, making these pickled beets is practically effortless!
- Don’t skip the sugar. You need the sugar to balance out the vinegar or the brine will be way too harsh (see more information below.)
- Keep the beets covered in the brine. Make sure all the beets are completely covered with the brine during the pickling process. This keeps everything safe and edible.
- You can use the brine one more time. When you’ve finished off the beets, the brine can be brought back up to a boil and reused for one more batch. Or do what I do and marinate hard boiled eggs in it to make beet pickled eggs – SO GOOD.
- This pickled beets recipe is for the refrigerator. To be clear, this recipe for quick pickled beets is NOT shelf stable and must be stored in the refrigerator. If you are pickling to can and store, there is an entirely different process. This is for the refrigerator, only.
Pickled Beets Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 medium roasted beets, , cooled, peeled, and sliced
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1/4 teaspoon (dry) ground mustard
- 5 whole black peppercorns
Instructions
- You'll need 4 medium beets for this recipe. Make my roasted beets first. Allow them to cool, peel, and slice them.
- In a medium pot, add 1 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 cup water, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon dry ground mustard. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for a few minutes; take off the heat and allow to cool a bit.
- Add 5 whole peppercorns and the sliced roasted beets to a clean glass jar with a tight fitting lid. (This particular recipe fits nicely into a 1-liter sized jar.)
- Pour the brine in, covering all the beets.
- Loosely fasten with the lid and set aside for several hours until the jar reaches room temperature, then tighten the seal and transfer to the refrigerator.
- Use as desired, to snack on or in salads. This particular recipe will keep up to 6 weeks in the fridge.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.
Did you make this? Leave a rating below!
Can The Amount of Sugar be Reduced?
This recipe calls for a 1/3 cup sugar (and before that shocks you, I’ve seen brines made with 2 whole cups!), so…perspective. The sugar can be reduced, but I really don’t recommend it. The sugar balances out the vinegar and if you cut back too much, the beets will taste too vinegary and harsh. And if you cut back too much on the vinegar, you won’t have a good brine. It’s important to remember that the sugar acts as a marinade and you don’t actually drink it.
How Soon Can Pickled Beets Be Eaten?
After filling the jar with the beets and brine, let it sit on the counter until it reaches room temperature, then tighten the seal and transfer to the refrigerator. You can eat them right away, but in order to let the flavors deepen I would recommend waiting at least a couple days.
How To Store Refrigerator Pickled Beets
Pickling is a way to preserve food, so luckily pickled beets will last in the fridge quite a long time. This particular recipe will keep up to 6 weeks.
More Beet Recipes
- Baked Beet Chips
- Beet Hummus
- Maple Glazed Roasted Beets
- Pasta with Beet Cream Sauce
- Air Fryer Beets
- Beet and Cucumber Salad
- Heirloom Tomato Beet Salad
I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube!
I’m on my 5th round of this recipe; still great. I meal prep my salads for the work week. I sub the beets instead of tomatoes in the winter and spring months. Thanks for the recipe:)
This is such a great recipe. So simple. I’m sharing it with my sister, also a beet lover. I will never buy these at the store again. Thank you !!
I didn’t have a jar with a lid so I stored in a glass dish with a plastic lid. Does this affect the storage? Thanks!
No, that’ll be fine. Just make sure it’s tightly sealed.
Tried this recipe last week it was easy and delicious. Making more now
Love this recipe
This recipe for pickled beets is best, my wife and I love the way they taste!
Made this twice now. Great recipe! Thank you! I used regular white vinegar and no mustard both times. The second time, I added some things to it : slices of ginger, a sliced garlic clove, some cinnamon, sliced onion. I was shocked how much garlic flavor transferred to the beets, so would leave that out next time. I preferred the simple version, but both were a million times better than store-bought jars of pickled beets! Also the roasted beet recipe is great! I just crave beets sometimes and this is the cure! The color was was amazing. I will be making these regularly! So delicious!
I found your recipe and will never go back to store bought pickled beets again. So easy to make. I do have a question; I followed the recipe exactly as you wrote it since this is my first time trying this out. The beets seem to have a bit of a vinegar taste, although not strong. IS this because I did not let them sit for a few days before eating the beets?
They’re vinegary because of the apple cider vinegar.
Could you use the precooked beets from Costco for this recipe?
I’m not familiar with those, but if they’re fully peeled, cooked (but not mushy), not seasoned, and are sliced (or can be sliced), it should be ok.
I made a double recipe today. PERFECT! I’ll be making these on a regular basis. Fantastic way to eat beets daily which help lower blood pressure, naturally!
This taste just like my Great Great Great Great Grandad used to make.
He’d have to make a triple batch.
Awesome!! I couldn’t stop taking more! The perfect taste. Thank you!
I love all your recipes and your smile makes watching you fun. I made the pickled beets and they are the best I have ever had. Roasting them in the oven is so much easier and cleaner than boiling them. I can’t wait to see what you make next!!
SPECTACULAR. I thought the apple cider vinegar would overwhelm, but it was fine. Made these with Beetology ready-to-eat beets from Costco (don’t judge me), and they were perfect. Added some very thin sweet onion slices. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Logged on to ask about using Beetology! Thank you!
I am trying this recipe but I want to know how many 32 ounce bottles will be filled for 4 medium beats?
Thank you!
Sunny
I have made this the last few years and will continue to do so. This recipe so closely matches what I remember having at a diner in my hometown- So delicious.
I make them for my neighbors and friends for the holidays every year, and they love them too. Thank you!
I made your recipe and thought it was delicious and perfect. I am making it again. Thanks for your guidance.
I made these with my 3 1/2 year old Granddaughter. Super easy and so delicious. When the beets are gone we plan on making pickles eggs. I am not fond of either, but I love to cook and bake with her. Kids learn a lot from cooking and baking, and she loves to do both. This is a recipe I will make again and again. Thank you!
Great recipe! I add a sliced red onion – they are just as good as the beets! Thanks!
hi amy et al … my second year with this recipe and i’m still eating from the large 2024 batch … wondefull results … i always boil the jars and covers & lids in salted water for at least 20-30 minutes (like my mom did) then let them cool a bit before adding the beets AND fresh onions (also from the garden) and the brine for which i use an additional half a cup of various vinegars ( e.g. red and white balsamic, white wine vinegar ) YUMMMMMMMM ~!~ and THANK YOU ~!~
Is there any reason why I can’t put these in a water bath to seal? I can’t wait to try the recipe and want to make several jars. Thank you!
Due to the amount of vinegar, it would probably be fine if you understand proper canning techniques, but I’ve never tried canning these and can’t officially advise on that.
Did you end up canning them? My 3 girls absolutely loved this recipe and I would really love to learn how to can them so we always have a stash. Do you have a method at all pretty please??
Delicious.. great easy recipe.thanks
Best and better than restaurants and store bought. The ACV is what sent it soaring–reminding us of eating these during childhood in the Country. Excellent.
I also water bath canned some in sterilized pint jars, processing for 30 minutes. Texture was not noticeably changed. Excellent taste as well. Thank you.
May I ask your method please? Wouldn’t love to learn how to can ☺️
Love these pickled beets. A slightly different flavour from beets made with distilled vinegar, delicious!
Can you use balsamic vinegar instead of cider vinegar
For proper results, you need to use apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
I saw the note that this recipe is not for canning but the ratio of apple cider vinegar to water looks like it should be safe. Have you tried canning this before or can you let me know if there is a way to make this safe for canning? I’d love to try this recipe! :)
Hi Rich! I guess it should say, “I’ve never tested this recipe for canning” as opposed to “it’s not for canning.” If you’re familiar with the canning process, you could definitely try it.
Absolutely adore this recipe! Comes out perfect every time. I cut the pickled beets and add them to hummus. They are wonderful on salads and as snacks. Very highly recommend!
I LOVE this recipe ! Tastes like when I was a kid. Followed the recipe as written .
By coarse salt do you mean coarse sea salt or Kosher salt?
Kosher
This is definitely hand down the best pickle beets recipe I have tried. The flavor is amazing. I can’t wait to try them in a few more days, I know they will be better.
The pickled beets are awesome. I did add a little more sugar.
Yum! These are delicious! Just the right amount of sweetness and soooo easy to make. Glad I saw your recipe! Thanks!!! I’ll be making a lot more.
This recipe is fantastic! On a whim I decided I wanted homemade pickled beets. I went to the farmers market and purchased 2 bunches of beets equaling nine beets. I didn’t want to go through the canning process as it’s August and still pretty hot. So I came across the Bellyfull refrigerator pickled beets recipe and gave it a go. I can’t stop eating them! Delicious brine recipe! It’s my go to now!!!
I’ve been making pickled beets for years. This is hands down the best recipe I’ve come across. I do add a little garlic to mine because we love garlic in my house.
These are SO delicious!! I just made this recipe for the first time and took some to a family gathering and they were a hit! Turns out I didn’t take enough because I wasn’t sure if anyone liked pickled beets or not. They did! Now I must make some more. Highly recommend!!!
Made this recipe a bunch of times and hands down my favorite. Thank you!
I like that this recipe is so easy… they’re still chilling in the fridge,I will try them today!!
My husband the beer lover was so impressed with these. Can’t wait to try them out on the rest of the family ! Def 5 star worthy
After you put the beats in the refrigerator, when can you start eating them?
Hi Jeannie! This is answered in the article, thanks!
These are excellent. I do not can at all so this is a great way to make pickled beets.
This is the best recipe I’ve found for pickled beets great tip on reusing the brine
Great recipe! I followed it exactly as written. Thank you!!
I’ve used this recipe now countless times I love it so much. No more store bought for me ever. Thank you!!
These are excellent pickled beets! I love this simplicity without the extra spices.
5 stars! Tastes great and so simple to make
Followed the recipe exactly and loved it so much – no more store bought pickled beets for me!
I have tried many beet recipes and this one was simple and so good. I finally found one I’ll stick with.
Great recipe, I added cinnamon,cloves,allspice, bay leaf, dehydrated onions and garlic. So good
Absolutely fabulous! Thank you!
This is a great recipe, and very easy to make! I made it exactly as written, and it was wonderful. I will definitely make it again.
I made this recipe with both red & golden beets. Everyone in my family loves these pickled beets! Compared to many other brines this one has less sugar than most. I make them every time we eat the last jar. Absolutely delicious.