Pickled Beets – Top 10 Recipes

Refrigerator Pickled Beets are so easy to make and last up to 6 weeks, so you can always have some available for a side, salad, or healthy snack!

Remember those fantastic pickled beets your grandma used to make? Well, now you can make them too!

These refrigerator pickled beets are a little different than formal canning recipes, where you have to sterilize the jars, process in a boiling water bath, and store at room temperature. For these, you simply roast your beets, slice them, make the brine, and poor it over the vegetables, then store in the refrigerator.

While this pickled beets recipe doesn’t have that super long term storage as the former, they do last up to 6 weeks, and since they’re so easy to make, you can quickly whip up another batch!

Recipe Variations

Any type of beet works – I just use table beets (red beets), but golden beets or gorgeous Chioggia would be great, too.
You can boil, steam, or pressure cook the beets, but I prefer roasted beets, which helps preserve all their wonderful flavor and color.
I always use cider vinegar for the brine, but regular white vinegar or rice wine vinegar are great substitutes.
Feel free to play with the spices or herbs in the brine. Sugar, salt, peppercorns, and ground mustard are my preference, but I’ve seen onion and garlic added, red pepper flakes, a cinnamon stick, bay leaves, dill, etc.

Recipe Tips

Make sure all the beets are completely covered with the brine during the pickling process. This keeps everything safe and edible.
When you’ve finished off the beets, the brine can be brought back up to a boil and reused for another batch. Or do what I do and marinate hard boiled eggs in it to make Beet Pickled Eggs – SO GOOD.
I prefer using wide-mouthed jars for pickled beets, which makes for easier access when you just need a few. But any glass jar with a tight fitting lid will do. (This particular recipe fits nicely into a 1 liter sized jar.)
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.

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 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?

You can eat them right away, but in order to let the flavors deepen I would recommend waiting at least a couple days. After filling the jar with the beets and brine, I let it sit on the counter for half a day or so, then I move it to the refrigerator.

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.

Luckily beets are available year round, so you have no excuse not to have pickled beets in your refrigerator at all times!

Ingredients

4 medium roasted beets , cooled, peeled, and sliced
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup water
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon (dry) ground mustard
5 whole black peppercorns

Instructions

step 1 : roasted beets

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with rack in the middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.

If the beets still have their leafy tops, cut off most of the leafy tops, but leave yourself enough to grip onto (about an inch). Wash and scrub the beets thoroughly.

Individually wrap each beet loosely with foil (no need to dry them first) and transfer them to the baking sheet.

Roast until you can easily slide a skewer to the center without any resistance, about 1 hour for medium sized beets. (If your beets are really small, start checking after 30 minutes. You don’t want them to dry out or scorch on the bottoms.)

Let cool 15 minutes or so, then trim the stems and root ends. Use a paper towel or food prep gloves to rub off the skins. They will come off quite easily! (If not, use a vegetable peeler, but be gentle.)

Quarter, slice, or dice your roasted beets for whatever recipe you’re using them for.

step 2 :

Bring the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and mustard to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for a few minutes; take off the heat and allow to cool a bit.
Add peppercorns and 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.
Cover and set aside for several hours (or up to 24), then transfer to the refrigerator.

Notes

This particular recipe will keep up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
For recipe tips and variations, please refer to the full article.