Pickled Beets
My Grandma’s recipe for the most delicious Pickled Beets! They’re tangy and so flavourful. This recipe can easily be cut in half or doubled.
If you’re looking for a quick and easy pickling recipe for beets, this is it! These pickles are tangy and taste so delicious. A great way to use up fresh summer beets. With this recipe you can either process the jars using a water bath canning method, or skip that and keep this small batch of pickles in the fridge for a few months.
Canning and Pickling is a great way to preserve summer!
There’s just nothing better than reaching into your pantry to find jars of homemade jams, preserves and pickles, especially in the winter months. Canning, preserving and pickling is such a great way to enjoy summer fresh food all year round. In the last few years I’ve really tried to take the time to can/pickle/preserve in the fall…it’s not hard, it just takes some time to get comfortable with it, but when you do, look out, you’ll try to can and pickle everything haha!
A family recipe.
Years ago my Grandma wrote a cookbook called ‘Food and Fun’…so I guess you could say that sharing recipes runs in the family! I love that she wrote this book because she captured so many of my favourite recipes from my childhood…cakes, cookies, soups, stews and pickles! In fact, over the years I’ve shared her Deluxe Chocolate Pudding Cake, Jewish Shortbread, Dad’s Cookies, Rice Pudding…and I hope to share even more! It’s also from this book that this recipe for Pickled Beets comes from.
Serving Suggestions for Pickled Beets:
These pickles are tangy, tart and so good. If you love the earthy and delicious flavour of beets then you will love these beet pickles. They’re wonderful eaten right out of the jar, but I especially love them served alongside beef stew or roast beef…I don’t know why, but I do! I also like to toss them into salads with arugula and feta cheese, and sometimes I will add them to sandwiches. They’re absolutely delicious…and gorgeous…I mean just look at that rich colour of the beets.
Make a big batch or make a small batch.
The nice thing about this recipe is that you can make a lot of jars of pickles or just a few jars, as the recipe is easily doubled or cut in half. And even better, if you make a small batch you don’t even have to process the jars in a water bath, you can keep the pickles in your fridge for up to 6 months!
I hope you love them!
So if you’re looking to make some pickled beets this fall, I hope you love this recipe! Make sure to keep reading for some canning tips and the delicious recipe.
Canning Tips:
- Canning Tips: Bernardin has great step-by-step instructions for home canning here. The National Center for Home Food Preservation (USDA) is a fantastic resource as well.
- Jar Sterilizing Tips: After you’ve sterilized the jars, lids and seals, you need to keep them hot until you fill them. First I clean my jars and lids in the dishwasher, then I put the jars, lids and seals into a water bath for about 10 minutes before I fill them with my ingredients. If you are not using the jars, lids and seals right away, you can place them in a 200 degree oven until you’re ready.
Pickled Beets Recipe Tips:
- RECIPE SIZE: This recipe makes 5 – 1 L jars of pickled beets. If you want smaller jars, you can easily make 10 – 500 mL jars. Or feel free to cut the recipe in half and make 5 – 500 mL jars of beets.
- BEETS: Use small or medium sized garden fresh beets (purple beets or golden beets) if you can, they’re the most flavourful. I like to use beets no larger than 2 inches wide…any bigger, you have to cut them before you do the initial boil. You can also use roasted beets.
- VINEGAR: Use white vinegar with 5% acidity.
- PICKLING SPICE: I use Club House Pickling Spice which is made up of: mustard seed, coriander, bay leaves, dill seed, fenugreek, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, red pepper, black pepper and cloves.
- PREPARATION: At the first step of this recipe boil the beets with their skins on, for about 5 minutes (you don’t want to fully cook the beets…they shouldn’t be soft at this stage, just tender). After this time you should be able to easily slip the skins off…if not, just use a knife to remove the skins.
- SLICING: Once the beets have their skins removed, cut them into slices ~ 1/4 inch slices.
- PICKLING SPICE: Put the pickling spice into the centre of a 6×6 inch piece of cheesecloth and make a little bag…you can secure it with twine or a piece of the cheesecloth.
FAQs
Pickled Beets
My Grandma’s recipe for the most delicious Pickled Beets! They’re tangy and so flavourful. These pickles should sit for 1 – 2 weeks before eating them to give them enough time to soak up the brine.
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Resting Time:
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 5 – 1 L jars 1x
- Category: Pickle
Ingredients
- ~ 10 lbs small garden fresh beets, washed and tops removed
- 4 cups granulated sugar
- 4 cups white vinegar (5% acidity)
- 4 cups water
- 4 tbsp pickling spice
Instructions
- The first step is to boil the beets with their peels on, for about 3 – 5 minutes (you don’t want to fully cook the beets…they shouldn’t be soft after this stage). After this time drain off the beet juice, rinse the beets in cold water, then you should be able to easily slip the skins off…if not, just use a knife to remove the skins.
- Once the beets have their skins removed, cut them into slices ~ 1/4 inch slices. Set aside.
- Now it’s time to make the brine: Put the pickling spice into the centre of a 6×6 inch piece of cheesecloth and make a little bag…you can secure it with twine or a piece of the cheesecloth.
- In a saucepan bring the sugar, vinegar, water and the bag of pickling spice to a low boil and simmer for about 2 – 3 minutes.
- Then add the sliced beets to the vinegar mixture and bring to a boil (do not cook the beets, just bring the water to a boil then immediately remove it from the heat).
- Place the beets into your sterilized jars leaving about a half inch headspace.
- Then add the brine (I use a small canning funnel to add the brine), leaving about a half inch of headspace…making sure to cover the beets.
- Add the lids and seals.
- Place your sealed jars of pickled beets into a boiling water bath in a large pot, making sure the water covers the jars by at least one inch. Bring back to a boil and process for 10 minutes.
- Using canning tongs to remove the jars from the water bath and place them on a cooling rack and wait for the lids to seal…love that popping noise of sealing jars!
- The pickled beets are ready after about 2 – 3 weeks.
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Have a delicious day!
