Easy Pickled Beets - an Old Fashioned Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Learn How to Pickle Beets with this Old Fashioned Pickled Beets Recipe. These are a bit sweet, a bit tangy, and oh so flavorful!

Prep Time10

Cook Time40

Total Time50

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Americana

Servings: servings

3 pounds Beets, washed with greens removed Approximately 6 large beets.
1 Large onion Yellow, white, or red. If small, use two onions.
3 cups Apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup Sucanat Brown sugar. Alternatively, light or dark or white sugar can be substituted.
1 tsp. Whole allspice
1 tsp. Whole cloves
1 Cinnamon stick
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Water

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for approximately 20-30 minutes. Add beets and cook until the beets can be pierced with a fork but with a bit of resistance.
Drain beets and submerge in cold water. When beets have cooled, remove the skins and cut beets into approximately 1-inch cubes. (See video.) Place in a large bowl.
Peel onion and slice into 1/4 inch half-moon slices. Add to bowl with beets and toss well.
Fill jars with beet and onion mixture. Press down gently on the mixture to make sure that the jars are packed tightly. Set aside.
In a saucepan, add vinegar, water, Sucanat, spices, and salt. Place on high heat and bring to a boil, constantly stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn heat down to medium and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. This is your brine.
Ladle brine (taking care to filter out the spices with a strainer) over your beet and onion mixture in each jar. Fill each jar to within a 1/2 headspace from the top of the jar. Allow the jars to cool slightly, then put the lid on each jar and refrigerate. The Pickled Beets should stay fresh in the refrigerator for at least 3 months.

You may want to water bath can these beets to extend their unrefrigerated shelf-life to 18 months by following the same canning procedure in the printable recipe and video where I show how to water bath can bread and butter pickles at https://marysnest.com/bread-and-butter-pickles-recipe-with-water-bath-canning-tutorial/

Find this recipe and video at https://marysnest.com/how-to-pickle-beets/