If you're wondering how to pickle beets easily, this is it! These Quick Pickled Beets have just 6 ingredients and you don't even need to boil the pickling liquid! Just roast, steam or boil the beets, mix the pickling liquid ingredients together and pour over beets stacked in a jar. They'll be ready to eat in hours and will last up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator!
When I call these Pickled Beets 'quick,' I mean it, 6 ingredients: beets, water, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. And you won't even need to heat the pickling mixture, just whisk all of the ingredients together until the honey dissolves (In a flash this will go from: "this stuff is never going to mix in" to, "oh, that wasn't so bad.").
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Ingredients You Need to Make Pickled Beets
Fresh, Whole Beets: unpeeled, red beets, golden beets or other variety
Olive Oil: whatever variety you have on hand
Apple Cider Vinegar: feel free to experiment with other vinegars and adjust the honey and water amounts to suit your taste
Water: ideally filtered
Honey: start with 2 tablespoons and add up to 4 (or more) depending on the level of sweetness you're after
Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper
I have always loved pickled beets, but I'd almost forgotten about them. That is until we got about 4 pounds of beets in our CSA share and I thought, "What on Earth am I going to do with all of these?" Our typical way to eat beets is simply roasted with a little olive oil and salt. But when you roast 4 pounds of beets for two people, well, you can't eat them all in one sitting. So why not pickle them?
The first time I made these, I just guessed at the amounts. Since then, I've made them twice more with different levels of acidity and sweetness and have the recipe that's just right for us. Feel free to play with the amounts to find the right balance for you.
How to Cook Beets for Pickling: 3 Great Options
- To Roast: Scrub beets and wrap in foil. Place in a baking dish or baking sheet (to catch drips) and roast in an oven preheated to 375ºF for 60 to 90 minutes, until tender. Let cool, then peel (using a dry paper towel makes quick work of this).
- To Boil: Add scrubbed beets and a generous splash of vinegar or lemon juice (to reduce color bleeding) to a large saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 45 to 60 minutes until tender. Let cool (at least until cool enough to handle) and peel.
- To Steam: Place scrubbed in a steamer basket over about 2-inches of boiling water; cover and steam 30 to 40 minutes until tender. Peel when cool enough to handle.
Recipe Options
- For extra spice, add a teaspoon of black peppercorns and/or a cinnamon stick or a few whole cloves.
- White vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar will give these beets a sharper vinegar flavor.
Serving Suggestions
My favorite way to eat these easy pickled beets is on top of a fully loaded salad: crispy lettuce, sweet tomatoes, buttery avocado, maybe some crunchy cabbage or cucumber and often shrimp, chicken or crab.
Pickled beets are endlessly versatile though: toss them on almost any salad or make them the main attraction as a beet salad alongside some good, stinky gorgonzola and maybe a few walnuts or just snack on them straight from the jar!
More Quick Pickling Recipes
And if you're looking for more quick pickling inspiration, don't miss my Giardiniera (Italian pickled vegetables), these Refrigerator Pickles (my favorite summer snack), Pickled Radishes, Pickled Asparagus, Pickled Banana Peppers or these Quick Pickled Red Onions!
How to Make Quick Pickled Beets
Cook beets using one of the options above (roast, boil or steam) until tender. When beets are cool enough to handle, peel and cut into bite size pieces and place in clean quart size canning jar.
In a medium pitcher, whisk together pickling liquid ingredients until combined: water, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Pour mixture over beets; cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Enjoy within 3 weeks!
Quick Pickled Beets
Ingredients
- 2 pounds red beets trimmed and washed
- olive oil for drizzling
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Pickling Liquid
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 2 to 4 tablespoons honey
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. (See recipe notes for other cooking options)
- Place beets in a deep, lidded baking dish (or foil packet placed on a rimmed baking sheet) in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Cover and bake for 60 to 90 minutes, until tender. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle.
- Peel cool beets (a paper towel makes this very easy) and coarsely dice. Transfer diced beets to a clean, 1-quart canning jar.
- Combine vinegar, water and honey in a 2-cup glass pitcher. Whisk until honey has dissolved. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Pour pickling liquid over beets in jar (you may have a little left over), cover and refrigerate.
- Refrigerate for several hours or overnight before eating - the longer they marinate, the stronger the beets will taste.
Notes
- You can also boil or steam beets for this recipe instead of baking. To boil, place beets in a large saucepan and add water to cover (and 2 tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice if you want to reduce color bleeding). Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 45 to 60 minutes until tender. Drain beets and rinse with cold water (to speed cooling process); let cool to warm room temperature (cool enough to handle). Peel then proceed with recipe. To steam, place in a steamer basket over a couple of inches of boiling water; cover and steam 30 to 40 minutes until tender. Peel once they're cool enough to handle and proceed with recipe.
- This recipe also works great for other beet varieties like golden and chioggia (striped).
- Enjoy within 3 weeks.
Do the beets have to be roasted? I just boiled mine and then thought I might like pickled. Came across your recipe for quick and easy. Would this still work for boiled beets.
Yes, absolutely! Half the time I boil them too. 🙂
I'm a beet rookie. This recipe looks amazing though. What do you mean when you say trimmed and washed. how much do you trim? Do you leave them whole when roasting?
Hi Nancy - Yes, I leave them whole when roasting if they're similarly sized. If some are much larger, just half or quarter them. They'll be much easier to peel when cooked! 🙂
thanks a million!
So Wonderful that I bought extra beets from our CSA to pickle really simple incredible beets. I am so impressed. Thank you!
That’s wonderful, Kathey! So sweet of you to come back to let me know! 😊
I've been put on a gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free diet. This recipe is perfect. I did find that I had to double the pickling liquid recipe to completely cover 2 lbs of beets. I love how easy this is. I've had beet salad 3 times this week!
I'm so glad you're enjoying the beets, Virginia! 🙂
I made these last year when we had beets from the garden and honey from our beehives. They were amazing! I searched and searched until I found it again and just made a jar of yellow and a jar of reds. Can't wait! I'm saving this wonderful recipe to use again and again. Thank you
I love to hear this, Marcia!! So glad you're enjoying the recipe!
This is awesome thanks! Is this a brine? I thought that meant water saturated or strongly impregnated with common salt.
Hi Evie - you're right, it's not really a brine - pickling liquid is more accurate. Thanks!
This recipe was delicious! The flavour from roasting the beetroot really came through in the final mix. This will be my new go to recipe when I've got beetroot to use!
That's fantastic, Morgan! So glad you enjoyed them and thank you for coming back to let me know.
I have to say my family loves this recipe. Seriously my super picky eater even asks for them! Score! I agree with the one comment about canning that will be my goal next year to try to can this recipe. We can't get enough! Thank you
I love to hear that, Beth!! So thoughtful of you to come back and let me know. 🙂
Is there any reason this couldn't be sealed for the canning shelf?
Hi Ronda - Of course the jars would need to be sterilized and I'm not sure if the brine would require boiling for traditional canning. Better safe than sorry, right? Have a look at this recipe.
The beets were to die for! I ate a half a jar!
Am I able to can this recipe for the shelf this winter?
I'm so glad you enjoyed them, Ronda! This recipe isn't shelf stable because you're not sealing the jar...You'll want to look for a traditional canned version for that.
I love beets but have never tried them pickled. This is something I'm definitely interested in trying to make at home even if just to try and see how they turn out! I wonder what sort of different flavor profiles the beets take when you use apple cider vinegar and honey. I'm sure the honey must preserve a good chunk of sweetness, but the vinegar will definitely add a bit of tartness too. So interesting! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I had just pulled the rest of my beets before the it got really cold and now you gave me the recipe to save them.
That's so great, Deborah! So sweet of you to tell me. <3
I always loved pickled beets on my salads as a kid (I was a weird kid), but I've never made them. I love that you've roasted the beets and then pickled them - the texture can't be beat!
Is that weird? I loved them as a kid too, but I was also the kid that loved spinach and would eat a tomato like an apple. Queue the eyeroll from friends. 🙂 You're right - roasting them first gives them a silky texture.
4 pounds of beets is no joke! Like a lot of people, I didn't like beets growing up but I've actually become quiet a fan- especially when they're roasted or PICKLED! I roast them all the time but I've actually never pickled my own. This recipe sounds too delicious and too easy not to try 🙂
Yes, roasting them makes all the difference - and roasting before pickling gives them a little extra something that I don't think you'd get from boiling them first. If you try these, let me know how it goes! 🙂
I steam them. Works well.
Love using different honey.
Local orange blossom is divine.
I love to try different honeys too. My all time favorite is meadowfoam honey...and your right orange blossom honey is also wonderful!
Hi Marissa! I've been adding a lot of beets in vinegar to our salads this year (usually tuna salad... mmm!), so I love the idea of having a go at my own.
And the bonus here is: how good for you cider vinegar is!
Yum! I haven't tried these on tuna salad, but I love that idea! I like something a little tangy with tuna, like lemons, olives or pickles, so why not beets? 🙂
Wow, 4 pounds of beets is no joke! I would have never thought to pickle them!! Genius!! Believe it or not, as much as I love beets, I have never had them pickled! Thankfully I have you as a friend to show me the light! Can't wait to try these, Marissa! Love how easy these are too! I know I will be putting pickled beets on all the things! Cheers, friend!
Thanks, Cheyanne! haha, yes, I'm glad I could show you the light. 😉 If you give these a try, let me know how it goes.
I feel like this is fate because a friend was just telling me about pickeld beets and how easy and tasty they are and here you have the recipe. Thanks Marissa! 😀
Oh wow! Perfect timing... If you try this, please let me know what you think. 🙂
I love beets! And I love anything pickled! As far as I'm concerned, the best pairing of any savory dish is something with some acidity. I've never tried making my own pickled beets, but it looks like that needs to change. It's so easy, the hard part is waiting for them to pickle 😉
So true - I always let them pickle at least overnight before eating - torture!! 😉
I'm the same way about savory dishes with something acidic. One of my favorite guilty combinations is salty, buttered popcorn and Sour Patch Kids...so darn good!
I was never a complete beet fan. Gave it a shot again on a birthday dinner in Vegas and found them OK. Then I found out about roasting and love the little rainbow ones that way in a salad. Speaking of beets in salads, this one look delish, especially if served up with crab. Count me in! Will email you on Dorothy's TN mention. 🙂
That's cool that you keep trying, Kevin. I do that too - when I don't like something the first time, try, try again. Goat for example - I've had it several times and even when it's loaded with spices I don't care for it. I bet you've had some delicious goat meals in your Middle Eastern travels....
The trip to Tennessee sounds awesome, btw!
I can't even tell you how much I love this! I've always been an avid beet fan and the pickled variety hearkens back to my childhood. My dad used to make pickled beets and pretty pickled eggs. And I think he used to do pearl onions too (yum!)! I really need to try this one, thanks for the lovely recipe!
I've never had pickled eggs, but they sound awesome! Pickled beets are a from childhood kind of thing for me too - whenever my family would end up somewhere with a salad bar, I'd pile them high. 🙂
Hi Marissa! I have to admit I don't like beets straight up, but picked beets YES! Gary likes sauteed beets with the greens and I cook them for him. I have some canned, pickled beets in the cellar from an over abundant crop! I like them in salads or just on their own along side cheeses and bread. PS Nagi called me today and we talked for nearly an hour!!! She is such an amazing person! We are planning a TN hookup for next July, along with Kevin and Dave and hopefully you two! 🙂
Hi Dorothy! That's a great idea to have them alongside cheese and bread - kind of a chutney stand-in. (Though I do love a good chutney!)
I absolutely love the idea of a crew of us visiting you and Gary next summer! Kevin said he'd send me the details of what you're cooking up...haha, pun intended.