Golden beets are a pleasure to work with, largely because they’re less likely to stain your fingers, apron, cutting board and countertops. They also make for a dramatic presentation in salads or on your plate without leaving red juice flowing all over everything.
Pickled beets are a favorite breakfast pickle, served right alongside fatty foods like hash browns and fried eggs. The sweet-tart flavor of the beet balances against heavier foods, helping to round out your breakfast plate.
While I prefer to grow my own or pick them up at the farmers market, these days you’ll likely be able to find them at your local well-stocked grocery store, especially in the fall or early winter.
The pickling brine is a mixture of vinegar, water, salt and sugar along with spices. The sugar helps the beets retain their natural sweetness, rather than losing all of their sugars and flavor to the pickling brine.
When I made my first batch of pickled beets, I was skeptical about the added sugar in the brine. But fear not! Even though there’s quite a bit of added sugar, the beets themselves don’t taste much sweeter than your average fresh garden beet.
This recipe is adapted from The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. The original recipe has you boil all the spices in the brine and then discard the spices. I prefer to can the beets along with whole allspice and cloves, but I generally don’t use cinnamon sticks.
If you’re going to add a cinnamon stick, a whole stick is too much for a single jar. Go ahead and cook the cinnamon stick in with your brine to extract the flavor and then discard. Other spices can be added directly to the jar.
After canning, you should wait at least 2 weeks before eating these pickled golden beets. The flavors need a bit of time to infuse, and they’re actually better after several months.
I love to eat pickled beets alongside latkes for breakfast. We often make them with summer veggies, like these zucchini latkes, or for the fall we’ll make these sweet potato latkes.
Pickled beets also taste great alongside sandwiches in the summer months, or beside heavy potato dishes in winter. Really, they’re good just about any time of year.
Pickled Golden Beets
Pickled golden beets give you all the tangy sweet/tart flavor of pickled beets, but without the stains.
Ingredients
- 4 lbs. Golden Beets
- 2 Onions, thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 Cups Vinegar, 5% Acidity (White or Apple Cider)
- 1 1/4 Cup Water
- 1 1/4 Cup Sugar
- 1 tsp. Pickling & Canning Salt
- 16 Whole Allspice Berries
- 8 Whole Cloves
- 1 Cinnamon Stick (optional)
Instructions
1. Trim beets to remove stems and root tips. Scrub clean. Bring beets to a boil in a pot full of water and cook 20-30 minutes until tender. Strain and allow to cool slightly so that you can peel and slice the beets. The peels should slide off easily with finger pressure, no knife needed. Slice or quarter, your choice.
2. Prepare pickling liquid by boiling water, vinegar, sugar and salt. If using, add cinnamon stick and simmer 5 minutes to infuse, then discard cinnamon stick.
3. Pack cooked beets and raw onion slices into wide mouth mason jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. This recipe should fill 4 wide mouth pint jars. Add 2 whole cloves and 4 allspice berries to each jar.
4. Ladle hot brine over beets, onions and spices leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Apply lids and bands, and process in a water bath canner for 30 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
More Pickled Vegetable Recipes
Looking for more tasty canning recipes? Try any of these tasty pickled veggies:
Victoria
I thank you so graciously for theses healthy recipes. I am trying to put some vegetables, herbs etc into good lasting foods.
Rosemary
How long do your beats stay yellow after canning? A couple years ago I made some and they were really pretty but after six months they turned kind of dark brownish yellow.
Ashley Adamant
They stayed yellow for me, but honestly, I can’t say how long…I ate them reasonably quickly. I’ve had red beets do that too…turn white and look nasty in the jar, but others hold their color. I think it has to do with the variety of beet.
Sophie
Enjoying trying this recipe. Can you explain what you mean by ‘process in a water bath canner’ – I have never heard of this! And the altitude reference foxes me too! Thanks
Administrator
Water bath canning is a method of preserving high acid foods in order to make them shelf-stable. Here is an article for beginners that explains the process. Let us know if you have any questions. https://practicalselfreliance.com/water-bath-canning-beginners/ If you don’t want to can them, you can keep them in the refrigerator.
Milly G.
I’m in the process of making my second batch of these. I did compare this recipe and the Ball Book recipe and I do prefer this one. I use half white vinegar and half apple cider vinegar. Also, cooking the beets in a pressure cooker is really a help. Only 11 minutes at pressure (in 3 cups of water). I don’t care for cloves so I left out those, but did use a cinnamon stick just to infuse the pickling liquid. Thank you for the recipe.
Administrator
You’re very welcome. So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Kristin
I couldn’t find while allspice berries, can I substitute ground all spice? If so, how much would you recommend?
Administrator
There are approximately 5 allspice berries in a teaspoon and 1 teaspoon of whole berries converts to about 3/4 teaspoon of ground.