Pickled beets divide people until they taste a good homemade jar: earthy-sweet slices in a brine that is properly tangy, lightly spiced and not syrupy. This refrigerator version skips the canning kettle entirely. You roast or boil the beets until tender, slip the skins off under cold water — the most satisfying small job in the kitchen — slice them, and cover them with a warm spiced brine. A day later they are ready for salads, cheese boards and straight-from-the-jar snacking.
One label matters, in the same spirit as our Easy Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles: these beets are not processed and are not shelf-stable. They live in the refrigerator for their whole life, and in return they keep the firm, fresh texture that long processing softens. For pantry storage, use only a current tested recipe from the USDA or the National Center for Home Food Preservation and follow it exactly. Our wider Canning and Preserving collection keeps that distinction on every page, because it is the distinction that keeps preserving safe.
Roasting concentrates the beets' sweetness a little more than boiling does, and we give both methods below. Either way, wear an apron and keep the pink juice off anything pale — beet brine has been dyeing tea towels red since long before it was fashionable, and it will dye yours too.
Roast for sweetness, boil for speed of cleanup
Wrapped in foil and roasted at 400°F (200°C), beets cook in their own steam, their sugars concentrate, and the skins slip off cleanly, but the oven is on for up to an hour. Boiled beets are a little milder and a little more watery, yet the pot is simpler and the timing is easier to check with a knife. For pickling, where a strong brine will season the slices anyway, either method gives a good jar; choose roasting when the oven is already on for something else, and boiling when it is not. What matters most is cooking them whole and unpeeled — peeled, cut beets bleed their colour and flavour into the cooking water.
Warm brine, cold jar, a full day of patience
Pouring the brine over the sliced beets while it is still warm helps it penetrate the surface of the slices instead of merely sitting around them, so the pickled flavour goes deeper in the first day. After that, the fridge and time do the work: at eight hours the beets taste dressed, at twenty-four hours they taste pickled, and at three days they are at their best, with the spices — clove and cinnamon used lightly, so they warm rather than dominate — settled into the background. Taste one slice a day rather than judging the jar on the first night.
Ingredients
- 2 lb beets (900 g), scrubbed, tops trimmed to 1 inch
- 1 medium red onion (about 150 g), thinly sliced
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar (240 ml)
- 1/2 cup water (120 ml)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar (67 g)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (6 g)
- 6 whole cloves (about 1 g)
- 1 cinnamon stick (about 3 g)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (3 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns (1.5 g)
Amounts are for the yield below. US customary measures first, grams in brackets for scale users.
Step-by-step instructions
- Cook the beets whole. To roast: wrap the scrubbed beets in foil, set them on a tray and roast at 400°F (200°C) for 45 to 60 minutes, until a knife slides into the largest beet with little resistance. To boil: cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until tender. Either way, cook them whole and unpeeled.
- Slip off the skins. When the beets are cool enough to handle, hold each under cold water and rub the skin away with your fingers — it should slide off easily. Trim the root and stem ends and slice the beets into rounds about 1/4 inch thick.
- Pack the jar. Layer the beet slices and the raw onion slices into a clean 1-quart (950 ml) glass jar or a container with a tight lid, distributing the onion through the beets rather than leaving it all on top.
- Make the warm brine. Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, cloves, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds and peppercorns in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve, then simmer gently for 2 minutes so the spices bloom.
- Brine the beets. Pour the warm brine, spices and all, over the beets and onion, making sure the slices are fully covered. If the brine falls short, top up with a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water. Let the jar cool to room temperature.
- Chill and wait. Seal the jar and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving, and ideally 3 days for the fullest flavour. Serve the slices cold in salads, on cheese boards, or chopped into egg and potato salads.
Nutrition estimate
| Nutrient | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 70 kcal |
| Protein | 1 g |
| Carbohydrates | 16 g |
| Fat | 0 g |
| Saturated fat | 0 g |
| Sodium | 340 mg |
| Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 13 g |
Nutrition figures are estimates calculated from standard ingredient data for the yield stated. Your actual values will vary with brands, substitutions and portion sizes — treat them as a guide, not a guarantee.
Storage & reheating
Keep the pickled beets refrigerated at all times, fully covered by their brine, and use them within 4 weeks; always lift slices out with a clean fork so the brine stays fresh. They are not shelf-stable and must never be stored at room temperature or canned using this recipe. The beets can be frozen after pickling, but they soften on thawing and are then best chopped into cooked dishes. Nutrition figures are estimates from standard ingredient data and vary with brands and substitutions.
Canning safety — read first
Home canning must follow tested processes exactly. The times on this page follow the structure of current USDA guidance for the stated jar size at 0-1,000 feet elevation; always confirm processing times and altitude adjustments in the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning or the National Center for Home Food Preservation before you start. Never taste food from a jar with a failed seal, bulging lid or off odor — discard it.
Easy Refrigerator Pickled Beets
Sweet, tangy and jewel-red — fridge-pickled beets for salads, boards and snacking.
Ingredients
Tick ingredients off as you prep, and tap a step below to mark it done as you cook. Scaling adjusts the listed amounts - seasoning to taste stays your call.
Instructions
- Cook the beets whole. To roast: wrap the scrubbed beets in foil, set them on a tray and roast at 400°F (200°C) for 45 to 60 minutes, until a knife slides into the largest beet with little resistance. To boil: cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until tender. Either way, cook them whole and unpeeled.
- Slip off the skins. When the beets are cool enough to handle, hold each under cold water and rub the skin away with your fingers — it should slide off easily. Trim the root and stem ends and slice the beets into rounds about 1/4 inch thick.
- Pack the jar. Layer the beet slices and the raw onion slices into a clean 1-quart (950 ml) glass jar or a container with a tight lid, distributing the onion through the beets rather than leaving it all on top.
- Make the warm brine. Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, cloves, cinnamon stick, mustard seeds and peppercorns in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve, then simmer gently for 2 minutes so the spices bloom.
- Brine the beets. Pour the warm brine, spices and all, over the beets and onion, making sure the slices are fully covered. If the brine falls short, top up with a mixture of equal parts vinegar and water. Let the jar cool to room temperature.
- Chill and wait. Seal the jar and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving, and ideally 3 days for the fullest flavour. Serve the slices cold in salads, on cheese boards, or chopped into egg and potato salads.
Recipe by Shahid Imran · FryDaily. Printing? This card is designed to print cleanly on its own.
