The Best Quick Pickled Beets
When looking for something to do with beets, think of quick pickling them. This recipe makes the best quick pickled beets I’ve ever made or eaten. They taste like old-fashioned pickled beets, but they take less work.
Why make quick pickles? They’re fast, easy, and don’t require canning or lid checking. And you can make them fresh whenever you want. Plus this is a small batch so it’s easy to make.
Beets are one vegetable you want to precook before making them into quick pickles. Most veggies you can just par-cook them or blanch them. Beets however need to be fully cooked. I like to roast beets when making these quick pickles because it’s so hands off.
In fact, when I have beets to cook, I try to roast them. It’s less messy and I don’t have to babysit them in a pan of boiling water. Read all about roasting beets in my post on how to roast beets. And I think you’ll be convinced that roasting is the way to go.
What do you need for the Best Quick Pickled Beets?
The list of ingredients isn’t long and these are not specialty items, so you probably have a lot of them on hand. I also included the tools you need for the beets because that’s an important part of making quick pickles.
- cooked beets
- vinegar, I typically use white or apple cider for this recipe
- water
- salt
- sugar
- whole cloves
Tools also needed:
- 2 pint jars, or a quart, these can be any jars with lids
- saucepan
- hot soapy dish water
- dish towels
The secret to the best pickled beets?
It’s the cloves. That warm, slightly earthy flavor of whole cloves works perfectly with beets. Beets are sweet and earthy and the combo just works. It’s how regular pickled beets are made so of course it stands to reason that it would also work in quick pickles. Be care you don’t eat the whole clove that could an experience in itself.
Quick Pickled Beets
Equipment
- saucepan
- whisk
- measuring cups and spoons
- pint jars and lids can use ANY jars with lids, wash in hot soapy water
Ingredients
- 16 whole cloves
- 4 cups sliced cooked beets
- 1 cup vinegar white or apple cider vinegar work
- 1 cup water
- 1 TBSP salt
- 1 TBSP sugar
Instructions
- add 4 whole cloves in the bottom of each jar
- layer in the sliced beets, depending on how you cut the beets you may have a few leftover, you can pack them in the jar as well
- add 4 cloves to each jar, and set those aside
- warm the vinegar and water together in a saucepan
- add most of the salt and sugar and stir to dissolve
- taste the brine, if you like it move on to the next step, if you want more salt or sugar add the remaining amount to your preferred taste
- pour the brine over the beets, you may have some leftover brine
- wipe the rim and add the lids
- store in the fridge for at least 24 hours before serving
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