Old Fashioned Pickled Beets – A Small Batch Pickled Beets Recipe
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Try Grandma’s Old Fashioned Pickled Beets Recipe. You store this small batch pickled beets recipe in the refrigerator and enjoy them whenever you like. Make these once, and they are sure to be in your summer rotation of garden vegetable recipes.
I am completely ashamed.
When I was in elementary school, Mom had me sit down with my Grandma for a “project”. Mom was always coming up with “projects” for me. Turns out this one was actually ingenious. I say actually because most of mom’s projects involved me cleaning something.
Grandma’s Special Recipes
I sat with Grandma, and asked her to share her recipes, the recipes that she felt everyone would want when she was gone. These recipes are Grandma’s favorites, the recipes she felt are special.
Many of these recipes are already on the blog including Grandma’s Homemade Ice Cream, Butterscotch Pecan Rolls, Rhubarb Pie, Fantasy Fudge, and Deviled Eggs.
Did I mention that she verbally told me these recipes. Every single one of them was from memory. She didn’t pull out one recipe card or cook book. At 80 something years old, her mind was sharp as a whip, and she had those recipes stored up in her brain because she had made them for years and years and years until they were perfect.
However, there’s a few recipes in the book that I’ve failed to even attempt in the 20 years since I made this book, including these Refrigerator Pickled Beets.
I am ashamed, because I finally made them, and now I am absolutely obsessed with them. What was I thinking? Why did I wait so long to make them. Now, that I’ve started, I’ve already made them 4 times in the past 2 weeks.
And when I’ve eaten most or all of the beets, I often make Pickled Eggs with the leftover beet juice.
Old Fashioned Pickled Beets Ingredients
Old Fashioned Pickled Beets are the perfect little snack. If you’ve never had a classic pickled beet, now is the time!
Fresh Beets
Vinegar
Water
Sugar
How Long Do You Let Pickled Beets Set Before Eating?
The good news is that you won’t have to wait long before enjoying old fashioned pickled beets. For refrigerator pickled beets, let the beets marinate in the brine in the refrigerator for approximately 18 to 24 hours before eating.
How Long Do Pickled Beets Keep in the Refrigerator?
You may be wondering do pickled beets go bad?
The good news is that pickled beets will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 to 3 months. The vinegar and sugar help preserve the beets. If the beets develop any sort of off-flavor, discard before eating!
What to do with leftover pickled beet brine?
Do not toss the leftover red brine that remains after you’ve eaten all those pickled beets.
Instead, hard-boil some eggs, remove the shells, and add the whole egg to the leftover brine. Let the hard-boiled eggs sit in the pickled beet juice in the refrigerator for a minimum of one day before eating.
How to Make Small Batch Pickled Beets:
For the full instructions and ingredient amounts for Classic Pickled Beets, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
The first step is to boil the fresh beets in preparation for brining.
How to Make Boiled Beets:
- Trim the beet stems 1-2 inches from the beet bulb.
- Cover washed beets with cold water in a large saucepan.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice to prevent bleeding.
- Cover and boil for 25 minutes to 1 hour or until beets are easily pierced with knife.
- Drain and cool with cold water.
- Peel off skins using your gloved hands or a vegetable peeler and discard.
- Cut beets into bite-sized chunks.
The second step is to brine the beets in a quick pickling solution.
How to Make Refrigerator Pickled Beets
- Place beet chunks into a clean jar or glass bowl.
- In a saucepan, boil equal parts water, sugar and white vinegar.
- Whisk to dissolve sugar.
- Remove from heat, and pour over hot, cooked beets.
- Let cool and refrigerate.
- Let marinate in brine for a minimum 18 to 24 hours before eating.
Notes About Quick Pickled Beets Recipe:
- I typically use red beets but have also used yellow for these quick pickled beets.
- Trim the leaves about 2 inches from the roots to prevent profuse bleeding during cooking.
- When boiling beets, add 1-2 tablespoons lemon vinegar (or lemon juice) to the water to help prevent the color from bleeding out of the beets.
- The great thing about this recipe is that you can make as little or as much pickled beets as you like. Just boil equal parts water, white vinegar and sugar to make the pickling brine.
- This is a refrigerator pickled beet recipe. There is no pressure cooking or boiling of the jars involved.
- Use the leftover beet juice in the jar to make pickled eggs. Place peeled hard boiled eggs in the leftover pickled beet brine for a minimum of 1 day before eating.
- Check out our Amazon Store for our favorite kitchen gadgets and pantry essentials.
Old Fashioned Garden Vegetable Recipes
Old Fashioned Pickled Beets - A Small Batch Pickled Beets Recipe
Ingredients
Boiled Beets
- 1 - 2 large beets
- 1-2 Tablespoons white vinegar
Pickled Beets
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup white vinegar
Instructions
How to Make Boiled Beets
- Trim leaves 2 inche from beet root.
- Place trimmed beets in large saucepan. Cover with water. Add 1-2 T⅞ablespoons of white vinegar.
- Boil until tender, approximately 25 minutes to an hour depending on size of beet.
- Cool in cold water until easy to handle.
- Remove skins using gloved hands or a vegetable peeler, and dice into bite-sized chunks.
How to Make Refrigerator Pickled Beets
- Add diced beets to a clean jar or glass bowl.
- In a saucepan, boil water, sugar and white vinegar, whisk to mix.
- Pour hot brine over diced beets.
- Cool, cover and refrigerate for a minimum 18 to 24 hours before eating.
Notes
- I typically use red beets but have also used yellow for these quick pickled beets.
- Trim the leaves about 2 inches from the roots to prevent profuse bleeding during cooking.
- When boiling beets, add 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar to the water to help prevent the color from bleeding out of the beets.
- The great thing about this recipe is that you can make as little or as much pickled beets as you like. Just boil equal parts water, white vinegar and sugar to make the pickling brine.
- This is a refrigerator pickled beet recipe. There is no pressure cooking or boiling of the jars involved.
- Use the leftover beet juice in the jar to make pickled eggs. Place peeled hard boiled eggs in the leftover pickled beet brine for a minimum of 1 day before eating.
- Love garden recipes? Try Mom's Cucumber and Onions recipe.
Linking up to Weekend Potluck.
What is the shelf life of refrigerated pickles?
Pickled beets? The good news is that pickled beets will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 to 3 months. The vinegar and sugar help preserve the beets. If the beets develop any sort of off-flavor, discard before eating!
This is a good recipe. I added cloves to mine just because my granny always did. This is an easy recipe and was fun to make.
Great addition. Thanks for sharing and glad you liked our recipe!
Great recipe, easy and delicious
Glad you enjoyed it!
I made these for my Mom for Valentine’s Day. She loves the canned ones and at 85 , I thought this would be better to her than flowers. I tried one and oh my are they good. Thank you for sharing this easy way to make pickled beets.
So glad we could share!
can I use beets that have been baked in the oven in tin foil
Yes, as long as they are cooked!
My granny used to use the water from boiling the beets into a jelly. She didn’t waste anything & loved her dearly but I’ve lost the recipe. My small boys used to eat it with their peanut butter sandwiches. They thought it was apple jelly but as we know that beet water was full of all the good stuff in beets. They didn’t like beets so I made sure they never saw me making their “apple jelly” lol. Does anyone know about this jelly or was it another recipe my granny made from her head.
What an amazingly frugal idea! I looked online and did find some recipes listed. People said it tastes like a berry jelly. I love this!
Can these beets be stored in the cupboard instead of the fridge since they are cooked and are in vintages and sugar
We haven’t tried to can them so they are shelf stable. We’ve only done them to store in the refrigerator.