My Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets are a simple, classic pickled beet that makes just enough to fill a jar or two, depending on the size of the jar, of course.
Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets
Because Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets are so easy, you can just knock them out when you have a few minutes, and there’s no compelling reason to make a bunch unless you’re preserving a harvest!
Refrigerator Pickles:
You can have refrigerator pickles like these beets and have them whenever you want them, especially these days when beets are available all year ’round.
Quick refrigerator pickles are a bit different than formal canning recipes to “put up” beets. For one thing, they’re stored in the refrigerator (obvs), but they aren’t processed in a boiling water bath for safe storage at room temperature.
If you’d like to see how to go through that process, I can’t recommend a better site than the National Center for Home Preservation, although any reliable canning site is likely to have a larger batch recipe for preserving.
Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets
About Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets:
You might have guessed by the name, Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets, that this is the recipe my Grandma, Irene, used, my Mom, Kay, used, and I have used for years.
There’s nothing too exotic here; the spices are classic: bay, clove, cinnamon, and peppers. They make a beautifully flavored brine that turns into the loveliest color when combined with the beets. Given just a short amount of time, the beets, in turn, pick up all the flavor in that exchange.
How to Serve Pickled Beets:
Besides just eating Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets, pickled beets were often served on a relish tray or as a tangy accompaniment to a rich dish. They often show up on buffet salads, along with cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and assorted other options.
On my site, you’ll find my favorite salads, each featuring pickled beets in a unique way.
- Irish Pub Salad: chock full of beautiful things. It’s a meal in itself. It’s like an upgraded buffet salad with a creamy, dreamy pub dressing.
Irish Pub Salad
- Cubby’s Beet & Goat Cheese Salad: pickled beets have an affinity for citrus and avocado, especially when paired with goat cheese and pistachios.
Cubbys Beet & Goat Cheese Salad
- Beet Goes on Salad: a simple restaurant-worthy side salad; the Honey Citrus Vinaigrette is so good you’ll want to drink it.
Making Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets:
Making refrigerator pickles is a simple process.
Prepare: Prepare the vegetables (or sometimes fruit) by washing if raw, blanching (dropping for a minute or two in boiling water), or cooking (usually by boiling or, in this case of these beets, roasting) and placing them, along with any herbs, spices, or aromatics, into sterilized or at the least, fresh and preferably hot from the dishwasher jars.
Brine: Mix up a simple brine (the mixture of vinegar, water, and sugar) and heat it to boiling. That super-hot liquid gets poured over your veggies, in this case, beets. Let them cool to room temperature, loosely covered. On goes the lid and they get stored in the fridge where they will keep, literally, for weeks. If they last that long.
Important: When making Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets, make sure all the beets are covered, not sticking above the brine. I just wanted to make sure you could see at least a little of the beets when I took the pictures for this post and pulled a couple of them up.
Roasting the Beets:
Now, Mom and Grandma both boiled their beets; I don’t know if either of them had ever heard of roasting beets like we so commonly do these days. I think roasting helps preserve all the flavor and the color of the beets. There’s really nothing to it.
To roast beets, wash, remove greens right above the beets, and leave the root end intact – doing so helps prevent excess bleeding. Place on a sheet of foil and wrap well, closing at the top.
Place on a pan (just in case they leak) and roast in a 350-degree F. oven for about an hour. Open the package carefully, and let the beets cool. Slip off skin with a vegetable peeler or paring knife and slice or chunk as desired for this recipe.
Saving Money on Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets:
Look for beets in season for the best pricing, and don’t be dismayed by the condition of the tops if they aren’t in good shape. The leaves are often unattractive. I don’t waste them, though, if they can be saved. Wash and use them in salads, smoothies (like my Big, Fat Green Smoothie), or any pesto, maybe this Radish Top Pesto. They are just as good for you as the beets themselves.
Beets are a favorite of mine, particularly pickled, and I did a pretty comprehensive write-up on them that includes shopping for, storing, cooking, and nutrition, if you’d like to take a peek. It’s called What to Know About Beets. Beets have lately become a nutritional darling; see what the Knowable Magazine has to say about the Beet.
I often pickle beets, and sometimes other veggies, when I’ve bought too many (I always have good intentions) to eat or use, or time is starting to run out on some of those in my fridge. You do always want to use sound vegetables when pickling, but it can be a great save and buy you some time on them, thereby saving you a little cash.
If you’d like to see a few other things I’ve pickled, check out Pickles and Related Items.
Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets
Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets
A classic refrigerator pickled beet.
- Yield: 1 jar 1x
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water (or beet juice if you’ve cooked your beets in water)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 cloves
- 1″ piece of cinnamon stick
- 1 small piece bay leaf
- 4 whole black peppercorns
- 2 beets, cooked and sliced
Instructions
Bring all ingredients except beets to a boil in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cover and simmer a few minutes.
Add beets to a very clean or sterilized jar, pour the hot brine over. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate.
Keeps six to eight weeks in the fridge.
Notes
If you are pickling to can and store, there is a whole different process. This is for the refrigerator, only.
When the beets are gone, the brine can be brought back up to a boil and reused for another batch. It just gets better and better.
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I’ll be sharing Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets at Fiesta Friday #219, hosted this week by Jhuls at the Not So Creative Cook. Do stop by their sites when you have a minute – Fiesta Friday is a fun link-up from some of the best bloggers and you’re going to fall in love with Juhl’s site!
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