Pickling turns beets from divisive to tasty, nutritious and long-lasting. Pickling also allows domestic canners to preserve beets without investing in a snap-in canner, making canning more accessible to the modern canner.
Canning pickled beets in water bath preserves (or, for ease of access, a large pot with a wire rack) is an easy and affordable way to preserve fresh vegetables for later use and add a sweet flavor to an otherwise polarizing food. Here’s how to do it!
What you need
- 8 small jars with lids and rings for canning
- Knife
- handles that fits the storage
- pot with lid
- Large pans
- Cheesecloth
- Kitchen towels
- Metal cooling grids
- Toothpick or similar
- Jar grabber
- Ladle
- Slotted spoon
- Canned funnel (optional
- 7 pounds beetroot
- 4 cups 5% acidity vinegar (white or filtered apple cider)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt for canning or pickling
- sugar 2 cups
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 12 whole cloves
- 4 to 6 onions the same size as beets (optional)
Metal grid with
pot Large
(optional)
)
1
2 cups
water
The list above includes a large pot with a lid and metal rack instead of a water bath canner. If you have a water bath cannery, it can be replaced by the pot and rack.
You can collect natural water using rain barrels and purify it for this purpose.
How to can beetroot (without pressure cooker)
1. Sterilize your
jars
Bottles and lids must be properly sterilized and free of chips and cracks. Canning jars and rings can be reused, but metal lids must be new. To make sure your canned beets are sealed properly, you should use new metal canning caps or reusable glass canning caps. Never reuse metal caps, as they will not seal properly after being reprocessed.
If you’re new to canning, The Spruce Eats offers a comprehensive guide to sterilizing jars, lids, and rings at the end of this article (1).
2
. Prepare your beets
Gather your beets, which should be young and small (no more than 2 1/2 inches in diameter). Larger, older vegetables are not ideal for canning beets in a water bath because they won’t remain tender after being processed. Trim the roots and top of the beets, leaving an inch at each end to prevent color bleeding. Rub clean beets and separate them by size if necessary.
3. Cook and cut beets
Fill a large saucepan or pot with water and bring to a boil on the stove. Add all the same size beets to the pot and add more water if needed to cover the beets completely. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook beets for 30-45 minutes or until tender. Repeat the process until all your beets have cooked, then drain and discard the liquid.
Let the beets cool to make them safe to handle, then remove the skins, stems, and roots. Cut or cut beets into 1/4-inch pieces. If you are using onions, peel them and cut them into thin slices.
Pro tip: Some recipes for canning beets will make you reserve cooking water, but this will weaken the pickling solution (2), so always opt for fresh water.
4. Make the brine
In a saucepan, combine vinegar, salt, sugar and water. White vinegar or filtered apple cider vinegar will work for pickling beets, but apple cider vinegar will add better flavor (3). Wrap the cinnamon sticks and teeth in gauze and add them to the vinegar pot. Bring the entire mixture to a boil, then add the chopped beets and onions, and simmer for five minutes.
Once the beets have finished cooking, remove the spice-filled gauze from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.
5. Fill
the jars
Using the same slotted spoon, pack your jars disinfected with beetroot and onion, leaving 1/2 inch of free space. Using a ladle and a canning funnel if you have one, pour the hot vinegar mixture over the jarred beets, again leaving 1/2 inch of space at the top of the jar.
Before sealing, remove any bubbles from your beetroot and vinegar with a toothpick, slowly passing it up and down the inside of the jar. Wipe the outside with a clean, damp cloth, then attach the lid and screw in the canning ring.
6. Start the boiling water bath Fill
your large pot with water and bring it to a simmer. Place your beets in jars on a rack with handles and slowly lower it into the water. Make sure the jars are completely covered with at least an inch of water over the lids. Cover the pot and slowly bring the water to a soft boil (jars should not be pushed or rattled).
7. Process canned beets
Let the jars be processed in boiling water for at least 30 minutes. Its exact processing time may be longer depending on its elevation above sea level due to the change in atmospheric pressure (4). If you don’t know what your elevation is, you can use WhatAltitude.com to determine your altitude above sea level.
8. Cool and store
Once the canned beets have finished processing, remove the pot from the heat and let stand for five minutes. While the pot cools, cover a table or countertop with fresh towels or cooling racks.
Carefully remove jars one at a time with a jar lift and place them on covered counters to cool for 12-24 hours. Do not tighten the rings at all during this time. Once the beets have cooled, remove the canning rings and check that the lids are sealed. An easy way to confirm a good seal is to see if the cap has been toothed. If a jar is sealed, it is safe to store it in a cool, dry, dark place for up to 12 months.
Pro tip: Label your bottles with the contents AND the date they were canned. This will help you eat old foods before they have time to spoil.
Final Thoughts
Canned beets are a colorful and tasty addition to any pantry. Pickling not only adds flavor but also ease of access to home canners who may not have access to a snap-in canner.
The next time you’re looking for a way to incorporate beetroot into your diet, pickling and canning may be the answer to your dilemma. If you liked this tutorial, try a similar method for canning apples or even peppers.
