Pickled beetroot is one of the best ways to use a row of roots that all came ready at once, and a sealed jar keeps for up to a year in the cupboard. That long keeping comes from two things working together: enough vinegar to make the beetroot acidic, and a spell in boiling water after the jars are filled. This is a tested recipe, so follow the quantities and times exactly.

Makes
about 4 x 500 ml jars
Keeps
up to a year sealed, in a cool, dark, dry place
Once opened
in the fridge
Processing
30 minutes in boiling water (up to 305 m altitude)
Roots
5–6 cm across, or 2.5–4 cm for whole baby beetroot

Ingredients

  • 1.6 kg beetroot, 5–6 cm across
  • 480 ml vinegar of at least 5% acidity
  • 240 ml water
  • 200 g granulated sugar
  • ¾ tsp canning or pickling salt
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 6 whole cloves
  • 2–3 small onions, 5–6 cm across (optional)

The vinegar and water stay at exactly 2 parts to 1; see the rules below before changing anything.

Method

  1. Twist or cut off the leaves, leaving about 2.5 cm of stem and the root on each beetroot so the colour doesn't bleed.
  2. Wash the roots well and sort them into similar sizes.
  3. Cover each size group with boiling water and cook until tender and the skins slip off easily, about 25–30 minutes.
  4. Drain and throw away the cooking water.
  5. Let the beetroot cool, then trim off the roots and stems and slip off the skins.
  6. Slice into 6 mm slices. Peel and thinly slice the onions, if using.
  7. Sterilise the jars (the sterilising guide gives three ways to do it) and keep them hot.
  8. Put the vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a pan. Tie the cinnamon and cloves in a muslin bag and add it.
  9. Bring to the boil, add the beetroot and onions, and simmer for 5 minutes.
  10. Take out the spice bag.
  11. Pack the beetroot and onions into the hot jars, leaving just over 1 cm (½ inch) of space at the top.
  12. Pour in the hot vinegar mixture, keeping the same space at the top.
  13. Remove any air bubbles, then add a little more hot liquid if the gap at the top has grown.
  14. Wipe the rims with a clean damp paper towel and put on new lids.
  15. Process the jars in boiling water for the time in the table below.
Cooked beetroot having its skin slipped off before slicing, a few 6mm slices beside it
Once the cooked beetroot has cooled, the skins slip off. Then it’s sliced 6mm thick.

Why beetroot needs the vinegar

Fresh beetroot, like almost every fresh vegetable apart from most tomatoes, is a low-acid food. Low-acid foods sit above pH 4.6, and at that level the bacteria that cause botulism can grow in a sealed jar. Plain beetroot can only be bottled safely in a pressure canner. Pickling changes the picture: the vinegar brings the whole jar down to pH 4.6 or lower, which is acidic enough to block those bacteria.

That only works if there is enough acid, spread evenly through every slice. So the rules are strict:

  • Use vinegar of at least 5% acidity. Check the label. Don't use a vinegar with unknown acidity.
  • Never reduce the vinegar, add more water, or pack in extra beetroot or onion. The proportions of vinegar, water and vegetables are the safety margin.

Choosing the roots

Beetroot of 5–6 cm across slices evenly and cooks at the same rate. Roots much bigger than about 7.5 cm are often fibrous. For whole pickled baby beetroot, use roots 2.5–4 cm across, pack them whole without slicing, and leave out the onions if you like; everything else stays the same.

Freshly lifted roots and roots from winter storage both work, as long as they are firm and sound. Sow a row or two with pickling in mind using the beetroot growing guide, and if the crop comes in faster than you can pickle it, store the beetroot for winter and make a batch later.

Processing the jars

The jars go into a boiling-water canner: a deep pan with a rack in the bottom and a lid, deep enough for the water to cover the jars by the depth in the table below.

  1. Put the rack in the pan and heat the water until hot but not simmering (about 82°C) before the filled jars go in.
  2. Lower the jars in one at a time, upright, with a jar lifter.
  3. Top up with boiling water to the depth in the table. Pour it around the jars, not onto them.
  4. Bring to a vigorous boil, cover, and start timing only once it is boiling.
  5. Keep a steady, complete boil throughout. If it stops boiling at any point, bring it back to the boil and start the timing again from zero.
Altitude of your kitchenProcessing timeWater over the lids
Up to 305 m (1,000 ft)30 minutesat least 2.5 cm
305–915 m (1,000–3,000 ft)35 minutesat least 5 cm

Water boils at a lower temperature the higher up you are, so the time goes up with altitude. Most kitchens need the 30 minutes, but if you live in an upland village, check your height above sea level before you start.

Use 500 ml jars. The times cover jars of roughly 500 ml to 1 litre only, so smaller jam jars are not suitable for this recipe. The guide to jars for preserving helps with choosing jars and lids.

When the time is up, turn off the heat, take the lid off and wait 5 minutes. Lift the jars out without tilting them and set them on a towel or cooling rack, 2.5 cm apart, away from cold surfaces and draughts. Leave them alone for 12–24 hours to cool.

Checking the seal

Once the jars are cold, check each lid. On two-piece metal lids, the centre should be pulled down and should not spring back when pressed; a dull sound when tapped means no seal. For clip-top jars and other lid types, check the seal as the maker directs. Reuse jars if they have no chips or cracks, but always use new lids.

Any jar that hasn't sealed goes in the fridge and should be eaten within a week. You can instead reprocess it within 24 hours: reheat the contents to boiling, refill a clean hot jar, put on a new lid and process again for the full time, though the beetroot will soften.

If you skip the boiling-water step

Filling hot jars, putting the lids on and leaving them to cool is not enough for this recipe to keep in the cupboard. Treat jars made that way like jars that failed to seal: into the fridge, and eaten within a week.

Storing and using the jars

Label sealed jars with the date and keep them somewhere clean, cool, dark and dry, ideally 10–21°C. Keep them away from hot pipes, the cooker, the boiler and sunlight, and never above 35°C. A damp shed or garage is a poor store: damp can corrode lids and break the seal, and jars that freeze can soften, with spoilage getting in if a seal breaks. Make only as much as you will eat within the year. To see how pickles compare with jams and chutneys, read how long preserves keep.

Before opening any jar, look at it. Throw it out without tasting if:

  • the lid is no longer pulled down, or has lost its seal
  • there are streaks of dried food down the outside, rising bubbles or an unnatural colour
  • it smells wrong, liquid spurts out when opened, or there is any mould

Once a jar is opened, keep it in the fridge and check it for those same signs each time before use.

Common questions

Can I use malt vinegar?

Yes, if the label shows at least 5% acidity. Don't use any vinegar of unknown strength.

Can I cut the sugar or vinegar to make it less sharp?

Never cut the vinegar or add water (see the rules above). Keep the sugar as written too. For less sugar, follow the separate tested no-sugar-added pickled beets recipe, which has its own vinegar proportions and uses a sweetener.

Why throw away the water the beetroot cooked in?

The pickling liquid is made with measured fresh water, so drain the cooking water away and don't use it in place of the fresh.

Do I need a proper canner?

The tested method needs a pan deep enough to hold the jars upright on a rack with boiling water over them to the depth in the table, a lid, and a jar lifter to move the hot jars safely. Without that setup, keep the jars in the fridge.

How long does an opened jar keep?

No keeping time has been tested for an opened jar, so eat it steadily. Keep it in the fridge, and check it for mould, bubbling, an off smell or an unnatural colour each time. Throw it out without tasting if you see any of these.

Sources

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