Old Fashioned Pickled Beets

A step by step tutorial to make your own old fashioned pickled beets at home. This is a Ball Canning pickled beets recipe.

Cuisine American

Prep Time 3

Cook Time 2 10

Total Time 5 10

Servings pints

Calories 494kcal

Disinfect jars and lids. Jars can go in the dishwasher without soap, and run through a regular cycle or a disinfect cycle. Keep the jars in the dishwasher until ready to use so they stay warm. Or, place lids and rings in a saucepan of simmering water on the stovetop for 10 minutes. Use the magnetic tool that comes with the canning set to remove them once you're ready to use.
Place beets in a large kettle and boil until tender. No need to clean or peel until after they're cooked. Depending on size this will take about 40 minutes or longer.
After the beets are cooked, place them in a sink full of cold water. Have several large bowls ready for the peeled and cubed beets. Once they're cool enough to touch, use a paring knife to peel the skins off the beets and cube them to desired size.
For The Pickling Liquid: Combine all ingredients excepts beets in a large sauce pan. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer 15 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks.
Pack beets into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch head space.Ladle hot liquid over beets leaving ¼ inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps onto the jars. Process jars 30 minutes in boiling water canner.
Remove jars to counter and let cool and wait for that "ping" noise to make sure jars seal.

This recipe makes around 6 pints.

Tips For Success:

Use wide mouth jars.
Use a good quality pickling spice from a spice shop.
We used organic sugar purchased from Costco and organic beets from a Colorado farmer. Not necessary to use organic, but we have made it part of our tradition.
This recipe can easily. be doubled with adding just a short amount of total time to the process.