By Martha Rose Shulman
- Total Time
- 10 minutes, plus 2 days' refrigeration
- Rating
- 4(186)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Caraway, great with carrots, is also very nice with beets. The trick to succeeding with these is to slice them very thin – about ⅛ inch thick. You can do this on a mandoline or with a Japanese slicer, or just use a sharp knife. The longer these are left to pickle the better. My favorite way to serve these pickled beets is to cut them into thin julienne and add them to a salad or make them into a beet slaw.
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Ingredients
Yield:2 servings
- 2cups thinly sliced beets, cut in half-moons if desired
- 2teaspoons caraway seeds
- ½cup (135 grams) seasoned rice wine vinegar
- 1tablespoon (15 grams) sherry vinegar
- ¼cup (50 grams) sugar
- 1cup (230 grams) water
- 2¼teaspoons (10 grams) kosher salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 servings)
176 calories; 1 gram fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 39 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 34 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 821 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Place the beets and caraway seeds in a bowl or jar.
Step
2
In a large bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar, sherry vinegar and sugar. Bring the water to a boil, remove from the heat and add to the vinegar and sugar mixture. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the salt and stir well. Pour over the beets and caraway, cover and refrigerate for at least 2 days before eating and for up to 2 weeks, the longer the better. Shake the jar from time to time or, if you use a bowl, place a saucer on top of the beets to keep them submerged. Remove from the brine with a slotted spoon to serve.
Ratings
4
out of 5
186
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Cooking Notes
Wes
Are the beets supposed to be raw when pickled? If so, are they supposed to be peeled? I have usually cooked them first and slipped them out of their peels before pickling.
Martha Rose Shulman
The beets are not cooked. It's important to slice them very thin. You can peel if you wish.
Karen
My mother always slipped a few hardboiled eggs into the large jar with the pickling cooked beet slices--resulting in lovely fuchsia pickled eggs!
Sally
I love caraway, but with the beets, the flavor is too harsh. Next time I will try fennel or ginger or ginger and orange peel, to take the flavor from good to great.
Dr. Petrick
First as a former professional chef, this does NOT take 10 min, more like 2 hours. Who would make just 2 portions for Thanksgiving? I also I think the sugar salt ratio is off, so I adjusted it and do not recommend seasoned rice wine. Use plain and season with both sugar and salt. Love it is not a biting brine. Also did purple carrots separately so as not to discolor them
Dr. Petrick
Also DO NOT put it in the refrigerator until it is cool. You need the hot brine to soften the veggies. After they are room temp place in the fridge otherwise you just warm your fridge.
sam
Used fennel seeds in places of caraway seeds...
Cedarglen
I skip the caraway - I just don't like it and I use about 50% less sugar. Not processed. kept in the fridge. They do not last long as I eat them with almost anything The other flavors are just fine
TIP: use the beat vinegar available.
Susan
This a wonderful quick pickle! I consider this a great template, and decided to add a small amt of orange peel and small disc of ginger as per another note, and reduced salt to one heaping teaspoon, which worked out just fine.I will use this over and over again! Thanks Rose.
jackie
how long do these last in the fridge? sealed?
lbeach
very loosely made this recipe. roasted beets first, cut into chunks, subbed cider for sherry vinegar, orange peel & ginger for caraway. so tasty, not sure if they'll make it the rec 2 days in fridge. may need more beets...
Barbara Greene
I pressure cooked the beets in my Instant Pot as they were large and I thought they would be had to cut. Also didn't think I'd like the texture. turned out great!
Susan
This a wonderful quick pickle! I consider this a great template, and decided to add a small amt of orange peel and small disc of ginger as per another note, and reduced salt to one heaping teaspoon, which worked out just fine.I will use this over and over again! Thanks Rose.
Colleen
Use this brine for other veggies. Add cumin to cauliflower,
Peg
I made them as directed with fresh beets. I was the only one who’d eat them. No length of time improved the texture. I put the beet cooking broth through a fine mesh sieve and use that for the water.
Raje Wolf
Really good! Easy! Gives you a flavorful and lightly crunchy beet for summer salads. I recommend organic beets because they do not remain hard in the pickling brine.
Raje Wolf
I Par-boiled small fresh beets because many readers complained about the end result with the raw beet. The brine is fantastic. The Caraway gives an old world flavor. Delicious!
Peg
I have made this several times. First, exactly per recipe, scrubbed unpeeled beets sliced raw on mandoline as thin as specified. Beets stayed very hard. No one would eat them but me. I have repeated with typical steamed beets and they are great. I prefer the beet liquid to be sieved and used as the needed water. I made them for Tday and pickled eggs and thin sliced red onion in the same brine as steamed golden beets. It was a beautiful and delicious treat.
Martha
A really quick way to make this wonderful side dish or appetizer is to use the shrink-wrapped cooked beets, which are just delicious. I don't like the taste of caraway seeds in this kind of dish, so I add some pepper cloves and regular cloves and fish them out before serving, Beets are already sweet, so why the sugar? I guess because there's a whole lot of vinegar here, but I don't quite see the point. Oh, well. Nothing actually can ruin beets.
Dr. Petrick
First as a former professional chef, this does NOT take 10 min, more like 2 hours. Who would make just 2 portions for Thanksgiving? I also I think the sugar salt ratio is off, so I adjusted it and do not recommend seasoned rice wine. Use plain and season with both sugar and salt. Love it is not a biting brine. Also did purple carrots separately so as not to discolor them
Alice
10 mins Plus 2 days refrigeration.
Dr. Petrick
Also DO NOT put it in the refrigerator until it is cool. You need the hot brine to soften the veggies. After they are room temp place in the fridge otherwise you just warm your fridge.
Sally
I love caraway, but with the beets, the flavor is too harsh. Next time I will try fennel or ginger or ginger and orange peel, to take the flavor from good to great.
sam
Used fennel seeds in places of caraway seeds...
Cedarglen
I skip the caraway - I just don't like it and I use about 50% less sugar. Not processed. kept in the fridge. They do not last long as I eat them with almost anything The other flavors are just fine
TIP: use the beat vinegar available.
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