Easily make your own spiced and pickled beets for a perfect meat and cheese board or salad accompaniment.
By Chelsea Miller
Husband and I discovered our new splurge dinner which has almost replaced pizza, something we fondly call “meat and cheese dinner”. It usually consists of bread, a couple of different cured meats, a few different funky cheeses, fruit, and something pickled. Even though it’s essentially the same ingredients as pizza, you somehow feel much more grown up eating it and even hate yourself a little less if you far exceed what would be an acceptable amount of food to consume. 
Do you know what this dinner does not have on pizza, though? It’s expensive. It was consistently shocking to me that the pickled vegetables were so expensive! It’s typically just spices, some kind of vinegar, and vegetables. Vinegar and veggies are plenty cheap on their own, so why does the combination amount to this cost?
Solution: pickle my own veggies! These beets were shockingly easy. I did a mix of yellow and red beets and started by peeling, slicing, and roasting them for about 30 minutes. Then I simmered apple cider vinegar, sugar, bay leaves, cloves, caraway seeds, and pepper for the pickling liquid. Add the beets and pickling liquid to a couple of mason jars and refrigerate over night! That’s it.
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Sweet and Sour Pickled Beets
- Yield: 2 large mason jars 1x
Description
Easily make your own spiced and pickled beets for a perfect meat and cheese board or salad accompaniment.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds medium sized beets (you can use golden, red, or a mix)
- Kosher salt
- 1½ cups apple cider vinegar
- 1½ cups water
- 1½ cups sugar
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 2- inch cinnamon stick
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- ¾ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp caraway seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Peel and slice beets into large matchsticks (about ½ inch wide). Add beets to a large, rimmed baking sheet and pour one cup of water and a generous pinch of salt over the top. Bake for 30 minutes.
- While the beets are cooking, combine all remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer over low heat. Simmer for 12-15 minutes.
- Once beets are cool enough to handle, add them to two large mason jars. Pour pickling liquid over the beets. Let cool until room temperature, then put on lids and refrigerate.
- Refrigerate beets overnight before serving.
- Category: Side
Even easier… cut the beets as desired, then simmer, with a lid on, until tender in your 50/50 blend of vinegar/water with desired amount of sugar and spices. Transfer beets to jars, cover with hot cooking liquid, cap and let cool then move jars to refrigerator.
Great version!