This easy pickled beets recipe involves honey, perhaps you find this surprising?! These beets are easy to make because they can be prepared and kept in the refrigerator for a few days in an air-tight container.
It took most of my life to acquire a taste for pickled beets, or any beets for that matter. To me, they tasted like dirt, until you put honey on them.
I had a good chef friend who insisted that I try beets somewhere around 15 years ago. He prepared them three ways. Maybe he thought that if he prepared them three different ways there was a better chance that I would like at least one of the preparations. They tasted better than I remembered them from childhood.
Fast forward to today, foraging in my friend Joyce’s garden on Maryland's beautiful Eastern Shore. Joyce grows beets in every color and variety and the small young beets are sweet like sugar and ever-so-tender that's why today, I have a deep love affair with beets. Who would have guessed?
Pickled Beets are more creative than you think.
- I have been known to sauté swiss chard with olive oil and garlic and top with these amazing easy pickled beets accompanied by a dollop of tzatziki sauce.
- You can also try them on a bed of fresh arugula with some goat cheese topped with honey lemon vinaigrette.
- You can mix them with our easy pickled onions and serve them on our kale salad.
- Or just enjoy them from the jar.
I should have called this the wedged pickled beet recipe.
Adapting this Easy Pickled Beet Recipe with honey
Recipes are meant to inspire you. Don’t feel like you have to make this Pickled Beet Recipe exactly the way our recipe shows. Get creative. Experiment. Try something different. Here are some ideas in case you need a little boost with adapting this recipe:
- Add some fresh-grated horseradish to the mix to add heat.
- Can you imagine a teaspoon of dried cloves in this recipe? That would be so different!
- Chop some cinnamon sticks and add them to the beet juice.
- Why not add some fresh sliced ginger root?