Pickled Beets substitute

Best substitute

Quick-Pickled Fresh Beets

Use the same amount by volume for the jarred product as the pickled beets you are replacing

Best for salads

Close match

Beets you cook and brine yourself, which is the only substitute that is genuinely the same ingredient rather than an approximation.

Other pickled beets substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Cooked Beets Plus Vinegar
Different texture
Use the same amount then add 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and 1 teaspoon sugar per cup of beets
Vacuum-packed or canned plain beets, dressed on the spot to fake the brine.
What changes
Best for
borscht garnish, beet and horseradish relish, warm sides, grain bowls
This is the honest weeknight answer. It hits the sweet and sour notes immediately but has none of the firm, slightly crisp bite that weeks in brine give a jarred pickle, so it reads softer and more like a dressed vegetable. Give it fifteen minutes in the vinegar if you can spare them.
3Pickled Red Cabbage
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
A sharp, sweet-sour pickle with the same purple-red staining power and a similar earthy-sweet base note.
What changes
Best for
salads, sandwiches, cold plates, pierogi and sausage plates
The closest thing in a jar when there are no beets. It is crunchier and considerably sharper, and it lacks the mineral, almost sugary earthiness of beetroot, so a salad made with it tastes brighter and less rich. Drain well and use slightly less than the recipe calls for.
4Pickled Turnips
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Middle Eastern style turnip pickles, usually tinted pink with a slice of beet in the jar, with a clean vinegar snap.
What changes
Best for
sandwiches, cold plates, salads, garnish
Very good for the sour-and-crunchy job and visually close, but sharply peppery rather than sweet and earthy. Add half a teaspoon of sugar per cup if the recipe was leaning on the sweetness of the beets.
5Pickled Carrots or Pickled Radish
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Two common jarred pickles that deliver the acidity and crunch a plate is missing, without the color.
What changes
Best for
salads, sandwiches, cold plates
Use these when the beets were there for contrast and acid rather than for their looks. Carrots are the sweeter of the two and closer in spirit; radish is peppery. Neither will stain anything pink, so a beet salad made this way looks like a completely different dish.
6Nothing, With the Acid Added Back
Taste and texture differ
Use Omit the beets and add 1 to 2 teaspoons vinegar for every serving
The honest option when the beets were a small acidic accent rather than a main component.
What changes
Best for
borscht, potato salad, herring salad, dressed greens
In a hot borscht that already contains fresh beets, a spoonful of vinegar or lemon juice at the end does nearly the whole job of the pickles. In a cold beet salad, a beet and horseradish relish, or Harvard beets, leaving them out is not really an option - the dish is the beets.

What is Pickled Beets?

Pickled Beets is cooked beetroot steeped in a sweetened vinegar brine, which is why it brings three things to a dish at once: sourness, sweetness and a deep magenta stain.

Cooking tips

Work out which job the pickles are doing before you swap. In borscht or a rich meat plate they are acid and cut-through. In a salad they are the sweet-earthy bulk. In Ashkenazi chrain, the beet-and-horseradish relish, they are colour and sweetness holding back the heat of the horseradish. The right substitute is different in each case.
Save the brine from any jar you finish. It makes an excellent salad dressing base with oil and mustard, and it will quick-pickle a batch of plain cooked beets, sliced onions or hard-boiled eggs overnight, which is the easiest way to replace a jar you have just run out of.
If a recipe calls for the beet liquid as well as the beets - some cold soups, borscht and cwikla recipes do - do not substitute plain cooked beets without adding vinegar, because the brine is carrying most of the sourness the recipe is counting on.
Beets bleed. Add them at the end of a mixed salad and toss lightly, or everything on the plate turns the same shade of pink. If that matters, dice rather than slice and dress the beets separately.
If you are home canning pickled beets rather than making a refrigerator pickle, do not change the vinegar, the vinegar strength or the water-to-vinegar ratio in a tested recipe, and do not adjust the amount of beets. Beets are a low-acid vegetable and the acidity in the recipe is what makes the jars safe; reducing it creates a botulism risk. Follow a current tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation (nchfp.uga.edu) exactly, including the processing time. You can safely adjust the sugar and the whole spices to taste, and nothing else.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use plain canned beets instead of pickled beets?

Yes, if you add the acid back. Drain them and toss with about a tablespoon of red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar per cup, then let them sit fifteen minutes. The flavor gets close; the texture stays softer than a proper pickle, which brines for weeks and keeps more bite.

How long do quick-pickled beets need before they are ready?

Thirty minutes in warm brine gives you a usable pickle, a few hours gives you a good one, and overnight in the fridge gives you something you would be happy to serve on its own. They are a refrigerator pickle, not a shelf-stable one, so keep them cold and finish them within about two weeks.

Can I leave pickled beets out entirely?

It depends on the dish. As a garnish or a small acidic accent in borscht or on a cold plate, yes - replace them with a squeeze of vinegar or lemon and you will barely miss them. In a beet salad, Harvard beets, or beet-horseradish relish they are the main event, and leaving them out means making something else.

Are pickled beets and beetroot pickles the same thing?

Yes. Beetroot pickles, marinated beets and pickled beetroot all describe the same jar. Polish cwikla is a close relative, a grated beet and horseradish relish rather than sliced pickles, and if a recipe calls for cwikla you want grated cooked beets with horseradish and vinegar rather than sliced pickled beets from a jar.

What vinegar should I use for quick-pickled beets?

Apple cider vinegar is traditional in Eastern European and American recipes and gives a rounder, fruitier pickle. Red wine vinegar gives a sharper, cleaner one and keeps the colour bright. Plain white vinegar works and tastes the most aggressive, so cut it with a little extra water and sugar.

Related substitutes

More vegetables & aromatics substitutes

Pickled Beets substitute

Other pickled beets substitutes

2Cooked Beets Plus Vinegar

3Pickled Red Cabbage

4Pickled Turnips

5Pickled Carrots or Pickled Radish

6Nothing, With the Acid Added Back