A vibrant plate of sliced pickled eggs, beets, and baby carrot sticks makes a great lunch, snack, or side dish for your favorite sandwich.
Start with 5-5-5 Instant Pot Eggs
If you want to simplify making pickled eggs, start by making them in the Instant Pot. Trust me. It’s called the 5-5-5 method so it’s easy to remember: 5 min cook, 5 min NPR, 5 min ice bath. BAM, the eggs slide out of their shells.
Using Great Ingredients Gives Great Results
To make recipes really shine, go for the best ingredients you can find. When I first learned how to make pickled eggs it was all about opening cans. Canned beets, though convenient, aren’t the best option in my mind. I found a great company about a year ago at our local Costco called Love Beets. They have since begun selling their products in other markets (I now see them in Whole Foods, you can locate them via their website). Their beets are vacuum packed and cooked sous vide, so they have tons of flavor and are really easy to use. They do come in lots of flavors, but for this recipe we are looking for just plain beets.
Give Them Time
This is definitely one of those ‘plan ahead’ recipes since the pickling takes a few days. They will be ready to eat in 2-3 days, by 4 days they will be thoroughly infused with the beet and vinegar juice. As the color intensifies, so does the flavor. You can decide how much pickling you like. Once the color/taste is reached you can pour out the liquid and keep the eggs, beets, and carrots (and whatever else you want to throw in) in the airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
Why Not More Veggies?
I usually just go with the more traditional Pickled Eggs with just beets, but I had some beautiful baby carrots on hand and decided to try pickling them as well. I’m so glad I did! They turned out super yummy. I did peel them, but not sure if I needed to. I think I may not next time. I’m also thinking I might try adding some par-boiled cauliflower too. I love Gardineire (Italian pickled veggies) and especially the cauliflower. How great would pink pickled florets be?
The container I use for pickling is around an 8–cup sized Snapware container. It has a (mostly) watertight seal on it, which makes it easy to turn the contents over a few times to mix things up while pickling. I just give the container a shake (over the sink!) and that’s it. Since the container is pretty packed, I can’t really get in to stir it around. I could use a larger container, but space in my fridge is really limited. It also keeps me from making too much at one time, since I am the only one in my house that eats it. (Yay me!)
The carrot sticks were also a great addition for my lunch packs. BTW, I am a big fan of those zipper-seal silicone bags for carrying my lunch treats. Doing away with disposable plastic bags FTW!
So on to the recipe!
This is really easy to make. Start making the pickling liquid while the eggs are cooking, or make the eggs the day before. Either way, it will turn out great. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 dozen Eggs hardboiled, peeled
- 20 oz Beets organic, peeled and cooked
- 2 cups Apple cider vinegar
- 1-1/3 cups White sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- Pepper
Tools
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients and tools.
- Begin making the hard-boiled eggs following the 5-5-5 method (recipe found here).
- While the eggs are cooking, prepare the beets and carrots. Cut the beets in half and then into thick slices. Be sure to pour all of the beet juices from the package into your pickling container. Set beets aside.Note: I prefer to use a plastic cutting board to keep it from getting stained by the beet juice.
- Depending on your carrots, you may want to peel them, but if the are young you can probably just brush them under running water. Cut into 6 inch pieces and quarter them lengthwise to make thin sticks. Set aside with beets.
- Into the pickling container along with all of the juice from the beets, add the apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir well with large spoon or silicone spatula.
- By now your eggs should be cooked, and cooled so you should be able to peel them easily. Put a layer of sliced beets in the pickling liquid. Peel one egg and drop it into the liquid, setting it on top of the beets.
- Continue to peel the eggs and putting them in the pickling liquid. When you have a layer of eggs, add another layer of beets. A layer of carrots, then another layer of eggs, etc. You want to have all of the eggs completely submerged under the beets. Don’t over-pack the container.Note: I didn’t add the carrots in my photos until after the eggs were pickled, so you don’t see them in the pics. Whatever veggies you are pickling can be added now. Just make sure the eggs aren’t sticking out of the juices.
- Cover the container and put it into the refrigerator for at least 2 days. Every day, or a couple of times a day, you should take the container out and give it a shake (if water-tight!) or a stir to make sure all of the sugar is completely dissolved, and the beet juices are evenly distributed.
- After 2 days, take an egg out and slice it to see how well the eggs have been infused with the pink beet juices. You should also test the beets and other veggies for the amount of pickling on them. The longer they stay in the juices, the more tart they will be.
- If the eggs, beets and carrots are at the desired pickling level, drain off the juices. The pickled eggs and veggies can be stored in the airtight container for a few days.
- I like to use an egg slicer to get perfect slices. They look so beautiful on the plate!
- Enjoy experimenting with different veggies!
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