How to Store Beets: 4 Storage Methods for Beets

Beetroot, or beets, are round root vegetables with long red stems and bright green leaves. The beetroot is the tap root part of a beet plant, with the plant’s fruit growing underground beneath the leaves and the stems springing out from the earth. Small beets can be two inches in diameter, while larger ones can be as big as a softball.

Beets were cultivated in the Middle East and around the Mediterranean for medicinal properties and coloring wine before spreading to the rest of Europe and the Americas. Today, beets are a popular side dish and a fixture on restaurant menus. Nutritious and sweet, beets come in several varieties and colors, including purple, red, and gold; candy cane beets have swirls of both pink and white.

Raw, boiled, and pickled beets all make for hearty salad additions, roasted beets make for a delicious side dish, and beets can be the main ingredient in soups such as the Eastern European staple, borscht. After harvesting beets or purchasing at the farmers’ market, use the whole vegetable by washing the beet greens for salads or plating.

There are a few ways to store beets that help you prolong their shelf life and keep them for later use.

1. 1. Keep in the crisper drawer. It is best to refrigerate beets from the grocery store in the crisper drawer. Leave them unwashed as excess moisture can make beets go bad more quickly, but chop off all but two inches of the stem. These veggies will last for two months in the fridge (firmness will be an indicator of how fresh they remain), and you can use the beet leaves as well—after cutting those off, store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to three days, washing just before use.
2. 2. Freeze your beets. Cut off the chard—the beet leaf—and wipe off any soil or dirt on your beets’ skin. Cook the beets in gently boiling water for thirty minutes with the lid on the pot. Transfer the boiled beets to an ice bath, and once cool, peel the skin off and cut your beets into uniform sizes. Cut on a surface layered with protective paper towels as sliced beets can release bright red juices, which stain counters and clothes. Put the cut-up beets into a freezer bag and store them for up to a year in the freezer.
3. 3. Store with peat moss. If you grow beets in your vegetable garden, you can make them last longer by harvesting them and storing them in a root cellar with peat moss, sawdust, or sand. Place two inches of sand, sawdust, or peat moss in a sturdy box, and then add a layer of beats atop the material without stacking the beets on top of each other. Then, cover the beets with another layer of peat moss, sawdust, or sand, submerging them in two inches of the material. Keep in a cool, dark, and dry storage area, checking on them monthly. If the beets remain firm and without blemishes, they are good to use; if some are moldy, remove them from the storage container, so they do not infect other beets.
4. 4. Pickle the beets. Pickling is a food storage technique that lets you customize the flavors in your canning. Chop the chard off the beats, leaving two inches of stem, and cook in boiling water until tender (about an hour). Cool in an ice bath, peel the beets and slice them into small pieces. Create a brine out of vinegar, salt, water, and sugar—combine the ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Fill your canning jars with your beets and brine, adding in other ingredients (thyme, rosemary, garlic cloves) as desired, leaving an inch of headspace at the top of the jar. Follow the instructions of your pressure cooker to process the jars properly, and then store the canned pickled beets at room temperature in a pantry for a year and a half.

Storage techniques vary, which will affect the shelf life of your beets. If you blanch, peel, and freeze beets, they will last for a whole year in the freezer. If you keep them whole and unwashed in the refrigerator, they can last for two months. After cooking the beets, they will only be good for a couple of days in an airtight container in the fridge.

For long-term storage, consider pickling the beets. Many beet recipes call for pickled beets, which can be canned and stored at room temperature for a year and a half until opened. These preserved beets make for an excellent salad addition with lettuce, goat cheese, olive oil, and vinaigrette.

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