The Simple Beet Swap That Makes Pickling Cleaner, Easier, And Way Less Messy

Beet's earthiness makes them a superb pickling vegetable. The blend of deep and tangy flavors elevates salads, sandwiches, and more. Despite their many uses, the root vegetables can be annoying to work with due to their staining everything they interact with. Thankfully, protecting your kitchen doesn't mean you have to forgo the vegetable entirely. Instead, opt for golden beets.

The vegetables are best known for their jewel red hue, but there are other mess-free options that taste just as good. When making sauerkraut-ish pickled beets, recipe developer Miriam Hahn chooses golden beets to keep things clean. "I like to use golden beets for this recipe in particular because you are handling them quite a bit, and the golden variety won't stain your hands and utensils like the red will," she says. Red beets contain a large amount of betalains, a pigment that leaves that deep red color on your hands, countertops, and kitchen towels. The pigments aren't as prominent in golden beets, so using them in the hands-on recipe avoids the aftermath looking like a culinary crime scene.

Texture-wise, golden and red beets will yield the same results. However, the flavor differs slightly. The golden variety is mild on the earthiness, with a tad more sweetness. With the blend of apple cider vinegar, sugar, rice vinegar, mustard seed, cloves, ginger, and other spices, Hahn pickles the beets with, they take on a bold taste.

Within 24 hours, the beets take on a salty, tangy flair that is a great add-on to a variety of recipes. The ginger, allspice, cardamom, and peppercorns in the beets' pickling brine are a delicious addition to blue cheese-stuffed burgers with fig and pear. The warm spices complement the jammy fruits, while the vinegar and salt keep the combo from getting too sweet. If you're more of a sandwich person, try the pickled beets on a slow-cooker roast beef sandwich.

Since they're brimming with flavor, the beets also stand alone as a side. Place them on a barbecue plate with baked beans, smoked chicken, and cornbread, or pair them alongside a pulled pork sandwich and mac and cheese.

Beets aren't the most traditional breakfast ingredient, but the mildness of the golden beets and rice vinegar brine makes the gut-healthy recipe ideal for starting out your day. Let the beets be a zesty addition to your bagel breakfast salad. Serve them over a spring mix tossed with goat cheese, smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes, red onions, and an apple cider vinaigrette. The sauerkraut-ish pickled beets are also great on more traditional breakfast items, such as eggs Benedict.