Pickled beet eggs are one of my favorite grab-and-go low carb snacks. They are beautiful to look at, easy to make ahead, and perfect for road trips or busy weekdays.
I first discovered them at a Pennsylvania truck stop during a Thanksgiving road trip to visit my son in Connecticut, desperately searching for something slow carb friendly among the gas station snacks. They’ve been a staple in our Minnesota fridge ever since.
This recipe includes two versions: classic beet pickled eggs and a lower-carb red cabbage variation inspired by Jamie Oliver. Both are gorgeous, tangy, and keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.
Quick Summary: Hard-boiled eggs pickled in spiced beet brine turn vibrant pink and make an easy, portable low carb snack. Includes a red cabbage variation for even lower carbs. Prep: 30 min | Pickle time: 2 days | Makes: 8 eggs | Keeps: 2 weeks refrigerated
Jump to: RECIPE | Are Beets Slow Carb or Low Carb? | The Red Cabbage Alternative | FAQ
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Are Beets Slow Carb or Low Carb?
Beets themselves are not 100% compliant with a strict slow-carb or keto lifestyle (too much sugar in them), but the amount of beet juice clinging to the pickled beet eggs in this recipe is minimal.
Pickled beet eggs would be fine for most low-carb diets if you stick with the beet juice on the eggs and avoid eating the whole beets.
If you are really worried about the beet juice, I have included pickled red cabbage eggs as an alternative keto pickled egg option.
The red cabbage version is just as tasty as the red beet version and just as beautiful. Oh, and one more plus to pickled eggs as a low-carb snack…..they’re easy to make!
Finding Low-Carb Snacks While Traveling
Have you found it challenging to find tasty low-carb snack options when traveling? When I was coaching the slow carb diet, my clients often complained about the lack of options when traveling, whether in an airport or on the road.
I first experienced pickled eggs on a road trip out East to visit my 22-year old son in Connecticut, where he was going to host his first Thanksgiving dinner for the family.
The road trip took 2 days and it was quite challenging, to say the least, to find low-carb or slow-carb snacks at America’s pit stops along the highway.
Things were looking grim until I happened upon these red hard-boiled eggs called “beet eggs” at a truck stop in Pennsylvania. Perfect! They ended up being a new food experience for us, and ended up being a mainstay snack, even back home in Minnesota.
Did you know? Beet Pickled Eggs are a popular item in Pennsylvania, as well as other regions where Amish and Mennonites have settled.
The Red Cabbage Pickled Egg Alternative
Well, pink pickled eggs are now firmly established in our Minnesota household as a portable, convenient low-carb snack, except that I sometimes make them with red cabbage instead of beets if I am counting calories and/or carbs.
Using red cabbage instead of beets is a riff on the beet eggs that I got from Jamie Oliver. Essentially he shreds the cabbage and adds it to the spiced brine instead of beets.
Check out the notes section of the recipe card below for the exact ingredients Jamie Oliver uses in his red cabbage pickled eggs.
Both the beet eggs and the red cabbage eggs are excellent in flavor, beauty and ease.
Although beets do have sugar in them, there isn’t a lot of it that stays on the eggs. The problem with the beet eggs and a low-carb diet is more along the lines of what to do with the beets themselves after the eggs are done.
Beets are definitely not compliant with low carb, so just know this going in and use them for the juice. Give the whole beets to a friend or family member who isn’t following low carb strictly.
Tip: If you don’t cook at all and don’t like the idea of peeling a dozen eggs, you could buy some pre-peeled hard-boiled eggs in the grocery store, a jar of pickled beets, and toss them together with some spices for the “I don’t cook” method.
Similar Recipes You Will Love
- Low-Carb Beet Chips
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FAQ
At least 2 days for the color and flavor to fully penetrate. They’ll get more vibrant and tangy the longer they sit, up to about 2 weeks.
The eggs themselves are fine. Beets have natural sugar, but only a small amount of beet juice clings to the eggs. If you’re strict, use the red cabbage version instead, which is fully slow carb compliant.
Up to 2 weeks refrigerated in their brine. Keep them submerged for best results.
I don’t recommend it. The brine loses potency and the eggs may not pickle properly or stay safe for as long.
Give them to someone not following low carb, add them to salads, or roast them as a side dish. They’re delicious—just not low carb compliant
If you’re looking for more low carb snack ideas, check out my Slow Carb Allowed Foods list or grab my ebook A Guide to Fat Loss Through a Slow Carb Diet for meal plans and troubleshooting.
Like this recipe? It helps me out greatly if you leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below and maybe even leave me a quick comment too!
Low Carb Pickled Beet Eggs
Equipment
- Heat proof large jars
- large bowl for ice water
Ingredients
- 8 hard-boiled eggs peeled
- 1 cup canned (or jarred) sliced red beets with their liquid
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 3 whole cloves
- 2-4 cloves garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
Instructions
- To hard boil eggs: Gently lower the eggs into a pot of cold water. Turn the burner on high and bring to a boil. When the water comes to a boil, turn off the burner, cover the pot and let the eggs sit in the pot for 5-7 minutes.8 hard-boiled eggs
- To peel hardboiled eggs: Meanwhile get a large bowl and fill with ice water. When the eggs have sat in the covered pot for 5-7 min. ladle them out into the bowl of ice water. When cool enough to work with, peel the shells off under running cool water (shells come off more easily if you start with older eggs – not really fresh).
- To pickle: Place peeled hard-boiled eggs in a quart-sized mason jar (or any other heatproof container).
- Combine remaining ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 3-5 min. Pour warm mix over eggs, cover tightly and refrigerate.1 cup canned (or jarred) sliced red beets, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 3 whole cloves, 2-4 cloves garlic, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- Chill for at 2 days before serving. Will keep for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
Video
Notes
- Make the 8 hard boiled eggs as in the directions above for the beet eggs.
- In a dry skillet, over gentle heat, toast 2 star anise, 1 tsp cloves and 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, Bring 1 cup of water to a boil and when spices start to smell nutty and toasty (about 5 minutes), add bay leaves and the 1 cup boiling water.
- Simmer for about 3 min. and then stir in 1 cup red wine vinegar and 2 heaping tsp of salt. Remove from heat.
- Shred about 10 oz cabbage and add to the pot. Stir in and leave alone for 10 min.
- Layer the cabbage mixture and the eggs into your mason jar and pour any extra pickling juice in to fill up the jar.
- Place jar in refrigerator and leave alone for 24 hours. They will last up to two weeks.
Nutrition
There you go. Ready for the next road trip, hockey trip, airline travel, etc. Great, portable low carb snack!
I am on a Low Carb diet and I know there is a lot of sugar in those pickled beets that you buy in a jar. Have you found one that doesn’t have sugar? Also I see that you added sugar or honey to your pickled eggs. It doesn’t amount to that much when you divide it among 6 eggs but still. What is a SLOW CARB DIET? I never heard of it.
@dorothy stainbrook, you can totally keep the beets and eat them. I’m a native Central Pennsylvanian and love every part of red beet eggs. 🙂
Thanks Brooke! Even though beets by themselves are not considered low carb, they do have a lot of fiber which would lower the net carbs. They would also keep well until “cheat day” I imagine lol.
Hi have you tried just using fresh beet juice? I’ve also been thinking of doing a carrot version and I’ve found saffron and turmeric added to the pickling liquid also give an amazing taste and are maybe even healthier, I’m not sure but worth a try don’t you think 🙂
I have not tried fresh beet juice or a carrot version. That sounds healthy and it sounds tasty, but it probably has too much sugar to be considered in a slow carb diet. I was trying to do a slow carb version, hence the cabbage. Go for it if you are not on a specific diet however. It sounds good.
Slow Carb diet uses carbs that are slow to metabolize. They don’t spike blood sugar levels nearly as much as simply sugars. Things in this category would be beans and legumes, and oatmeal.
It’s easiest to say if it can be white, it’s off limits. That would mean rice, potatoes, flour, sugar, etc.
Agreed Rylan, although Ferriss does not allow oatmeal as compliant with slow carb diet.
yes true. You are specifically talking about Ferriss’s Slow Carb diet. Ferriss doesn’t, but I feel that’s to keep his diet simple. He’s also a little more extreme than some other Slow Carb Diets. Guess I feel it’s good for people to know there is more than one way to do the same diet lol
Steal cut and rolled oats are both low glycemic. Even some breads such as pumpernickel bread also has a low glycemic value. Everyone’s body is different. One diet doesn’t help all so you need to try a whole bunch until you find what works for you
=)
Also Tim Ferriss does get into some specifics about how his slow carb diet is not only based on glycemic values and therefore why grains do not fit. I would have to go back and summarize that to clarify because it is quite lengthy. He does make a specific distinction as to they “why” however.
Technically speaking you would have to consider that under a “low-carb” diet. Ferriss has the name and rights to “slow carb”. While he does say to experiment with your own body, if you want to follow the rules of slow carb (and many people are quite concerned with the exact rules) you would not include grains or breads or oats. More understandable to most people would be to consider those as a “low carb” diet.
Oh I wouldn’t worry about legality. Tim Ferriss isn’t going to go after anyone for making a diet plan and posting it under the title ‘Slow Carb’. Trademarks are typically applied to commercial use of a name. Long as you’re not claiming it as your own and selling books, etc.
It would be incorrect to call a diet with other low GI foods “low carb” because they are not low carb. GI value is a measure of how the sugars in the food affects a person glucose levels. Even if it has a very small GI it can be high in Carbs. This wouldn’t work for a low carb diet. It would work though for a slow carb diet, or a Low Glycemic diet if you would prefer to call it something else.
Like I said though, for Ferris’s version yes I agree with you, but since “Anonymous” has never heard of a ‘Slow Carb” diet, it’s good to provide other examples for knowledge sake, as there are more than one way to explain. =)
I think she/he was mostly asking about sugar and I did give a link to find out more about the slow carb diet if that was desired. I appreciate what you are saying but it is getting too specific for me to look up and summarize his reasoning behind this rule. Now if you want to come over to coach.me and be coached on slow carb I’m happy to summarize his rationale more thoroughly. 🙂
Well actually I do have to worry about legal protocol as I am a coach on a platform called coach.me and I need to honor the rules of a slow carb diet as it is laid out in his plan. Like I said, he makes a distinction as to why grains are not allowed and it is not all to do with GI, but rather some specific issues that state why the GI issues you lay out are not included in slow carb. I choose to honor the letter of the rules of the slow carb diet and make exceptions when I have the specifics of a person’s diet issues. Grains are not allowed in the rules of the slow carb diet.
Yes, there is sugar in the beets, even if they are pure beets from the garden without being pickled. Once you make them, you get rid of the beets and you only have some of the juice that has infused into the eggs. They still have sugar however. The red cabbage beets are the rendition that is low carb. Slow carb is a diet that is basically a high-protein-moderate-fat-low-carb diet with nuances to it. Here is a link to see the general shopping list, which will give you an idea of the allowed foods. https://farmtojar.com/allowed-food-slow-carb/ And here is a more detailed shopping list with protein counts in grams: https://farmtojar.com/allowed-food-slow-carb/
*Eh hem* Your daughter “happened upon” the truck stop beet eggs and thought of you while seeing them…
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We have always made these with no sugar or honey. One can of beets, a can’s worth of vinegar, sliced onions, clove and , of course, the hard boiled eggs. put them all together in a jar or plastic lidded container and they “pickle” that way. No boiling, but they last about a week or more in the fridge. We eat them long before that, though!
I love your recipes and the cabbage one with the star anise is on my list to try! Thank you
Thanks for commenting! I had no idea these were even a thing until we stopped at a convenience store in Pennsylvania on a road trip out to see our son in New York. Thought I’d try the cabbage one for people that are really, really strict on their slow carb diet. I’ve loosened up a lot on the diet and prefer the beet eggs more, but it’s nice to have options.
Beets don’t have eggs!
Right you are! These are eggs pickled in beets….sorry if the name confused. It’s just a commonly used name.