Video Tips for Canning Beets Without Loosing Color

One of my canning students recently asked a great question; why do carrots and beets lose their vibrant color during the canning process? Here are some tips to keep that color better.

Links Mentioned in the Video:

• CanningSchool.com
• Tutorial for Canning Beets
• Tutorial for Pickled Beets
• Tutorial for Canning Carrots

How to Preserve the Color of Canned Beets

I recently got a great question from one of my Simply Canning School students about beets losing color after canning.

She told me she had canned both carrots and beets, but when she looked at her jars later, the bright color had faded — especially in the beets. They just looked dull and unappealing. She asked what might have gone wrong and how to keep them looking as vibrant as they do in all those pretty photos online. 🙁

If you’ve wondered the same thing, don’t worry — you’re not alone! Beets naturally tend to lose some color during processing, but there are a few simple tricks for preserving the color of beets so your jars stay as beautiful as they are tasty.

Color Loss in Carrots vs. Beets

Let’s start with carrots since I have not had issues with them. Maybe it is expectation?

Carrots generally hold their color pretty well. If yours turned out pale, make sure you’re not over-processing them. Overcooking pulls out more pigment and can make them look faded. Just follow the recommended safe canning times — don’t shorten them (you still want them safely processed), but don’t add extra time “just in case.”

Also, remember that some carrot varieties are naturally more vivid than others. Sometimes, the color difference comes down to the variety you grow or buy.

5 Tips for Canning Beets Without Losing Color

Now, beets — that’s where things get tricky. They do tend to lose more color during canning, but you can reduce that with the right approach.

1. Leave the Taproot and Stems On During Boiling

When you’re preparing beets for canning, don’t trim them too much before boiling.

Leave the taproot attached and about 3 inches of stem. That helps seal in the beet’s deep red pigment. If you cut the root or stems too short, you’re opening up more of the beet’s flesh to the boiling water — and that’s when the color starts to bleed out.

After boiling, the skins will slip right off easily, and then you can trim the tops.

2. Don’t Overprocess

Just like with carrots, be careful not to overprocess your beets. Follow the proper time and pressure for your altitude, but avoid extending it unnecessarily. Longer processing time means more heat, and more heat pulls more color from your beets into the liquid.

3. Let Your Canner Cool Naturally

After canning, resist the urge to speed up the cool-down.

Don’t set a fan on your pressure canner or try to run cool water nearby to move things along faster. Rapid cooling can cause liquid loss from the jars — and when that happens, you lose color along with it.

Let your pressure canner depressurize naturally. No fans, no cool water. Just wait. It might take a little longer, but your jars (and their color) will thank you!

4. Pick Beets While They’re Still Small

If you grow your own beets, I have found that size matters.

Smaller beets — around 3 to 4 inches in diameter — tend to hold their color better. When I’ve let mine grow extra large, the finished canned beets always come out duller. I can’t explain the exact science, but I’ve tested it several times and seen the same result.

So, don’t wait too long to harvest. Smaller beets aren’t just prettier — they’re often more tender and flavorful too.

5. Try Pickled Beets

If you love that bright red color, another great option is to make pickled beets.

Pickled beets are processed in a water bath canner instead of a pressure canner, which is gentler and helps maintain their vivid hue. The vinegar brine also helps lock in color naturally.

So if you’re tired of dull-looking plain beets, switch things up and try pickling — you’ll get flavor and color all in one!

A Bonus Note on Photos

One last thing — don’t let the internet fool you! A lot of photos you see online are enhanced or edited to make the colors pop.

I do edit my own pictures to make them crisp and clear, but I don’t change the actual colors. What you see on my site is the real-life version of what comes out of my jars. So if your beets look a little less vibrant than a Pinterest photo, you’re probably doing just fine.

Preserving the Color of Canned Beets

If your beets lose color after canning, it’s not a safety issue — they’re still perfectly good to eat. But with a few small adjustments — like keeping stems on, avoiding overprocessing, and letting your canner cool naturally — you can do a lot to preserve the color of beets and keep them looking rich and appetizing.

Give these tips a try, and let me know how it goes! And if you have more canning questions, drop them in the comments — I might feature them in a future video.