Easy Beet Salad

Beets are a healthy, inexpensive, and versatile root vegetable. They are easy to use and taste good on their own, boiled or roasted. This beet salad recipe combines the beets with a few other simple vegetables in a refreshing lemon dressing.

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Behind their humble appearance, beets are a powerhouse of nutrition, from being a great source of vegetable nitrates to improving endurance. In fact, science backs up beets as a remarkable food with many health benefits.

Unmodified beets with their purple, earthy flavor and crunchy texture will spice up your next meal. This will soon become your new favorite salad.

Why make this salad?

• This is a great, easy way to eat beets without turning them into a weird-tasting mess in your mouth, thanks to a delicious, tangy dressing.
• Moreover, this is an everyday salad that gets ready in a snap.
• You can serve this as a healthy side dish for starch with any protein. In fact, I often eat my main course, such as chicken or fish, with salad instead of rice or potatoes.
• And the best thing about this salad is that almost everything can be switched or substituted. If you don’t like something, you can easily omit it or change it to something else.
• This salad keeps well, so you can make it a few hours before a dinner party and store leftovers in an airtight container for up to a day in the refrigerator.

Ingredients and substitutes

• Beets have a long shelf life. And yet, do not choose soft, shriveled beets or ones with wrinkled skin. Always choose equal-sized beets so they all cook at the same time. These days, you can buy ready-to-eat beets from the supermarket. Or you can cook them yourself using one of the methods below. Today, I am using boiled beets cut into 1-inch pieces. But you can also roast, boil, steam, or sauté the beets in a skillet until tender.
• Tomatoes – I am using cherry tomatoes, but you can use one large tomato cut into cubes. Also, I like to deseed the tomatoes to keep the salad from getting too soggy.
• Cucumbers – I used Persian cucumbers, but almost any salad-worthy cucumbers would work.
• Pine nuts – Add a nice crunch and creaminess to the salad. Of course, you can also use any other nuts. In fact, pecans and walnuts are lovely too.
• Avocado – Adds a nice creaminess to the salad, but of course, all these veggies are optional.
• Lemon juice – You can also add white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. For a little twist, you can also try balsamic vinegar to make a balsamic vinaigrette.
• Olive oil – I love using good-quality cold-pressed olive oil for salads.
• Optional ingredients
  • Honey or maple syrup adds a nice sweet note to the salad dressing.
  • Dijon mustard adds a nice, pungent flavor to the dressing.
  • Garlic – a sliced fresh garlic clove or just a sprinkle of garlic powder if you like garlic flavor.

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Step-by-step: Beet salad recipe

• Cook beets – microwave or roast
  • Microwave – Place beets in a large bowl (microwave-safe bowl) with 1/2 an inch of water. Cover with plastic wrap and make some holes in the cover for steam to escape. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until fork-tender.
  • Roast – wrap the clean and washed beets in aluminum foil and roast in a preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes until tender when touched with a fork.
• Toast pine nuts – Place the pine nuts in a frying pan and toast them on medium heat for 2 minutes (optional).
• Beet salad Dressing – In a small mason jar or small bowl, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, Kosher salt, and black pepper. Close the lid and shake it well, or use a whisk to combine. Set aside until you are ready to use it.
• Assemble – In a large bowl, combine the chopped veggies – beets, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, and parsley. Top with the toasted pine nuts. Toss everything well to combine.
• When ready to serve, pour the salad dressing over the veggies and toss well to combine.
  Pro tip – Always add the dressing just before serving. This will prevent the veggies from releasing too much moisture, resulting in a soggy salad.
• Enjoy!

Variations on beet salad

• Roasted beet salad – Use roasted beets to make this salad. Roasted beets are sweeter and more delicious.
• Cheese beet salad – Add 1/2 cup chopped goat cheese, and crumble 1/2 cup goat’s feta cheese over the prepared salad. Or try shaved gorgonzola, blue cheese, or parmesan cheese.
• Green beet salad – Serve this salad on a bed of green lettuce or arugula salad leaves.
• Chicken beet salad – Make a complete meal for lunch or dinner. Add up to 2 cups of diced cooked chicken breast to the salad.
• Tuna beet salad – Add a can of drained and flaked tuna to the salad.
• Shrimp beet salad – Add up to 2 cups of sauteed shrimp to this salad.

More salad recipes

• Cherry Tomato Salad – Tomato Mozzarella Salad
• Chickpea Salad or Couscous Salad
• Avocado Salad or Asian Salad Recipe
• Lebanese Roasted Eggplant Salad
• Easy Celery Salad Recipe with Cranberries and Pecans
• Easy Cabbage Salad or Quick Carrot Salad

How to cook beets

There are many ways to cook beets – boiling, steaming, microwaving them in a large bowl with a bit of water, and my favorite method is roasting them in a baking dish or aluminum foil.

It is best to cook beets with the skin on, as the skin peels off easily. And you can wrap the beets in a paper towel when peeling. Since the rough paper helps peel the skin and prevents your hands from getting stained too much.

• Boiling – Add the beet to a pot of boiling water until they are fork-tender—usually about 30 to 40 minutes. And make sure the beets are submerged in water by at least 2 inches. Otherwise, you will find the top part still stays raw.
• Steaming – This is a great way to keep all the nutrition in the beet. Place the beets in a steamer with water and cook for about 30 minutes. And for a homemade steamer, place a metal colander over a pot of boiling water and cover it with a lid.
• Microwave – This is another method similar to steaming. Place the beets in a microwave-safe bowl with an inch of water. Next, cover with plastic wrap and poke some holes to let out steam. Then, cook on high for 5 to 6 minutes or until fork-tender.
• Roasting – You can roast a beet whole or cut it into pieces.
  • Wrap the whole beets in aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then, roast them in the preheated oven at 400°F / 200 °C / Gas Mark 6 for about 50 to 60 minutes.
  • Alternatively, chop the beet into similar-sized pieces (about 2 inches) and place them in a baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Then, bake in the preheated oven at 400°F / 200°C / Gas Mark 6 for 30 to 35 minutes.
• Instant Pot – You can also cook beets in your Instant Pot. Place the cleaned beets in the inner metal pot, add 1 inch of water, and pressure cook for 20 minutes with the manual release for 10 minutes.

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