Beet Salad

Here’s our favorite Beet Salad, complete with perfectly caramelized roasted beets, fresh citrus, creamy goat (or feta) cheese, and sweet, candied almonds. Add a drizzle of our favorite tangy citrus-balsamic vinaigrette to perfectly finish everything off! 

We love Beet Salad so much that we made a variation of it with pistachios, avocado, and a lemon-orange vinaigrette — check out that Beet and Goat Cheese Salad next!

Beet Salad

Roasted beets are one of my favorite veggies (especially if they’re paired with roasted sweet potatoes) so we add ’em to a salad with a citrusy balsamic dressing and it’s become a new favorite!

The sweetness of the orange pairs perfectly with the tangy balsamic dressed beets, the goat cheese adds a nice creaminess, and the crunchy almonds add the perfect finishing touch.

There are a few components to this salad, but a lot can be prepared ahead of time and then tossed together right before serving– making it a great salad to bring to an event or serve to company. And the beauty of this salad is it can easily serve as a side dish or be converted into a main dish with some added protein — more on this below!

Candied Almonds

The candied almonds add a nice crunch and additional sweetness to Beet Salad. They’re also quick and easy to make– only two ingredients and one skillet — no oven necessary!

Because they are made in a skillet, they do require constant supervision; the candied almonds can go from perfect to burnt in a matter of seconds. My biggest tip here is to stir them constantly and watch carefully. As soon as the sugar begins to get sticky and wet, remove the almonds from the burner and continue to stir until the sugar is completely absorbed into the almonds.

If you don’t want to make your own candied almonds, I’d recommend picking up some at the grocery store; these honey-roasted almonds are our favorite. They’re usually found with other salad toppers or in the end caps of the produce section of the grocery store. 

And if you’d like to enjoy this Beet Salad with less sugar, add plain toasted almonds instead; see the “quick tip” box below!

Supreming Citrus

If you are unfamiliar with the term supreming citrus it’s a simple technique to remove the membrane from citrus fruit. Not only does it elevate the presentation in this Beet Salad, but it also ensures the citrus is free of rind or pith. Supreming does take a little more time, so it’s not entirely necessary, but if you’re serving this salad for an event or holiday, it does add that extra touch.

To supreme citrus:

1. Use a very sharp knife (otherwise this can be frustrating!).
2. Cut off the top and bottom of the fruit and then set the fruit on a cutting board, with the flat edge down.
3. Working around the fruit, slice the peel and pith off in sections. Follow the shape of the fruit cutting from the top down to the bottom.
4. Repeat until all the peel and pith have been removed.
5. Now, thinly slice (and halve the slices for smaller orange bites).
6. Add the beautiful cut citrus to the Beet Salad!

Beet Salad Dressing

This dressing has a very intense, tangy, and mildly sweet flavor. Here are a few tips:

• Use good quality, extra virgin olive oil: The better your olive oil, the better the flavor of the dressing will be. Here are a few tips when trying to find good olive oil and a list of chefs’ favorite olive oils. Cobram Estate® Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a current favorite of mine in this dressing.
• Squeeze the orange juice yourself: Already prepared (store-bought) orange juice is typically concentrated or has added ingredients that affect the flavor and sweetness of the dressing. Use freshly squeezed juice instead.
• Toss some of the roasted beets with the dressing. After the beets have roasted, toss with a little dressing while they’re still hot. This gives the beets a chance to marinate and develop more flavor as they cool down for the salad.
• Use kitchen tools to make the dressing preparation easier. Use a microplane (like this one) to zest only the very outside bright orange part of the clementine. Avoid the white pith below the peel. This citrus juicer makes juicing the clementines a breeze!

Converting Beet Salad Into A Main Dish

We love Beet Salad with thinly sliced grilled chicken or shredded rotisserie chicken added in.

We’ve also enjoyed it on the side with grilled flank steak (check out this Grilled Flank Steak recipe).

How to roast beets

Tip: You may want to wear gloves when working with beets because they can stain your hands and fingernails. Also, I recommend a dark plastic cutting board, since beets will stain wood and lighter boards.

• Trim the beets. Cut the tops off the beets and trim the root. (Save the beet greens and use them in one of these recipes!) 
• Peel the beets. Completely peel the beets with a vegetable peeler.
• Cut. The beets should be in 1/2-inch cubes. To get even-sized beet cubes, cut the beets first into 1/2-inch-thick rounds, then cut each round into 1/2 thick strips. The strips can then be cut down into 1/2-inch cubes.
• Roast. Place the cut beets on a lined sheet pan and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes, flip, and bake another 15 minutes. They may need another 5-10 minutes, depending on the size they were cut, the actual oven temperature, and how spaced out the beets are.

For best results, I recommend roasting the beets on a 15×21-inch sheet pan. The larger pan ensures the beets aren’t overlapping– and will give you perfectly caramelized beets. If the beets are crowded on the pan and overlapping, they will steam instead of roast. If you don’t have an extra-large sheet pan, divide the beets onto 2 smaller sheet pans. 

More Salad Recipes

• Italian Salad with an herb dressing
• Strawberry Salad with a citrus dressing
• Moroccan Carrot Salad with a chickpeas
• Apple Fennel Salad with a lemon dressing
• Mango Salad with a cinnamon-yogurt dressing