Nothing says fall like a roasted beet. This beet salad features a great vegetable that makes a perfect entrée salad or served as a light side dish.Â
One of the great things about the fall is the wonderful fresh vegetables. The beet is an underused vegetable. It has a very distinct flavor, and it is something that I love to eat. This salad was one of the ways that I could get a lot of my friends to eat them. It is a minimum effort salad that is great for meal prep and is even better the next day. I will make it the evening before and add the arugula right before I eat it since I love letting the flavors marinate. This recipe can be made in advance.Â
In this recipe
The star of the show is the beet. There is minimal effort needed to cook these which makes this recipe perfect for those on the go or don’t have the time to spend in the kitchen. One of my favorite parts of this recipe is actually the dressing. It uses caramelized shallots and roasted garlic. This adds a great depth of flavor with additional smokey notes as well as a subtle sweetness of the shallots. This is one of my favorite dressings and I like to use it on almost every salad.Â
Choosing the best beets
I know I know that a lot of people think that beets taste like dirt or earth however not all beets are created equal. The standard red beet is the most prevalent and also has an intense earthy flavor. Here are some alternative beets that work well with this recipe and have a lighter beet flavor.Â
Golden: These are the other beets in this recipe. They are orange and have a more mild beet flavor with a nice sweetness.Â
Striped: These beets when sliced have alternating rings of red and white. They are also known as candy stripe beets.
White albino: These are white like the name suggests and very sweet. The only beet sweeter is the sugar beet. Both of which can be used to make sugar.
Cylindra: This is a beet that looks like a carrot and called a butter beet due to its delicate and soft texture when cooked. They are also on the sweeter side as well. Â
No more purple hands
One of the things I used to hate about cooking with beets is how my hands would be this pink purple color after handling beets. This was mainly because when I first started cooking beets I would peel them first. However if you roast them with the skin on it just slides right off when it is cooked. Just take a paper towel or two and gently rub the skin. It will slide right off and into the paper towel. This also helps keep your hands like a purple/red dye free.Â
Making the dressing
The richness of the dressing is this recipe’s secret weapon. With the earthy and rich flavors of the beets and the sharpness of the goat cheese it is easy for the dressing to get lost. This is why the roasted garlic and caramelized shallots are necessary to add a richness and smokey flavors that complement the other ingredients. You can roast the garlic in the same foil wrapper as the golden beets. They will cook in the same time then all you need to do is squeeze out the garlic and add it to the blender. You want a slower caramelization on the shallots to help develop the flavors without charring them.
Looking for other beet recipes?
Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese
Equipment
- Sheet pan
- Aluminum foil
- Blender
- Sauté pan
Ingredients
Salad
- 3 red beets
- 3 golden beets
- 1½ cups arugula optional
- ½ cup goat cheese crumbled
- ½ cup pecans chopped
- ½ cup pomegranate seeds
- ½ tablespoon thyme
Roasted Garlic Dressing
- ½ cup shallot chopped
- ½ teaspoon roasted garlic
- 6 tablespoons avocado oil
- 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450F, 230C, or gas mark 8.
- Cut the tops and root tips off of the beets and wrap the red beets together in foil and the orange beets together in foil. If you are going to be roasting your own garlic chop the top of the garlic off and wrap it in the foil with the beets.
- Place both foil packages on the sheet pan and cook for 60 minutes.
- While the beets are cooking in a small sauté pan add add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and shallots. Cook on medium stirring occasionally until they have started to caramelize, about 7-12 minutes. Set the pan aside.
- When the beets are done remove from the oven and allow to cool. If you roasted the garlic then in a bowl squeeze out all of the garlic from the head.
- In a blender add the shallots, the oil they are in, the remaining oil, maple syrup, lemon juice and vinegar. Start on a low speed and gradually increase the speed until you get to your blender's highest setting. Blend until smooth and set aside.
- Once the beets are cool enough to handle use a paper towel or napkin to rub off the skin of the beets. Start with the orange beets and then the red. Then dice the beets into large cubes.
- Add the beets, dressing, thyme, and pecans to a bowl and toss well. Top with the goat cheese.
Nutrition
