Beetroot Salad (w/ Beet Salad Dressing)

This beetroot salad is the easiest, yet prettiest salad! It’s cooked beets drizzled with a simple homemade dressing.

This recipe makes 1 serving as an entree, or 2 servings as a side dish.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Beet Salad Ingredients
• How to Cook Beets
• Beet Salad Recipe
• Dressing for Beet Salad
• Tips and FAQ
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Contact Me with Questions
• Nutritional Information

This was one of the recipes my mommy taught me before she crossed the rainbow bridge. The heart shapes were my own special touch, which makes this salad perfect for Valentine’s Day.

This is the easiest beetroot salad because you only need a few ingredients, some spices, and 10 minutes. It’s quick, easy, healthy, and delicious. Since it’s vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and nut-free, it’s perfect for anyone with dietary restrictions or food allergies.

Ingredients you Need for Beetroot Salad

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 4 large, 6 medium, or 8 small beets (~350g)

How to Prepare Raw Fresh Beets for a Roasted Beet Salad

prep time: 10 min | bake time: 1 hour

These are the step-by-step instructions for how to prepare your beets when you’re starting with fresh raw beets. If you prefer to save time and use packaged cooked beets or canned pickled beets, skip to the salad preparation.

Preheat the oven. Turn on the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Wash the beets. Since beets are a root vegetable, they grow underground. So, you’ll want to scrub them the way you wash carrots and potatoes.

Remove stems and leaves. Cut off the stems and roots from each. If you buy the beets with the greens attached, you can save the beet greens for a tofu scramble or frittata or a soup.

Roast the beets. Place the washed beets in a lasagna pan or other oven-safe dish. Rub each one with avocado oil (optional). Fill the pyrex pan halfway with water. Cover the pan with foil or a baking sheet. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for one hour. While you wait, you can prepare the dressing for the beet salad.

Cool the cooked beets. Remove the pan from the oven when you can pierce the largest beet with a fork, and it goes in easily. Set the pan on a cooling rack to cool for 30 minutes. You want to be able to touch the beets without hurting your paws. If they’re still too hot to touch after a half hour, submerge them in a pot or bowl of ice water for 5 minutes to speed up the cooling process.

Peel the cooled beets. Remove the beet skins using your fingers or a paring knife.

How to make Beet Salad using Cooked Beets

prep time: 2-7 min

Cut beets. Slice all the beets into slices that are an even thickness. Aim for slices that are ¼” (6mm) thick if possible, but that part isn’t really important. If you’re in a hurry, cut the beet slices with a knife. If you have time and want your salad to have cute beet-ing hearts, use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter. I used a small heart-shaped cookie cutter from my heart set. Put the beet pieces in a medium sized bowl. If I slice my beets into ¼” slices, I can get 7 slices from a large beet, 4 slices from a medium beet, and 3 slices from a small beet (ends discarded). This equals ~290g of slices. Then if I cut hearts out of those slices, I end up with 130g of hearts. Slicing beets takes 2 minutes. Cutting hearts out of the slices takes 5 more minutes.

Don’t worry, I still eat the non-heart-shaped beet scraps. I’m not a waster.

Ingredients for Dressing for Beet Salad

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 2 tablespoons (32g) balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons (27g) olive oil
• 1 tablespoon (15g) mustard
• ½ teaspoon (1g) onion powder
• ½ teaspoon (1-2g) garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
• ½ teaspoon (1g) pepper

How to Make Dressing for Beet Salad

prep time: 5 min

Combine the salad dressing ingredients. Blend all the beet salad dressing ingredients using an immersion blender. If you don’t have one, you can put the ingredients into a bowl and whisk them like I did here. The dressing ingredients include 2 tablespoons (32g) balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons (27g) olive oil, 1 tablespoon (15g) mustard, ½ teaspoon (1g) onion powder, ½ teaspoon (1-2g) garlic powder, ½ teaspoon (3g) salt, and ½ teaspoon (1g) pepper.

Pour over salad. Pour all the dressing, if you sliced the beets. If you made a heart salad, pour only half the dressing. Pour the other half of the dressing over the salad you make with the beet scraps you kept from cutting out the hearts. Stir the salad until it’s all evenly coated with dressing. Or just leave it drizzled on top like I did.

Tips, Troubleshooting, and Questions and Answers

Tip 1: Make the salad ahead of time.

If you’re having this beet salad for dinner, you can make this as early as the day before. Store it in the fridge after you dress it.

How do I keep leftover beet salad?

I store this salad overnight in the fridge in a tupperware. If I don’t have enough leftovers for a whole salad, I’ll add them to a bed of baby mixed greens.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Beets: I love the color of red beets, but you can also use golden beets if you prefer. Both red and golden beets are equally nutritious and packed with folate, manganese, and copper. Beets are also good for blood pressure, digestive systems, and anti-inflammatory diets..
• Balsamic Vinegar: You can replace some or all of the 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar with red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• Olive Oil: I always use extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil. You can use other types of plant based oils in place of the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Some good ones are grapeseed oil, almond oil, walnut oil, or avocado oil.
• Onion Powder: If you prefer fresh ingredients over dried, you can replace the ½ teaspoon of onion powder with 2 tablespoons of finely diced red onion.
• Garlic Powder: If you prefer fresh ingredients over dried, you can replace the ½ teaspoon of garlic powder with 3 cloves of diced fresh garlic.
• Mustard: I just use organic yellow mustard because I’m not fancy. You can replace it with dijon mustard if you’re into fancy mustards. You can also just omit the mustard or replace it with an additional teaspoon of vinegar.
• Salt: I use ½ teaspoon pink sea salt because I’m super into salt. You can use less or omit it if you’re sensitive to salt.
• Pepper: I use ½ teaspoon ground black pepper. You can use less or more or omit it altogether.

Comments or Questions?

If you make this recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Nutrition Facts

This nutritional information is for one serving. I’m assuming that a serving is half of this recipe.

• Servings: 2
• Calories: 226
• Fiber: 4g
• Saturated fat: 2g
• Total fat: 14g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 702mg
• Sugars: 15g
• Total Carbohydrates: 22g
• Protein: 2g
• Calcium: 37mg
• Potassium: 570mg
• Iron: 2mg

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

This post links to items I mention. If you click on one, you will go to a website (like Amazon) where you can buy the product. Sometimes, the store you purchase from (Amazon, Etsy, etc.) will pay me for referring you. This costs you nothing extra, and I would never recommend a product that I don’t use. These affiliate programs help me buy ingredients to create recipes for you. Read more about this in my privacy policy.

I mostly cook with organic ingredients, but only specify organic when it’s necessary to ensure the item is vegan.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆