This beet salad recipe is a stunning fall or winter side dish! Goat cheese, apples, and arugula fill it with a delightful mix of textures and flavors.
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I love all the colors in this roasted beet salad recipe. The vibrant greens, the red and golden beets, the pale pink shallot, and the dots of white cheese. This kind of colorful salad is exactly what I like to serve at a dinner party or holiday meal. It adds some needed freshness to a spread of, say, stuffing and mashed potatoes, and it looks so striking, but it’s delightfully simple to make. You can even prep the components a day or two in advance!
Beet Salad Recipe Ingredients
To make this beet salad recipe, you can use any variety of beets. Red beets, golden beets, or pink Chioggia beets would all work well. Use a mix of colors if you can, but if red beets are all that’s available, don’t worry. The salad will still look beautiful and taste great.
And tip: if the beets’ tops are still attached, don’t toss them! Instead, save them to make this yummy sautéed beet greens recipe. Waste not, want not!
Here’s what else you’ll need to make this beet salad recipe:
- Granny Smith apple – It adds crunch and sweet-tart flavor. A ripe pear would work nicely here too.
- Fresh greens – I like to use arugula or spring mix to create the salad’s fresh base. A sprinkle of microgreens is a nice touch too.
- Soft goat cheese – A perfect partner for roasted beets! Its funky flavor and creamy texture pair wonderfully with the sweet, earthy root veggies.
- Toasted walnuts – For extra earthiness, richness, and crunch.
- Thinly sliced shallot – For sharp depth of flavor.
- Balsamic vinaigrette – I make my own with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little maple syrup, garlic, and mustard. Its sweet, tangy flavor really brings the salad together.
- And flaky sea salt and fresh black pepper – To make all the flavors pop! I love the delicate crunch that the flaky salt adds to this beet salad, but if you can’t find it, regular sea salt would be fine too.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Roasted Beet Salad Serving Suggestions
This beet and goat cheese salad is a perfect side dish for any fall or winter meal. You could enjoy it for lunch with a bowl of potato leek or butternut squash soup or serve it for dinner with pasta, risotto, pizza, or polenta. It would also be a great addition to a holiday spread. Serve it for Thanksgiving with classic dishes like green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and mashed potatoes, or pair it with lasagna or baked ziti for another holiday meal.
To get ahead, you can cook the beets and make the dressing up to two days in advance and store them in the fridge. Just before serving, assemble the salad with the roasted beets, goat cheese, apple, walnuts, shallot, and greens. Drizzle on the dressing, and serve!
More Favorite Salad Recipes
If you love this roasted beet salad recipe, try one of these fresh salads next:
- Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
- Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Butternut Squash Salad
- Avocado Salad
- Green Bean Salad
- Pear Salad with Balsamic and Walnuts
- Kale Salad with Carrot-Ginger Dressing
- Or any of these 51 Best Salad Recipes!
Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Balsamic
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 medium beets
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
- 2 cups salad greens, arugula or spring mix
- ½ shallot, thinly sliced
- ½ green apple, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup toasted walnuts
- 2 ounces goat cheese, torn
- Microgreens, optional
- Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Flaky sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Place each beet on a piece of foil. Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap the beets in the foil, place on a baking sheet, and roast for 35 to 60 minutes, or until fork-tender. The timing will depend on the size and freshness of the beets.Â
- Let the beets cool and chill them in the fridge until ready to use.
- Slice the beets into ¼-inch-thick rounds. Assemble the salad with the greens, shallots, apples, beets, walnuts, cheese, and microgreens, if using. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette. Season with flaky sea salt and pepper and serve.
Do I peel the beets before roasting? Looking forward to making this for our Canadian thanksgiving dinner this weekend!
I cook the beets whole and when a fork comes out easily, drain and rinse with ice cold water. You can rub off the skins with a paper tile. This is the fastest way to skin beats.
What was the original beet salad recipe before it was updated? I have been making it for my family for the last two or three Thanksgiving before the recipe was changed. What’s different? I loved the original recipe and can’t find it.
Hi Lynn, this is the same recipe! A post’s update date can change if we update links in the post or add a video or tips, etc. We haven’t changed this recipe.
This is a delicious salad, especially the balsamic dressing. My husband talked about it to several people after we made it, which is exciting for a salad!
Aww I’m so glad it was a hit!
I used the greens from my bunch of beets for this salad. It was very successful!
I’m looking forward to making this salad.
Can I use grated hard goat cheese, instead of soft goat cheese? I bought the wrong kind, unfortunately!
Thank you.
I leave maybe 1 recipe review every 2 years. And I don’t even love goat cheese. But this one won the award! I’d drizzle the balsamic vinaigrette on toilet paper, and the apple crunch with the earthy beets…man oh man. I boiled the beets in salted water, then peeled, and sliced. OUTSTANDING.
Why do we season the beets if the skin will be removed?
Hi Beth, they still get seasoned as they cook, but if you want to skip it and season them after, that’s fine too.
Hi Beth! My thoughts exactly. I saw another recipe that said the same. I didn’t do it.
This is delicious! Do you think radishes would be a good addition or would they clash?
Hi Sasha, I’m so glad you enjoyed the salad! I think a few thinly sliced radishes would be great here.
Whenever I think of something to make: I search for your recipe because I know that it will turn out delicious and without a lot of extra steps. I substituted feta for goat in this recipe and I used microgreens which added just the right texture.
Aww, I’m glad you’ve been enjoying the recipes!
Wonderful recipe! I’ve made so many of your recipes, and they’ve all been great. Now that I have more time, I will be leaving you feedback. Thank you for so many delicious recipes. The only substitution I made was I used rice vinegar instead of balsamic. I’m not a fan of balsamic vinegar.
So each slice of beet is individually wrapped in foil, right? Just double-checking.
Oh nevermind! Just realized the beets aren’t sliced prior to roasting!
do you remove the skin of the beets
Oh yes, thanks for pointing out that mistake. After I roast them, when they’re cool to the touch, I rinse them under cold water to slip off the skins.
can i use pickled beets from a jar?
sure!
Can you use the beets already to go from store or should you roast them?
Hi Lyn, you could use pre-cooked beets if your store sells them. If you’re talking about fresh, raw beets, I’d roast them.
A very amazing salad. My family truly enjoyed it. I would traditionally boil my beats, however, roasting them adds a totally different depth of flavor. I will definitely use this recipe more often. My family enjoyed the roasted walnuts and micro greens .
I’m so glad you loved it with the roasted beets!
Hi. What are the orange coloured round disks in the image? It looks cooked but there isn’t anything similar in the recipe? And are the shallots the little bit scattered around?
Lookimg forward to trying this recipe!
I too have this question. Curious that a photographic representation of a recipe would show ingredients not listed in the ingredient list.
I’m sure readers would be disappointed if they tried to duplicate this salad, and were not able to approximate the images here. The readers would probably lose trust in the quality of other recipes on this website…
I doubt though, honestly, that the author is intending to essentially perform a “recipe catfish” here…that is, catfish people into making this recipe, only to be disappointed once they’re face to face with it
Hi ww, yes, they are golden beets – it was not our intention to mislead since the recipe works with any color of beet. I’ll go ahead and update that in the recipe so that it’s clear.
The orange colored slices appear to be golden beets, and the reddish purple are red beets.
Hi Stephanie, they’re golden beets but the recipe works great with any type of beet.
They are golden beets. Beets are not always red. There are yellow ones.
Those are a different color beet. If you look up rainbow beets on Google you can see pics of different color beets
We made this as the salad course for our Thanksgiving feast. Multiple folks have asked for the recipe. Subbed chopped roasted hazelnuts (filberts) since it’s the only nut one of my sons can eat. Just delicious. A keeper.
The salad was a good mix of ingredients but I did not like the Balsamic dressing recipe. It was very thick and sweet.
Outstanding recipe! We added chopped apple and had to swap walnuts for pecans, but we’ll be eating this on repeat while beets are in season!
Excellent! DH asked why “we can’t have this every night.” Toasted walnuts in skillet. Used honeycrisp apple. Served with thick toasted slices of sourdough.
I was thinking I would do the same–use Honeycrisp. I’m not a fan of Granny Smith (unless they’re in a pie lol).
Hello! This looks lovely. How do you prepare / toast the walnuts?
Thanks
Hi Judy, you can put them in the oven on a baking sheet at 350 for about 5, or toast them in a dry skillet over low heat until toasted.
Thank you!