Beet Salad with Spinach, Cashews, Cranberries, and Goat Cheese with honey, lemon and olive oil dressing. Healthy, gluten free, Mediterranean-style salad, packed with fiber and nutrients. Goat cheese adds a touch of creaminess, while the cashews add a bit of crunch to this healthy beet salad.
Beets have long been my secret love. I eat them all the time, and my husband jokes that if there is ever a shortage of beets it will be because I bought too many. Not only do I like how the beets taste, they are so good for you - you can read more about the benefits of beets in this article.
I really should share more beet recipes, but the truth is I often eat beets plain. I boil them in the water until they are soft (about 20-30 minutes in boiling water), let them cool, peel them, and then I just eat them with some olive oil. And, often with some goat cheese.
So, this time I decided to cook the beets not so plain. I made a beet salad. With goat cheese. And with spinach, cranberries, cashews, and a homemade salad dressing with honey, lemon and olive oil.
Ingredients for beet salad
You only need 5 ingredients for this delicious beet salad and here they are:
- beets , cooked, sliced
- baby spinach
- cashews , roasted
- dried cranberries
- goat cheese
Honey-Lemon Salad Dressing ingredients
And the beet salad dressing requires only 3 ingredients:
- olive oil
- honey
- lemon juice freshly squeezed
How to make beet salad with spinach and cashews
- Add baby spinach, sliced cooked beets, roasted cashews, and dried cranberries to a large salad bowl.
- Combine salad dressing ingredients in a different bowl: olive oil, honey, lemon juice. Whisk until combined.
- Pour the salad dressing over the beet salad, and toss to combine. Top with crumbled goat cheese.
This beet salad is so delicious and has so many ingredients that are good for you - I really recommend you make it! It's so simple but has so much flavor! This salad is healthy, gluten free, full of fiber.
This spinach and beet salad is a perfect lunch or snack. It also looks really pretty, and will make a beautiful side dish to any dinner.
How to cook beets
The easiest and the best way to cook beets is by boiling them. Here is how you do it:
- Place raw beets in a large sauce pan and cover with water.
- Bring to boil - it usually takes 10 minutes for the water with beets in my pan to start boiling. Once the water starts to boil, boil the beets for 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness and the size of your beets.
- Next, carefully pour the hot water out and let the beets cool off (without lid on) for another 20 minutes. It's important to pour the water out and remove the lid when cooling off the beets, otherwise they will get too soft.
- After beets have cooled off, use butter knife to easily peel the skin off them just like shown in the photo below:
After that, beets are ready to be placed in an air tight container (or zip-lock) and be kept in the refrigerator.
Note: While I usually boil all the beets for 20 minutes, you might have to boil them 10 minutes longer, especially if your beets are large, because the centers of large beets might not cook through in 20 minutes. But for small or medium size beets - 20 min is perfect!
Other beet recipes:
- Goat cheese is not the only cheese that goes great with beets in a salad. Gorgonzola cheese tastes amazing with beets too: Arugula Salad with Beets and Gorgonzola cheese.
- Yes, I made the soup with beets, and it was delicious! I used Kefir to make this soup creamy: Beet Soup.
- And, yes, I made pasta with the goat cheese and beet sauce, too. It's of a beautiful bright maroon color (all natural color, of course, from beets): Beet and Goat Cheese Fettuccine.
Are you convinced yet that I love beets?!
Beet Salad with Spinach, Cashews, and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
Beet Salad:
- 2 beets , cooked, sliced
- 4 oz baby spinach
- ½ cup cashews , roasted
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- 2 oz goat cheese
Honey-Lemon salad dressing:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
Instructions
- In a salad bowl, combine baby spinach, sliced cooked beets, roasted cashews, and dried cranberries. (You can cook the beets by boiling them in water for about 20-30 minutes, letting them cool, peeling them, and then slicing them). Do not add goat cheese yet.
- In a separate small bowl, combine salad dressing ingredients: olive oil, honey, lemon juice. Whisk until combined.
- Pour the salad dressing over the beet salad, and mix. Do not add all of the salad dressing at once. Add just enough to coat the salad to your taste. You might use all of the dressing - you might not. Top your beet salad with crumbled goat cheese.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
My husband wanted some seared scallops with this salad. YUM
I also added juice from a blood orange other that lemon. It was so delish!
Kristina, your additions sound so decadent, love them! This is delicious with seared scallops, and the juice from a blood orange is a nice touch!
Thank you for sharing your recipes. They are healthy and I will be trying them.
You're very welcome! Enjoy!
Can you use other nuts? Walnuts maybe or almonds. Your opinion?
Oh yes, absolutely! I think walnuts, pecans, or pine nuts would be great! Also, candied nuts would be delicious, as well!
I have been making this for a few summers now and everyone always wants the recipe. It's now turned into my go to salad! We love it.
Kari, I am so happy to hear that! Thanks for sharing your comment - it made my day!
So good -- a perfect combination of flavors, thanks so much. This will stay on permanent rotation.
Glad you liked it! 🙂
I use a jar of pickled beats and balsamic vinegarette love this salad
I make a double batch of this dressing I don't put the dressing on right away I just use it when I make the salad but I was concerned about the lemon juice in it if I kept on my pantry would that go bad I know olive oil and honey would be just fine or do you think I should keep the dressing in my refrigerator which I have but of course the olive oil thinking but it doesn't take long for it to liquify it again
Two suggestions:
1: Steam the beets; don’t boil
2: To EASILY peel the beets, drop the hot beets into very cold water OR under running water and rub the skins off with your hands. They slip right off. No knife necessary to peel AND no cooling time required. Wear plastic gloves if needed
This looks delicious! Can you use cut canned beets?
I just did! The price of beets was $5 for a small bunch of three small organic beets. No other selection to choose from. I drained a can of whole beets and patted them dry. As much as I was looking forward to to roasting my own, I settled. Everything was a hit. I will make it again soon.
Deanna, thank you so much for sharing such helpful feedback! I am glad to hear that this salad was delicious with canned whole beets. Your feedback will be so useful for other readers - thank you again for taking the time to share it! 🙂
Not a fan of goat cheese, mozzarella cheese ok.
You can also use Feta.
I used pickled beets. Made this a very quick and easy salad to put together! It's now my favorite salad!