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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
Nutrition Disclaimer:
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.
Is the lid on for boiling the beets?
Delicious! I used only 1tablespoon of honey in dressing and added a clove of crushed garlic
How can I print this recipe without printing 300 pages? I love the recipe however, I prefer having a printed copy to reference as needed.
Thank you
Right click on the recipe and click print. The recipe is on page 10. Go down and click print current page. then click print. I got three pages, but got the entire recipe and nutritional value.
Looks good! Do the cashews need to be unsalted?
You can use either salted or unsalted cashews. I used unsalted cashews.
This looks delicious. How are you cooking the beets? Are they roasted?
Thank you, Maureen! I used fresh beets and boiled them. I boil beets for about 30 minutes. You can also use roasted beets.
Didn’t have spinach so cut up Swiss chard & kale from my garden.
Yummy salad that’s SO GOOD for you. I used pickled beets, feta instead of goat cheese and did not toast cashews....it was still delicious! Will definitely make it again.
Love this salad! My family are not fans of beets, but I still made it and they enjoyed it.
How many people will this serve?
Plan on making this salad today for lunch. I bought red leaf lettuce instead of spinach so hope it works. Also plan on adding more veggies and am using pickled beets. Will rate my salad after trying it. Looks so delicious.
Me encanto ❤️
This is great! I took it to work and kept the spinach separate so it didn't get soggy and it was delicious!
Is there a difference in taste if you use canned beets?
I made this for dinner and it was delicious! My husband liked the combinations. Thanks for sharing and for letting me copy the recipe.
Sharon
Lovely recipe! I roasted my beets (fresh from the garden) with their skins on, olive oil and paprika for a terrific taste and good nutrition. I didn’t have spinach so I used the beet greens (coring out the woody stems) and it added another dimension to the flavor. Thank you for this great recipe!
This looks amazing! I've been loving beats lately, and have been looking for some new recipes. I'm going to substitute the beets for pickled beets, hopefully it works out. Thanks for sharing!