Beet Salad with Spinach and Honey-Mustard Lemon Dressing

This simple 15-minute Beet Salad features healthy ingredients, such as spinach, mandarin oranges, red onion, pine nuts, and feta cheese, tossed with homemade Honey-Mustard Lemon Vinaigrette. Your family and friends with love the fresh, earthy, savory, and sweet combination of flavors! It makes a beautiful appetizer, light meal, or even dinner! This recipe will show you how to roast beets in the oven and how to boil them on the stovetop. You can also use marinated or pickled beets.

Beet salad

This quick and easy, crowd-pleasing salad is loaded with fresh vegetables and fruit: beets, spinach, red onion, and mandarin oranges. Toasted pine nuts and feta cheese take the beet salad over the top.  Add the homemade Honey-Mustard Lemon Dressing, and you will be obsessed with it just like my family! It's a perfect everyday salad to serve with your weeknight dinner. This recipe contains a ton of useful tips about the beets: how to roast them in the oven, how to boil them, and how to peel them. You can also use marinated beets or pickled beets. And, if you want more beet salad inspiration, don't miss my Beet Salad with Spinach, Cashews, Cranberries, and Goat Cheese.

Why you'll love it

• Simplicity. The recipe uses easily accessible ingredients found in most grocery stores. It also makes a beautiful presentation - perfect for sharing with your family and friends as an everyday salad, for a special occasion, or during holidays.
• Healthy salad. Everything in this salad is healthy. The dressing is made from scratch. You know exactly what ingredients go into this salad.
• Flexible. I wanted a healthy salad that would pair with just about any main dish and make a beautiful presentation with very little effort. This recipe ticks all those boxes! It's super versatile and flexible - can be easily adjusted to what you have available.

Healthy salad

This beet salad (as simple as it is) is packed with nutrients! Every single ingredient provides nutrition and value. I really love it not only because it's such a tasty combo of sweet, savory, and earthy flavors, but also because it's so healthy. It's gluten-free, high in fiber, low in fat, vegetarian, and meatless.  See it for yourself:

Healthy ingredients

• Beets are highly nutritious. They contain so many essential vitamins, including Folate, C, and B6. They are also a great source of potassium, copper, manganese, magnesium, and iron.
• Spinach is packed with nutrients and antioxidants. It’s high in fiber and a good source of many vitamins and minerals. Spinach is a great source of vitamins A and C, as well as folic acid, iron, and calcium.
• Mandarine oranges are a small citrus tree fruit. They are often called mandarins and are part of the same family as oranges, limes, and lemons. They are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. In particular, mandarins are a good source of beta-carotene, an antioxidant. They are also rich in Vitamin C. I used 3 mandarine oranges, peeled and segmented.  You can also use canned mandarins (1 can or 15 oz).
• Red onion. Onions provide many anti-oxidants and are a good source of vitamins, such as C, B6, and Folate.
• Feta cheese is quite nutritious, as well, and is a great source of calcium. This delicious cheese has a soft texture and briny flavor.

Honey-Mustard Lemon Vinaigrette

• Salad dressing ingredients include extra virgin olive oil, honey, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and Dijon mustard. I recommend using freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (not the bottled kind) and extra virgin olive oil. You can use either maple syrup or honey.
• Just combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a mason jar and whisk with the fork (or close the jar with the lid and shake it vigorously to blend the flavors).

How to roast beets in the oven

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line the rimmed baking sheet with foil.
2. Wash raw beets really well under running water, removing any dirt. Slice off stringy parts from the top and the bottom of each beet.
3. Wrap each raw beet in a piece of foil airtight and arrange the beets on the lined baking sheet.
4. Roast in the preheated oven at 400 F for 1 hour or until the beets are soft when pierced with a fork.
5. Remove from oven, and unwrap carefully. Let them cool, and only then peel.

How to boil beets

1. Wash raw beets really well under running water, removing any dirt. Slice off stringy parts from the top and the bottom of each beet.
2. Place raw beets in a large saucepan and cover with water.
3. Bring to boil - it usually takes 10 minutes for the water with beets to start boiling.  Once the water starts to boil, boil the beets for 20-30 minutes or more, depending on the thickness and the size of your beets.
4. The beets are done when they can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from heat.
5. Carefully remove the beets from the pot of hot water using a large fork or tongs. Let them cool before you peel them.

How to peel cooked beets

Once the cooked beets are cooled off, you can easily peel them with your hands under running water or with a dull knife, such as a butter knife. The skin comes off so easily, you don't really need a vegetable peeler, nor do you need a sharp knife.

Variations, substitutions, and recipe notes

Not only does this easy beet salad feature straightforward and easily accessible ingredients, but it's also an incredibly flexible recipe that you can easily adjust depending on what you have available.

• Greens. Use your favorite greens - spinach, arugula, mixed greens, garden greens, and lettuce.
• Nuts. Dress up a beet salad with your favorite nuts: pecans, walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, or almonds. If using raw nuts, toast them briefly in the oven to make them crunchy. You can also use roasted nuts or use candied nuts.
• Add seeds. Add toasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds in addition to the nuts or instead of them.
• Dried fruit. Add Craisins (dried cranberries), dried figs, blueberries, or cherries.
• Cheese. I recommend using goat cheese, feta, or gorgonzola.
• Small oranges. You can use fresh mandarins, tangerines, or clementines. I used 3 mandarine oranges, segmented.  You can also use canned mandarins (1 can or 15 oz).

Tips for making it ahead

• Pre-cook the beets. Boil or roast the beets up to 3 days in advance. Keep cooked beets refrigerated in an airtight container (or in a plastic bag).
• Segment mandarin oranges. Keep them refrigerated in a small sandwich bag until ready to use (for up to 3 days).
• Prepare the salad dressing up to 3 days in advance and store it refrigerated in a glass mason jar.
• The assembly should take only 10 minutes right before serving for the best results and freshness.

Tips for Success

• Don't add the pine nuts, crumbled feta cheese, and salad dressing until right before serving to keep the salad fresh and to prevent the nuts from getting soggy.
• I recommend arranging the salad in individual bowls. Add beets and crumbled feta cheese last to prevent the beets from coloring the salad purple.

Storage Tips

• It's best to serve beet salad right away, so I recommend making just enough so that you have no leftovers.
• If you do have leftovers, the salad can be refrigerated for 2 days. It's best to refrigerate the salad and the dressing separately.

What to serve with it

Beet salad pairs well with any main course, especially grilled meats, red meat (steak, pork, lamb), and chicken. Here are some tasty suggestions:

• Creamy Chicken and Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Spinach
• Creamy Tuscan Chicken with Spinach, Artichokes, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
• Creamy Mushroom Pork Chops
• Lamb Chops with Creamy Mustard Sauce
• Creamy Spinach Chicken
• Bacon and Mushroom Pork Chops

Other beet salads you might like

• Simple Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Spinach
• Beet Salad with Spinach, Cashews, Cranberries, and Goat Cheese

Other beet recipes

• Beet Soup - you'd be surprised but the beet soup is quite delicious.
• Beet and Goat Cheese Fettuccine - and, yes, I made pasta with goat cheese and beet sauce, too. It has such a beautiful bright maroon color (all natural, of course, from beets).

4.45 from 216 votes

Beet Salad with Spinach and Honey-Mustard Lemon Dressing

This simple 15-minute Beet Salad features healthy ingredients, such as spinach, mandarin oranges, red onion, pine nuts, and feta cheese, tossed with homemade Honey-Mustard Lemon Vinaigrette. Your family and friends with love the fresh, earthy, savory, and sweet combination of flavors! It makes a beautiful appetizer, light meal, or even dinner! This recipe will show you how to roast beets in the oven and how to boil them on the stovetop. You can also use marinated or pickled beets.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Salad

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Servings 6 people

Calories per serving 357 kcal

Author: Julia

Ingredients

Beets

• 1.5 lb beets cooked, peeled, sliced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon honey

Salad ingredients

• 5 oz baby spinach
• 2 cups mandarin oranges segments (3 mandarin oranges peeled and segmented)
• ⅓ cup red onions sliced
• ⅓ cup pine nuts toasted
• 4 oz feta cheese crumbled

Salad dressing

• ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions 

• This recipe uses cooked beets. I highly recommend that you pre-cook the beets 1 to 3 days in advance. See notes below on how to roast the beets in the oven or how to boil them.
• In a small bowl, mix together sliced cooked beets together with olive oil and honey. Add an extra tablespoon of honey if you like.
• Mix all the salad dressing ingredients in a mason jar and whisk with a fork. Or, close with a lid and shake vigorously.
• I prefer to arrange the salad in individual bowls for presentation purposes. It's especially essential for a beet salad as beets tend to color everything they touch purple.
• Add spinach to each individual salad bowl. Top with mandarin oranges, pine nuts, and sliced red onion. Drizzle with the salad dressing. Toss lightly to combine. Add honey-coated beets and crumbled feta cheese on top. Season with freshly ground black pepper.
• Alternatively, you can combine all the salad ingredients (except the beets and feta cheese) in a large serving bowl, add the dressing, and toss to combine. Then, top the salad with honey-coated beets and crumbled feta cheese, and serve!

Notes

What kind of beets to use?

• Use cooked beets, marinated beets, or pickled beets.

How to roast raw beets in the oven

1. Preheat the oven to 400 F.
2. Wash beets really well under running water, removing any dirt. Slice off stringy parts from the top and the bottom of each beet.
3. Wrap each beet in a piece of foil airtight and arrange the beets on the foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.
4. Roast in the preheated oven at 400 F for 1 hour or until the beets are soft when pierced with a fork.
5. Remove from oven, unwrap carefully, and let them cool, and only then peel.

How to boil raw beets

1. Wash beets really well under running water, removing any dirt. Slice off stringy parts from the top and the bottom of each beet.
2. Place raw beets in a large saucepan and cover with water.
3. Bring to boil - it usually takes 10 minutes for the water with beets to start boiling.  Once the water starts to boil, boil the beets for 20-30 minutes or more, depending on the thickness and the size of your beets.
4. The beets are done when they can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from heat.
5. Carefully remove the beets from the pot of hot water using a large fork or tongs. Let them cool before you peel them.

How to toast pine nuts in the oven

• Spread the pine nuts in one layer over the parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
• Roast for 5 minutes in the preheated oven at 350 F.
• Note: pine nuts get burned really quickly. Watch them closely and remove them promptly from the oven.

Nutrition

Nutrition Information

Beet Salad with Spinach and Honey-Mustard Lemon Dressing

Amount per Serving

Calories

357

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

24

g

37

%

Saturated Fat

 

5

g

31

%

Trans Fat

 

0.002

g

Polyunsaturated Fat

 

4

g

Monounsaturated Fat

 

13

g

Cholesterol

 

17

mg

6

%

Sodium

 

408

mg

18

%

Potassium

 

700

mg

20

%

Carbohydrates

 

32

g

11

%

Fiber

 

6

g

25

%

Sugar

 

24

g

27

%

Protein

 

7

g

14

%

Vitamin A

 

2783

IU

56

%

Vitamin C

 

32

mg

39

%

Calcium

 

168

mg

17

%

Iron

 

2

mg

11

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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.

Keyword beet salad

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