Beet Salad with Spinach and Honey-Mustard Lemon Dressing

Beet Salad with spinach, mandarin oranges, red onion, pine nuts, feta cheese, and homemade Honey-Mustard Lemon Vinaigrette - in a white bowl.

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.

Course Salad

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Keyword beet salad

Prep Time 15

Total Time 15

Servings people

Calories 357kcal

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

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

How to boil raw beets

Wash beets really well under running water, removing any dirt. Slice off stringy parts from the top and the bottom of each beet.
Place raw beets in a large saucepan and cover with water.
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.
The beets are done when they can be easily pierced with a fork. Remove from heat.
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