This salad recipe can serve as a side dish, or on its own as a light dinner or lunch (add in baked chicken breast or grilled shrimp for some protein).
How to Cook Beets for Salad
To get the most intense flavor and unlock the sweetness in beets, we love to use roasted beets but you can cook them any way you want! If the tops are fresh and unspotted, save them for beet greens. They are delicious and can be steamed, sautéed or lightly boiled as you would for Swiss chard or other leafy greens.
Making Beet Salad Dressing
A beet salad pairs well with a vinaigrette dressing. Raw egg yolk and a little elbow grease are the secret ingredients to thicken and bind oil and vinegar to create a creamy vinaigrette. This recipe uses raw egg (much like my caesar salad dressing). This is the same technique for making homemade mayonnaise, so you might discover your dressing is too thick to your liking. You can use any vinaigrette you’d like.
Can This Be Made Ahead?
My recipe for arugula beet salad can absolutely be made ahead. In fact, I encourage it! Just don’t dress it until ready to serve. Combine all the ingredients, cover tightly and chill. It will keep for up to 3-4 days in the fridge. You’ll love the way the flavors deepen and develop.
Other Beet Salad Additions
This is a salad after all, which means lots of room for creativity!
Chopped nuts of any kind can be substituted for the walnuts. Slivered almonds would be excellent. Arugula is a strong tasting green and not to everyone’s taste. Alternatives are milder romaine or cabbage, either green or red. Instead of or in addition to the goat cheese, you could feta cheese or a shredded gouda.
Toss in other ingredients as you see fit. Try grated raw carrot or fresh dill. Or, play up the sweetness of earth’s autumn harvest with Roasted Butternut Squash. The flavors of fall come around only once a year!
More Salad Recipes You’ll Love
Green Bean Salad – colorful, tasty, and goes with anything! Strawberry Spinach Salad – a definite crowd-pleaser Asian Chopped Salad – whole lot of color & crunch! Cucumber Tomato Salad – classic & oh-so refreshing! Arugula Salad with Berries – light, refreshing & easy Beet & Arugula Salad – so fresh and flavorful
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