Your search for the perfect beet salad ends here. This quick pickled beet salad is tangy, and fresh, and pairs well with almost anything.
It uses seasonal produce like beets and red onions, along with tons of aromatics and lemon. For a tangy and fresh salad that tastes good even when it’s cold out. Not to mention the color of this salad is stunning!
One of my goals with this recipe was for it to become your staple recipe whenever you have beets on hand. So I hope you love it just as much as I do!!
Sidenote, I strongly believe that beets are massively underrated. And it’s a popularity thing. They’re just not as cool as their other root cousins, ie. potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc. However, this simple beet salad definitely deserves a spotlight, because it’s the quintessential winter salad.
Ok, I’ll stop rambling, let’s get into the recipe.
Pickled Beet Salad Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to make this insane vegan beet salad.
- Beets: Duh!
- Red onion
- Green olives
- Fresh parsley
- Fresh mint
- Extra virgin olive oil: I don’t have one particular olive oil I love over everything, but I do have 3 favorites. My current favorite is Terra Delyssa Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but I also love California Olive Ranch (which is local to my area) and Lucini Extra Virgin Olive Oil (also local to my area).
- Lemons: You’ll need both lemon juice and zest for this recipe.
- Honey: You can sub in maple syrup if you’re vegan.
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Kosher salt
How to Prepare the Beets
Ok, so you have two options when it comes to the beets in this salad. You could either buy the pre-boiled and packaged beets at the store and save yourself an hour of boiling beets. Or you could boil the beets for an hour. I prefer to boil the beets myself as they’re fresh, and a lot more flavorful!
So here’s how I boil the beets for this cold beet salad – it’s pretty similar to making pasta!
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil; make sure the pot is deep so the water that bubbles out doesn’t stain your backsplash.
- Once the water is boiling, add in the washed beets, salt the water generously, and reduce the heat to medium-high. Let the beets gently boil for 50-60 minutes; they should be fork-tender but still have some bite.
- Drain the beets and let cool in a colander.
- Once cooled, use a paper towel to gently rub the beets and remove the skin. You can use your hands, but I’ve found that the paper towel gets a better grip on the beet skin. Repeat this process for all the beets.
I like preparing 4-5 beets on the weekend and storing them in the fridge. That way I can whip up this salad whenever I want.
A Few Notes on Quick Pickling
The main reason this healthy beet salad tastes so good is that the onions and olives are quick pickled.
Ok, but like what the heck is quick pickling? Essentially, you can quick pickle veggies by soaking them in a vinegar, salt, and sugar mixture. In this case, lemon juice, kosher salt, and honey. While the technique for quick pickling is slightly different, the principles and result is the same.
That said, most quick pickle recipes state the veggies need to be pickled up for at least 24 hours, but for this beet salad, the onions, and olives just need to sit for 30 minutes (ideally, 2 hours).
And as with most salads, this simple beet salad tastes even better the next day!
Even More Healthy Salad Recipes
Sharing a few more citrusy and pickled salads below; they’re not necessarily winter salads, but they have a similar flavor profile to this pickled beet salad.
XO, Yasmeen
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Pickled Beet Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Sit Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Description
Your search for the perfect beet salad ends here. This quick pickled beet salad is tangy, and fresh, and pairs well with almost anything.
Ingredients
- 1/2 small-medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup (about 20) pitted green olives, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 small-medium boiled beets*
- 1/2 cup finely minced parsley
- 1/2 cup finely minced mint
Instructions
- Add the red onion, olives, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, lemon zest, salt, and black pepper into a large serving bowl. Toss together and let sit for 30-45 minutes. This will ensure the onions and olives quick pickle and add so much flavor to the salad.
- Chop the beets into small cubes and add them to the bowl, along with the parsley and mint. Toss together. Let sit for an additional 15 minutes.
- You can enjoy this salad warm, or leave it in the fridge and enjoy it cold over the next few days. It tastes phenomenal either way, although it does have a more intense pickled flavor the longer it sits.
Notes
*You can either buy pre-packaged beets, which have already been boiled, or you can boil them yourself (which I prefer). Here’s how I boil the beets for this cold beet salad. I start them 1 hour before I make the salad, that way, they have time to cool before chopping and adding them to the salad. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; make sure the pot is deep so the water that bubbles out doesn’t stain your backsplash. Once the water is boiling, add in the washed beets, salt the water generously, and reduce the heat to medium-high. Let the beets gently boil for 50-60 minutes; they should be fork-tender but still have some bite. Drain the beets and let cool in a colander. Once cooled, use a paper towel to gently rub the beets and remove the skin. You can use your hands, but I’ve found that the paper towel gets a better grip on the beet skin. Repeat this process for all the beets.
Loved the pickled beets!! I sprinkled with a bit of goat cheese and pumpkin seeds.
So happy you liked this Donna; the goat cheese sounds so good!!