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With earthy beets, creamy goat cheese, crunchy walnuts, and a tangy vinaigrette, this salad looks fancy but comes together fast. Add sliced steak, salmon, or chicken, and it doubles as a gorgeous main.
This beet salad recipe with goat cheese and walnuts is my go-to dinner party salad. And I don’t think I’ve ever served it without sending a few people home with the recipe. Years ago, I would roast my own beets, but high-quality vacuum-packed roasted beets, such as Love Beets, are now available in the produce section of most grocery stores, which makes the salad a breeze to prepare.
“Absolutely delicious 💯 The dressing is superb. I follow the recipe to the T, I’ve made this 3x already this week. YUM!”
What You’ll Need to Make Roasted Beet Salad with Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette
- Dressing ingredients (red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, shallots, salt, pepper, and vegetable oil): A bright vinaigrette with subtle sweetness and a little zing. I prefer vegetable oil over olive oil here for its more neutral flavor.
- Mixed greens: The base of the salad—baby spinach and arugula are my go-tos, but any tender greens work.
- Roasted beets: I use vacuum-packed, precooked beets to save time. They’re already cooked and ready to use—no roasting necessary. If you prefer to start with fresh beets, see how to roast beets below.
- Walnuts and goat cheese: Add crunch, tang, and creaminess.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Roasted Beet Salad
Make the vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, shallots, salt, and pepper and whisk to combine. While whisking constantly, slowly stream in the oil until the dressing is emulsified. (Alternatively, you can toss everything into a jar, seal it, and shake vigorously.)
Assemble the salad: Put the greens in a large bowl and toss with the vinaigrette. Arrange on a platter or divide onto plates, then top with walnuts, goat cheese, and beets. Add the beets last so they don’t tint the rest of the salad pink. Serve and enjoy!
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
This salad is easy to prepare ahead of time. The vinaigrette can be made up to 4 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving, then give it a good shake to bring it back together.
You can also prepare the beets ahead of time and refrigerate them until ready to use. Keep the greens, beets, walnuts, and goat cheese separate, and toss everything together just before serving so the greens stay crisp. Add the beets last to keep them from turning the whole salad pink.
How to Roast Beets for This Salad
As mentioned above, I use vacuum-packed, precooked beets to save time, but you can absolutely roast your own. You’ll need about 3 medium beets.
Preheat the oven to 425°F and set a rack in the middle position. Scrub the beets clean and trim the stems to about 1 inch, leaving the tails intact. Place them on a large piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and wrap into a packet.
Roast directly on the oven rack for about 1 hour, or until a knife slides easily into the largest beet. Let cool until you can handle them, then peel and cut into wedges. Allow the beets to cool before adding them to the salad.
Roasted Beet Salad with Walnuts, Goat Cheese & Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the Vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1½ tablespoons minced shallots
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the Salad
- 10 oz mixed greens
- ½ lb vacuum-packed roasted beets, cut into wedges (see note)
- ½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 3 oz goat cheese
Instructions
For the Vinaigrette
- In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, shallots, salt and pepper.
- Whisking constantly, slowly add the oil in a steady stream. (Alternatively, add all the ingredients to a jar, cover with the lid, and shake vigorously to blend.) Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
For the Salad
- Place the greens in a large bowl, drizzle with about half of the vinaigrette and toss to combine. Add as much of the remaining vinaigrette as desired and toss again.
- Arrange the greens on a large platter or divide onto plates, then top with beets, walnuts and goat cheese. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you’re following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
See more recipes:
Roasted Beet Salad Variations
This salad is easy to change up depending on what you have on hand. Try pecans or pistachios instead of walnuts, or swap the goat cheese for feta or blue cheese. For a different take, replace the beets with sliced apples or strawberries. To make it a complete meal, top the salad with sliced steak, grilled chicken, or pan-seared salmon.
More Salads You May Like
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I have never seen packaged roasted beets or beets here in Atlantic Canada. How do you suggest we prepare raw beets for this salad?
Hi Elizabeth, If you scroll down to the end of the recipe, I’ve given instructions for roasting your own beets. It’s easy. 🙂
Another alternative is to steam the beets. After scrubbing, I steam them whole. I do this on an afternoon I’m planning to be at home anyway; other than the scrubbing and one or two checks for sufficient water during the cooking, the heat does all the work. I remove beets from heat when they are fork-tender. They can be cooked ahead and added to the recipe when you are ready.
Another idea: while the beets are cooling to a temperature comfortable enough to handle, I like to make a honey-serrano vinegar: in a small pot, place 1 or 2 serrano or jalapeno peppers (membranes & seeds removed), 1/3 c. red wine or balsamic vinegar, a tablespoon of honey, and 3/4 t. salt. Simmer for five minutes, strain out the peppers, and pour over peeled and quartered beets while warm or at room temperature. Drained, the beets can be used in the recipe for roasted beet salad with goat cheese, walnuts, and honey-dijon vinaigrette without any changes. This also makes a simple, tasty side dish on its own if I run out of time.
Costco
Hi Jenn! I love ALL of your recipes! This salad sounds delicious but we are not beet fans. Is there a substitute or should we just leave them out?
Thank you,
Melisa
Hi Melisa, I think shaved “ribbon-style” carrots would be delicious (and pretty) in this. Using a vegetable peeler, run the peeler away from you, down the length of the carrots, shaving off long, wide ribbons and rotating a few times as you go.
This is by far the best by far salad I’ve made!! I’ve shared it with all my family and friends!
This salad is terrific. I served it for a dinner party and it was easy and everyone ate it all! I used walnut oil because I had it in my cabinet.
Hi Jenn – love all the recipes! Can I use canned beets? I know that’s probably not ideal but I can’t always find the fresh produce I’m looking for nowadays. Thank you!
Hi Karen, I know it’s been a struggle recently to find what you need in the produce section! Yes, you can use canned beets but your store happens to have packaged roasted beets, those would be a good alternative to fresh roasted ones. Hope that helps!
Absolutely! Thanks so much!
Jenn, I’m a stay-at-home dad preparing for Thanksgiving. I just made this dressing, amazing!! When I feel unmotivated to cook I turn to your site. Your palate is better than mine and everything I’ve made turns out delicious. Thank you!
So glad you like the recipes and that up your motivation in the kitchen! 🙂
Absolutely Wonderful. Will make this again. The dressing was wonderful. I used grape seed oil.
We always order the beet and goat cheese salad when out for dinner so I decided to make it at home. This recipe was a huge hit and will be in regular rotation. The dressing is tangy and complements the sweet beets and creamy goat cheese. Well balanced and got the honor of my last bite on the plate. Thank you so much!
Quite wonderful! The combination of flavors is excellent and I will definitely make this recipe again.
Hey Jenn, Just by chance, I skipped to this recipe to see what you are offering on this blog. Spinach/beets/goat or blue cheese is about the easiest salad in the world to do (and adding bacon is easy and provides additional protein, but more salt and fat). Walnuts are not as good as pecans, and they are better if they are pan roasted in walnut oil or carmelized with maple syrup and butter before tossing in the salad. But you add salt to your vinagrette. Why? It is unhealthy at best, unnecessary given the saltiness of goat/feta cheese. I worry that people do not understand how unhealthy your recipes are – and for no reason, because your basic ideas are simple, delicious classics. Cheers, Bruce, the food snob’s guide to healthy eating.
Really, Bruce? Move along if you don’t like what you see. Jenn’s recipes are amongst the best I’ve tried, and – judging from the numerous 5-star reviews assigned to every recipe listed on her website – I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Lol, what a hater! I m a registered dietitian with 10+ years of experience in clinical nutrition and dietetics working with critically ill patients as well as with patients with many commorbidities and your credentials as “food snob “ mean absolutely nothing and u should not be giving advise on “healthy eating.” Oh and this particular recipe is quite healthy and that salt wont kill u. The amount ends up being minuscule when divided amongst the servings and unless you have kidney or heart disease, I dont see why u can’t use salt. This is definitely not processed food which is the leading source of excess salt. People with diseases requiring low sodium diets can simply leave the salt out . No one should ever listen to a self proclaimed food expert. Thanks