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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 made this salad with the potato leek soup and my husband rated the meal 5 stars. The salad was delicious and I loved the tip about the Love Beets roasted beets. I was able to find them at my local grocery store. Game changer! I will make this salad again and again.
I am thinking of serving this salad at Thanksgiving. What would be a good substitute for goat cheese? Fresh mozzerella? blue cheese? feta?
Thanks.
Ellen
Hi Ellen, I’d go with blue or feta cheese. Hope everyone enjoys!
I’ve just acquired a taste for beets recently and can’t believe was I’ve been missing after having this salad. It’s delicious.
For my vegan sister-in-law, do you think I could substitute honey with agave or something else? Of course I would leave out the goat cheese and let her use whatever it is she chooses, but the dressing is to die for. Any ideas about a honey substitute?
Glad you like the salad! You can replace the honey with sugar or maple syrup.
I tend to shy away from salads because I don’t like salad dressing but this salad including the dressing was absolutely outstanding … Wow this is my new only favorite salad !
We love this salad! Had to make an adaptation – on the fly – when could not get pre-roasted beets. Just grabbed a couple of cans of Baby Beets. Drained, quartered, drizzled with olive oil and roasted (400 degrees) until starting to brown a bit. Stir and roast another 5-6 minutes. Cool and add to salad.
Just writing this makes me hungry for Beet Salad!
Jackie H
Another delicious dish, agree with many reviewers – all the recipes are fail safe, original tasty and often so fast. Used store pre cooked vacuum packed beets, lightly toasted my walnuts otherwise as written. Enjoyed learning about all the different dressing you make, now doubling dressing volumes to use later on mixed greens for last minute meals. Both cookbooks on order from our local bookstore; decided they are a must have for the value of everyday variety, flavour, and reliability.
Thanks so much for your support with the cookbooks – hope you enjoy them!
This salad is amazing because its good for you and tastes awesome!!
I had a couple of cans of beets leftover from the lockdown, so I decided to make this recipe. I believe fresh or vacuum packed beets would have been better, but I’m enjoying this! I used arugula instead of mixed greens.
This salad was AMAZING!! My family doesn’t like beets, but they enjoyed it very much. I think the dressing made it great for them. The first time I roasted the beets, second time all I had was canned – not so much on that one. But with the roasted beets, it was to die for!!
My husband loves Roasted Beet Salad. A local restaurant serves one of the best so I decided to re-create it for dinner. The thought, however, of turning on the oven @ 400* for an hour here in ATL when it’s already 1000* with 500% humidity (ok maybe it was only 95* w 97% humidity), was not something I was eager to do.
Browsing thru my recipe collection, I ran across your recipe using the vacuum-packed LOVE Beets. What a genius idea! My local market had only the sliced pickled style in stock so I drizzled them with a bit of EVOO and S&P; Popped them in the toaster oven @ air-fry for a very few minutes to try to bring out a bit of roasted flavor.
I used mixed butter greens coarsely shredded instead of mixed greens as it was what I had on hand. I also used chopped pistachios instead of walnuts – husband preference. But the dressing … Oh.My! I could eat it with a spoon; it was so good. I plated on individual plates and drizzled the whole salad with a bit of reduced balsamic vinegar.
Thank you @OnceUponAChef for a wonderful light dinner salad for a DAWG Day Sunday in ATL.