I’m a recent beet fan, however I can’t say I’ve made much time to cook with them. They just always seem like such a pain in the butt to prepare and cook, don’t they? The peeling, the red stains, the roots, the dirt. Bah. I used to pass them by for easier-to-prepare vegetables, even though I absolutely love cooked beets.
A while back, some of you suggested an easier way to prepare beets that has forever changed the way I look at them! I thought I would share that today, although I’m sure many of you know this little trick already…
I used to peel beets before roasting until some of you told me to do the opposite. Little did I know, after the beets are roasted, the skin just slips off when you rub it with your fingers! No peeler required.
Roasting beets:
- Preheat the oven to 425F
- Trim the beets on each end, wash, and place on large sheet of tin foil.
- Drizzle with oil and then wrap up the tin foil
- Roast for about 45-75 minutes (depending on size of beets), checking every 15 minutes after the first 30 minutes or so.
- To check for doneness, just prick beets with a fork. If it slides in fairly easy, it’s ready
- With oven mitts on (it’s hot), unwrap the foil and allow to cool for about 5-10 minutes before handling
- With bare hands or with plastic gloves, gently peel off the skin with your fingers (I do this over the sink). You may want to trim the ends a bit more too. Some parts of the skin will come off a bit easier than others, but not to worry as it doesn’t have to look perfect.
After peeling the skin, slice into wedges and you’re good to go!
It’s such a simple change in method, but for some reason it made the world of difference to me. I now roast beets once or twice a month…instead of…never. I like to roast at least 5 beets at a time so I have plenty of leftovers to throw into salads during the week. Like this glorious salad…
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Citrus Beet Salad with Creamy Avocado Lime Dressing
Yield
4 servings
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
According to World’s Healthiest Foods, beets are anti-inflammatory, rich in antioxidants, support detoxification, and are high in folate, manganese, fibre, potassium, vitamin C, iron, and more. A handful of reasons to dig in! Feel free to add nuts, seeds, grains, etc if you wish. I also suggest using a grapefruit on the sweeter side (such as a Ruby) or just leave out the grapefruit if you prefer
Ingredients
For the salad
- 3 medium/large red beets
- 3 medium/large golden beets
- 2 navel oranges (or any variety)
- 1 grapefruit (Ruby suggested), optional
- Greens of choice (I used a mix of baby romaine and blanched beet greens)
- Avocado Lime Dressing
For the dressing
- 1/2 cup avocado flesh
- 1/4 cup coconut cream (the cream from the top of the can)
- 5 tbsp fresh lime juice, or to taste
- 1 tbsp agave nectar (or other liquid sweetener)
- 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
- 1 tsp grapefruit juice (optional)
- tiny pinch of salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Trim both ends of each beet and wash well. Place a few beets on a large piece of tin foil. Drizzle with oil and wrap up. Do the same for the other 3 beets on another sheet of foil. Place on a baking sheet and roast for 45-75 minutes, until a fork pricks through fairly easy. Check beets after 30 mins of roasting, and every 15 minutes thereafter. Cooking time will depend on the size…mine took 60-75 minutes.
- With oven mitts on, carefully open the tin foil and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. Now peel off the skin and discard. Slice beets into wedges.
- While the beets roast, prepare the citrus. De-pith and slice into segments (as shown in post). Set aside. Reserve the scraps of juicy flesh as you can use this to squeeze into your dressing.
- Blend the dressing ingredients together in a processor. I used my mini processor and it worked well. Adjust seasonings to taste, adding more sweetener, juice, or salt if desired.
- To assemble, add greens (I used a mix of blanched beet greens and baby romaine), followed by the beets and citrus segments, top with nuts, seeds, and/or cooked grains, and finally the dressing.
Tip:
Dressing makes 2/3 cup
Here’s something I hadn’t done before…segment a citrus fruit. It’s actually much easier than I thought it was, thanks to a little help from The Kitchn.
How to de-pith and segment citrus fruit
- Chop off both ends of the citrus
- With a paring knife, carefully slice off the peel, rotating your way around the fruit
- Gently slice off any remaining pith (the white spongy part)
- Slice the segments of the orange, being sure to slice around the thicker skin- you just want the juicy insides.
For the dressing, I used my mini processor (that came with my immersion blender)…it worked perfectly and I didn’t have to dirty my big food processor. I use that mini processor so much these days.
To build the salad, start with a bed of greens (I used a mix of baby romaine and blanched beet greens), then layer beets and fruit. Finally, pour on the dressing. Feel free to add on nuts, seeds (hemp seeds are yummy), and cooked grains if you wish.
A delicious, energizing salad when you’re feeling in a spring clean mood.
If you roast the beets ahead of time, this salad won’t set you back more than 20 minutes and you can enjoy the healthful benefits of beets all week long.
Now who is ready for spring? It’s supposed to be 11C and sunny here tomorrow…bring it!
What’s your favourite way to prepare beets?
Beets in spinach salad with (unfortunately for you ange) Blue cheese/Goats cheese, candied walnuts and a nice citrus vinaigrette! yum
Oh my, I looooove beets and used to make them so often! But the past year I’ve been slacking there too…haha. This sounds delicious! I’ve never roasted them, but I either steam them or boil them and the skin also peels right off! Then, I let it cool down and just sprinkle a liiiiil bit of salt+ lemon juice/vinegar, and it’s seriously the tastiest thing ever.
I just can’t get into beets.. They taste like the ground. The dressing on the other hand.. will be trying that one shortly!
This looks delicious! Roasted beets are a favorite of mine! Thanks for sharing!
That looks great! I am especially liking the sound of that dressing.
I love beets! I think I forgot about them for a while there, thank you for posting this. I will definitely make something like this for lunch tomorrow. Yum!
RAW! with walnuts and raisins in a salad. Or blended up in a smoothie.
I LOVE ROASTED BEETS! The best way to eat em is roasted for sure! SO DELICIOUS!!
This looks SO delicious! I love beets and avocado so this salad sounds like a huge winner. My brother hasn’t liked the taste of beets but I wonder if he’ll like it if I prepare it your way :)
Beets and squash are my two fave vegetables! I just bought a new bag of beets today, so I will be sure to add this recipe to the list of ones to make after I roast some this week. Hope you are enjoying them!
That looks so delicious!
I love the idea of a creamy avocado lime dressing. Yum! And I love beets, I just keep forgetting to use them in salads. But whenever I get a fresh juice I have beets thrown in there – so yummy and SO good for cleansing your blood and liver!
I’m a beet fan but the hubby is not. This might be something that could convert him especially if I dose the salad in the dressing. I’m determined to make him like beets! :)
Yes, these salade/dressing dit it…… made my husband eat avocados. ;-) And he loved it…. not only he dit…. the whole family dit. Thanks for these recipe…. perfect for the last winterweeks looking forward for the spring.
Hi Angela, I noticed you used “blanced beet greens” as part of the salad. Were these the greens from the beets you roasted? If so, that is great. How did you do it? I always hate throwing out the greens from beets, carrots, etc, but I never know how to prepare them!
Sorry I didn’t elaborate…I thought my post was getting long! haha. I just brought a pot of salted water to a boil, added in the chopped & destemed greens, and boiled for a minute or two. Then carefully remove and run cold water on top until cool (or some ppl like to put in an ice bath). it just tenderizes the beet greens a bit..i find them very tough at times.
Perfect, thank you! By the way, I love all of your recipes that I’ve tried. Can’t wait for your cookbook.
Thank you Hilary! Enjoy the salad :)
Yum this sounds good! I just “discovered” golden beets last summer and am loving those too. I don’t know about my favourite way to prepare beets but I know my least favourite way: Last year I decided to make my own coloured lip gloss using a variety of things including coconut oil and beet juice. Well I ended up spilling the beet juice on my laptop and even after I cleaned everything up best I could, whenever I hit a key beet juice would ooze up. luckily my computer was ok, but the lip gloss definitely did not work out haha
That is so funny because yesterday I was just thinking about trying to make a lipgloss out of beet juice and coconut oil…no joke!! So it was a huge fail? Thanks for saving me another flop…heh
Ya mine was a disaster, but pretty much everything that day was a disaster haha, so I’d be willing to try the lip gloss again. I’ve looked up quite a few “recipes” online and most seems to call for beeswax or petroleum, but if you ever find an alternative way to do it I hope you post it on the blog :)
Ooh, I love beets! I like to cook the beets and grate them. After that I add some vinegar and some clove powder. Some add a bit of sugar, but think it doesn’t need it.
so very tasty! ANd I love the colour contrast between the red and golden beets :)
I just love how fresh your food always looks! Another amazing meal creation :)
I was always the weird kid who like pickled red beets & prunes. Now my favorite way to enjoy beets is roasted like you would potato wedges. They’re like beet fries!