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…
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
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
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?
I am one who normally doesn’t like beets, but I keep trying to like them because I know how healthy they are. So I made this salad and I have to say that with this dressing, I totally love them!! I added chickpeas and a few slivers of red onion to my salad (over spinach) and ate it all up. Even my 2 1/2 year old daughter, who also doesn’t like beets, ate them with this dressing.
That makes me so happy Jen!
I love beets steamed, then after they are cooked, Toss them in a little grapeseed oil, salt, pepper and either blue cheese or feta.
This recipe is great! I made it this weekend. Angela, do you have any idea how long the dressing will keep stored in the fridge?
I’m not too sure as ours didn’t last too long…I would guess 2-3 days.
I roasted 5 beets tonight but somehow only 2 made it into the fridge! Nom Nom. The roasting method worked so perfectly! Too bad my husband hates beets, or… good thing, more for me!
I heard boiling them also works very similar :)
I’m eating this salad for lunch today and it is DELISH! I added walnuts for some protein, and it is delicious. Thanks Angela!
I LOVE BEETS! I purchase about 10 or so at a time to use for left-overs as well. I scrub them really well, no peeling involved(I eat them with the skin on!), either quarter them or slice them and toss some olive oil and black pepper. Lay them evenly on a roasting pan, roast for 30 mins, flip, roast another 15 or so. Dump them in a large bowl, drizzle balsamic vinegar on them, dill or fresh parsley and eat immediately or marinate for a day. Soooooooo delicious!!! Yes, wear gloves :)
I agree. I don’t worry about peeling the beets either. Just trim, wash and dry, toss in oil,salt and pepper and away you go.
I always loved colorful foods! LOL. The way you made this salad makes me very excited to eat this salad. Not to mention, I so love avocados. It’s a good thing I heard that it’s in season?
Your salad looks beautiful!
It’s hot here after May 1st, and I avoid using my oven as much as possible until October. Easy peasy way to cook beets: After taking off the greens, etc., clean thoroughly. Slice into rounds, 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Set Cuisinart Griddler to 425 degrees F. Grill beet rounds until fork goes in easily (don’t scratch the grill!).
Season to taste – make them sweet or salty, depending on mood. No need to peel them – the skins get soft and are just as tasty as the rest of the beet.
New here – loving your blog! (Also a Green Monster fan, though I’ve always called them Green Smoothies.)
Is their a substitite i can use for the coconut in tge dressing? Wpuld luv to make this
hmm not that I have tried out personally. I hesitate to say anything in case it doesn’t work. You might be able to get away with using more avocado and a touch of almond milk to thin out as desired.
Yay! I just made this salad… I have been wanting to try it ever since you posted it but the first week I had it on my mind, I ended up eating all my beets before I could make them into a salad! Thanks for the dressing recipe…it tastes like ice cream! It’s fantastic!!!
Hi! Two of my grandsons and I picked beets this morning in our garden. I had roasted beets with other veggies, and not on the tinfoil, but I did it your way today. They turned out very good, and found out, I could peel them after being roasted!!! A lot easier than boiling them. Our boys really like the pickled beets the best, but maybe these will grow on them!!
Ditto on cleaning beets, no matter whether they are raw or cooked. I use disposable gloves and am happy.
wow.. love the colorful palet appeal with this recipe! we are huge beet fans..that’s why we grow a 80 foot row of beets every garden season…. I blanch and peel, I find that I love doing the beets out of all the other veggies in the garden to be the easiest..haaaa I freeze my beets in slices, when thawed we roast them for eating and esp. for putting on our homemade gluten free pizzas… another favorite is sliced beets drizzled with balsamic vinegar, topped with goat milk cheese or feta cheese.. I made pickled beets to can for over 30 yrs, but after making them with the balsamic vinegar a couple years back, I stopped canning them. we love roasted beets with roasted brussel sprouts, they compliment each other. looks like I will be visiting your site more often then not. looking forward to more recipes and checking out your past recipes. yummo. :) p.s. fresh beets will stay fresh for quite a long time washed, dried and put in a gallon ziploc bag in the frig. .. they will stay nice and crispy..I like to put a dry paper towel in the bag to absorb any moisture. :)
Is coconut cream still considered vegan? I saw a recipe for coconut cream and it had milk or cream in the ingredients. Your directions only say top of the can….. Top of what can? I do have some light coconut milk in my pantry right now and have never used coconut milk or water before. Could you please elaborate on this part of the instructions? Thanks so much! I am excited to try this and I love Beets!
Hey Robin – yup it’s vegan, at least what I use is. I’ve never seen it non-vegan before. this post might be helpful for you to see it in full effect http://ohsheglows.com/2012/08/30/coconut-whipped-cream-a-step-by-step-photo-tutorial/
This dressing is insanely delicious. I just got done making it for the salad, and I did add the zest of one lime, some salt, and as the sweetener, some of the “juice” from the can of coconut creme. I cannot wait to put it all together.