The julienne cut is the detail that makes this salad what it is. When every ingredient is cut to roughly the same shape and size, the bowl becomes more interesting to eat; you cannot easily single out one vegetable from the next, which means the combination of flavors is always present. The sweet potato goes into a hot oven in its matchsticks while the beets cook separately in salted water, then both cool before joining the raw carrot, celery, and orange bell pepper. Walnuts, chopped small enough to cling to everything around them, go in last.
The dressing is light, olive oil, white wine vinegar, mustard, and maple syrup, just enough to tie the sweetness of the beet and sweet potato to the crunch of the raw vegetables without pulling attention away from them. This is a vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free salad for two that holds its texture well and is as good the day after as the day it is made.
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Key Ingredients in This Recipe
You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.
- Golden beets – takes care of the sweet flavor and are a great source of fiber, folic acid and other vitamins and minerals at the same time.
- Sweet potato – another great source of fiber, antioxidant and vitamins and minerals.
- Carrots
- Celery – add a major crunch to the salad.
- Orange bell pepper – can change the color of the pepper, but would make this salad no longer monochrome.
- Walnuts – other nuts that will match the vegetables are pecans, pistachios or pine nuts.
How to Make Golden Beet Salad
Making a salad does not need a lot of explanation. It basically comes down to cleaning the ingredients, cutting/chopping them to size and mixing them with the dressing. A few photos below to illustrate some steps.
Step 1 – Cook the beets in water with salt for about 30 minutes until you can insert a fork easily. Alternatively, you can roast the beets in the oven. Cut the beets in half and place them cut-side down on a baking sheet. Heat the oven to 400°F and place the baking sheet in the oven. Depending on the size of the beets, the cooking time may need to be more than 30 minutes. Allow the beets to cool and cut the top and bottom off and peel the skin off. Cut the beets julienne-wise.
Step 2 – Cut the sweet potato, carrots, bell pepper and celery into julienne. You can do this the traditional way, hand-cut with a knife, or cut them with a special vegetable peeler.
Spread the sweet potato pieces onto a baking sheet, covered with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake in a 400°F oven for about 15 minutes. Allow them to cool.
Transfer all vegetables into a large bowl.
Step 3 – Chop the walnuts.
Step 5 – Mix olive oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup and salt & pepper into a dressing.
Step 6 – Add sweet potatoes and golden beets to the vegetables in a large bowl, add the dressing and mix. Add salt & pepper if needed and sprinkle with thyme if you like.
Alternatives and Substitutes
If you’re not interested in keeping the salad monochromatic there are a number of alternative or substitutes you can apply
- Red beets instead of yellow beets.
- Russet potato instead of sweet potato or try a purple sweet potato. This latter one will go well with the red beets.
- Use multi-colored carrots instead of the traditional orange.
- Bell peppers of any color would work, however the yellow and red are more similar to the orange bell pepper than the green.
- Pecans or almonds can be used instead of walnuts.
Other Beet Recipes to Try:
I hope you will enjoy this Golden Beet Salad.
Golden Beet Salad
Pin Recipe FacebookIngredients
- 2-3 yellow beets
- 1 sweet potato
- 2 carrots
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
- salt & pepper
- thyme, optional
Instructions
- Cook the beets in water with salt for about 30 minutes until you can insert a fork easily. (NOTE 1) Depending on the size of the beets, the cooking time may need to be more than 30 minutes.
- Allow the beets to cool and cut the top and bottom off and peel the skin off.
- Cut the beets julienne-wise.
- Peel the sweet potato, cut them julienne (NOTE 2). Place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Drizzle with a little bit of oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake in a 400°F for about 15 minutes. They can easily burn, so keep an eye on this sticks.
- Peel carrots and cut them julienne. Do the same with the bell pepper and the celery.
- Mix olive oil, vinegar, mustard, maple syrup and salt & pepper into a dressing.
- Transfer all vegetables into a large bowl, add the dressing and mix.
- Add salt & pepper if needed.
- Sprinkle with thyme if you like.
Notes
- Instead of cooking the beets, you can roast them as well. This will give the beets and even sweeter flavor. Cut the beets in half and place them cut-side down on a baking sheet. Heat the oven to 400°F and place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake the beets for approx. 30 minutes, depending on the size of the beet roots.
- Cutting the sweet potato julienne can be done by hand, or by using a special vegetable peeler that allows you to cut julienne. I can also see that you can use a spiralizer, but then I would suggest cutting the spirals smaller in order to make the mix easier with the other vegetables.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.