Beet Goat Cheese Salad
Published 1/11/2021 • Updated 6/22/2022
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This Beet Goat Cheese Salad is our own delicious spin on the beloved classic. We truly outdid ourselves and added an extra pop of sweet flavor by adding juicy sliced pears and a tasty homemade balsamic dressing.
Let me tell ya, the flavor combination in this salad is SO good! The dressing perfectly complements the earthy flavor of the beets and walnuts. It’s a veggie-packed meal that will win everyone’s hearts at your next dinner party.
It’s the kind of salad that will make you say “wow” on your first bite. Yes, it’s that good. Just candy your walnuts and roast the beets, assemble, and enjoy! Effortless AND delicious.
What’s In Beet Goat Cheese Salad
- Goat cheese: we went with a tangy and creamy plain goat cheese for this recipe. Feel free to get creative and use an herb goat cheese or even a honey chévre!
- Fresh beets: Mmm mm BEETS. This beet salad recipe is for beet lovers of all kinds! Red beets are known for having a sweet yet earthy flavor that you either love or hate. The beets in this beet salad are roasted with onions and garlic to create the most perfect, sliceable beets.
- Spinach: The base of this salad is baby spinach. It is a great neutral green that takes on the flavor it’s dressed with!
- Pears: Sliced pears are a sweet addition to this salad. Pears are also a complimentary fruit to beets and goat cheese!
- Candied Walnuts: We make our own quick and easy candied walnuts for this salad. they add the perfect amount of crunch that every salad needs.
- Onions: We roasted beets with garlic and red onion, so the onions get bautifully caramelized and delicious.
- Dressing: The dressing that binds this salad together is a combination of balsamic vinegar, roasted onions, garlic, olive oil, mustard, salt, and maple syrup!
Variations and Substitutions
Goat cheese: For this roasted beetroot salad, you can use all kinds of goat’s cheese, whether it’s crumbly, creamy, tangy, or sweet. Go for what your heart desires!
Beets: Use pre-cooked beets instead of roasting them yourself. It’ll definitely save you some time and effort! We love these cooked beets from Whole Foods.
Dressing: We LOVE the flavor of of our homemade balsamic dressing, but feel free to substitute 1:1 for a store-bought version in a pinch.
Other swaps: Use any leafy green, like spring greens, instead of spinach. You can also use pecans instead of walnuts and plums instead of pears.
All these variations will add their own flare to the salad, so experiment away!
Roasting Beets 101
There are many different ways that you can prepare beets. We did roast beets for this salad, but if you don’t have time or like your beets prepared a certain way, go for it!
No matter how you cook your beets, you know they are done when they are fork-tender. Below are a few different ways you can prepare beets:
Roasted
- Trim and rinse off the beets, then drizzle with salt and pepper. From there, either wrap them individually in tin foil or place them in a baking dish and cover the dish with tin foil.
- Roast them at 400ºF for 30-40 minutes. Remove the beets from the oven and let them sit for 5 minutes before carefully peeling off the beet skin. It should come off fairly easy!
Boiled
- Trim and rinse the beet, then place them in a large pot of salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Turn the beets to a low simmer and let them simmer for 20-40 minutes.
- Remove the beets from the water and pour them into a colander. Rinse them with cold water and carefully remove the skin from the beets.
Instant Pot
- Trim and rinse the beets, then place them in the Instant Pot with 1/2 cup of water.
- Cook them on high pressure for 12-14 minutes (depending on the size of the beets). Quickly release the pressure, but be sure to put a towel over the vent because it may spit out pink water!
- When the beets are done, carefully remove the skin and enjoy!
Storage
To avoid eating soggy leftovers, only toss what you will eat with a dressing. The rest of the salad ingredients can be stored separately in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Can I meal prep this salad?
Totally. If you are meal-prepping this salad for the week, store the beets, goat cheese, and pears in one container. Then keep the greens, nuts, and dressing all in separate containers as well and then combine the ingredients when you are ready to eat!
What to Serve with Beet Goat Cheese Salad
This beet goat cheese salad is a meal in itself, but it also pairs well with many other dishes. Some of our favorite mains include Chicken Cordon Bleu, Creamy Baked Butternut Squash Pasta, and Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops.
You can also stay on brand with the goat cheese or beets and pair this salad with this Baked Goat Cheese Pasta, Cream Cheese Beet Pasta, or Fig and Goat Cheese Flatbread. You’ll not only have a delicious meal but also won’t have to waste any leftover ingredients!
Beet Goat Cheese Salad
Ingredients
Walnuts
- 1 cup whole walnuts
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Beets
- 4 medium purple beets, rinsed and both ends cut off
- 1 medium purple onion, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Onion and garlic from the roasted beats
Salad
- 10 oz. fresh spinach
- 4 oz. goat cheese
- 1 pear, thinly sliced
Instructions
- First, prepare the walnuts for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 400ºF and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
- Then, lay walnuts down on the baking sheet and drizzle with maple syrup and season with a pinch of salt. Bake at 400ºF for 8 minutes.
- Remove the walnuts from the oven and immediately pour them into a glass bowl. Set aside to cool.
- Increase the temperature of the oven to 425ºF and spray a 9×9 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place the beets into the baking dish with one of the ends flat side down. Scatter the onions and garlic cloves around the beets and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper.
- Cover the baking dish with a cover or aluminum foil and bake for 30-40 minutes or until beets are fork tender.
- While the beets are baking, prepare the dressing. Place olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, dijon mustard, and salt into a jar and shake until all ingredients are combined.
- Remove the beets from the oven and carefully remove the skins of the beets using a paper towel. The skins should remove easily if beets are cooked.
- Then, add roasted onions and garlic to the dressing and shake the dressing jar one last time until all the ingredients are combined.
- Finally, before assembling the salad, chop the candied walnuts into pieces and chop the beets into half moons.
- Assemble the salad by adding the spinach, pears, beets, and walnuts to a mixing bowl. Drizzle the dressing (as well as the onions and garlic in the dressing) over the salad ingredients and toss until all the ingredients are coated in dressing.
- Finally, crumble the goat cheese over the top of the salad and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This was a fall/winter favorite. Everything goes so well together. Very similar to beet salads you find at a lot of restaurants.
This recipe is absolutely delicious! I’ve made this every week for the past few weeks and don’t think I’ll ever get sick of it. I am generally lazy when it comes to making salad dressings but this is so easy that I actually enjoy making it.
I also don’t always add the beets and it’s still good.
Roasting nuts was intimidating to me but after following this recipe, I now know it’s so simple and so quick. Now I make a lot at a time and just keep them so I have the extras for another salad. Thanks Cheese Knees for posting this- it’s a family fave!
Wooo jaxxxx! Thanks for your review and photo!
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