Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese and Easy Maple-Balsamic Reduction is a perfect pairing of sweet and savory flavors.
Beets are just one of those things that there’s no middle ground with: you either love their earthy sweetness, or it’s totally not your thing. For those of you who adore beets, this easy salad is for you!
I grew up on beets; my mom would boil, peel, and cube them, and then let a generous pat of butter melt down into them. They didn’t need anything except salt and pepper to be perfection. In my opinion, anyway…my sister absolutely hated them. (She and I had a system that worked for us though! Double beets for me, double pork chops for her, lol.)
I’ll take beets any way I can get them, but I’m slightly partial to the depth of flavor that roasting brings out. And bonus, I think it’s actually the least hands-on method of cooking beets.
In this salad I paired roasted beets with creamy-textured blue cheese. Walnuts add nutty crunch, and a super easy maple-balsamic reduction is a fun, unique way to dress the salad.
Heads up, the reduction is also fabulous drizzled on grilled chicken, which I think goes really nicely with this salad. If served with grilled chicken and some crusty bread or a grain pilaf, this makes an elegant and easy dinner; or serve it as-is for a healthy and impressive-looking lunch for two.
If you happen to be following the Weight Watchers WW plan, you’ll find a link to the WW Points on the recipe card below.
Roasted Beet Salad with Blue Cheese and Maple Balsamic Reduction
Ingredients
BEETS
- 3 medium beets, scrubbed and leaves and stems trimmed off
- ½ cup water
REDUCTION
- ½ cup good quality balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
SALAD
- 6 cups mixed salad greens
- 4 tablespoons walnuts, toasted and chopped
- 4 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
Instructions
BEETS
- Preheat the oven to 425℉.
- Place the beets and water in an 8 by 8-inch oven-safe dish and cover with foil. Roast until a paring knife inserted in the center slides out, about 45 minutes.
- Cool the beets completely, and then rub off the skin with your fingers (if the beets are fully cooked, the skins should slide right off; to make it even easier, you can do this under running water or in a bowl of cool water).
- Dry and then thinly slice the beets.
REDUCTION
- Add the vinegar and maple syrup to a small saucepan over medium high heat; bring to a boil, and then turn the heat down to medium low and simmer until reduced by about ⅓. Cool completely (the syrup will thicken more as it cools).
SALAD
- To serve, arrange the salad greens on a large platter. Top with the sliced beets, walnuts, and blue cheese. Drizzle on the reduction to taste and serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Here are a few more beet salad recipes you might enjoy:
- Beet and Carrot Salad with Pomegranate and Pumpkin Seeds by An Edible Mosaic
- Beet-Citrus Salad by An Edible Mosaic
- French Lentil and Roasted Beet Salad by RecipeGirl
- Quinoa Beet Kale Apple Walnut Goat Cheese Salad by Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Great stuff! I found the maple didn’t show up, so added Mapleine, about 1TBsp.
I agree with Karen. Beets is something for me that’s forgotten on my shopping list, it’s just one of those vegs that’s never been important or attractive to me. Not that I don’t like it, I’ve been served some really delicious meals with beets complimenting the dish and brings it to an entire level but somehow I just don’t turn my head towards it in the grocery store.. I’ll probably try to do some more cooking with beets, try to explore some new flavours!
Beets are one of those vegetables I haven’t really discovered yet. You can’t know a vegetable well until you’ve cooked with it in your own kitchen, and I have not. Clearly that needs to change! I can’t say I adore beets, but I have come a long way from when I was a kid and my brother and I would scoop up the “sliced cranberry sauce” that we saw at the end of the salad bar at Home Town Buffet. (It WASN’T cranberry sauce, and great was our offense.) This looks delicious Lori!
I love them so much, but many people do not. Try roasting them!