Roasted Beet & Kale Salad
Beet kale salad is a hearty salad with a mix of red and golden beets, fresh kale, chopped nuts, and a homemade poppy seed vinaigrette. This colorful side dish is gluten free and dairy free.
Looking for more salad recipes? Try my peach salad with crispy prosciutto, shaved fennel apple salad with kale, or butternut squash and feta salad with apple vinaigrette.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this roasted beet salad:
- Fresh beets – I like to use a mix of golden and red beets to give the salad a beautiful color. Golden beets have a sweeter taste and less earthy flavor than red beets.
- Curly kale
- Macadamia nuts
- Poppy seed dressing
How to Make Beet Kale Salad: Step By Step
Here are some quick visual instructions. The full instructions and ingredient list will be in the printable recipe card below!
- Massage kale. Add washed and spun kale leaves to a large bowl along with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Use your hands to massage the kale for 1 minute to soften and tenderize the leaves. Set aside.
- Prep beets. Trim off the beet greens (if your beets have them), leaving 1-2 inches of the stem at the top but leave the tail intact. Wash the beets under running water and give them a little scrub (a veggie brush works well here) to remove the dirt.
- Roast beets. Add a generous glug of olive oil to the bottom of a dutch oven pot or line it with parchment paper. Arrange the beets in a single layer then cover with a lid and bake for 1 hour, turning the beets over halfway through. Check smaller beets for doneness after 45 minutes with the tip of a sharp knife.
- Cool and peel. Let cool for a several minutes then trim off the tails and stems and remove the skin using a sharp knife to help pull it off. Cut the beets into bite size pieces.
- Combine. Add the sliced beets and a few tablespoons of the salad dressing. Toss to combine then transfer to a shallow serving dish, top with chopped nuts, and enjoy!
Helpful Tips
- Use a salad spinner to remove any excess dirt from the kale leaves.
- Don’t skip massaging the kale. It makes the leaves super tender and more enjoyable to chew.
- For a quicker option, use store bought cooked beets. I like the Love Beets brand.
- Wash your hands immediately after handling the beets to avoid staining them.
- Buying just the beets is a great option to reduce your food waste if you don’t think you’ll actually use the edible stems and greens.
Quick Tip: Don’t use pre-chopped kale. It doesn’t have the woody stems removed, which aren’t pleasant to bite into.
Storage
Store leftover beet salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Make It Your Way: Substitutions & Variations
Please remember that recipes are just a starting point.
How can you make this beet and kale salad using what you already have? Here are some ideas…
- No curly kale? – use a different kind of kale such as lacinato kale (also called dinosaur/dino kale or tuscan kale) or baby kale in a pinch.
- No macadamia nuts? – sub for walnuts, pistachios, or hazelnuts.
- Make it nut free – use pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.
- Add-ins – crispy garbanzo beans, crisp apple slices, crispy prosciutto, vegan feta cheese, pickled red onion, etc.
- Use a different dressing – such as basil balsamic dressing, honey ginger dressing, or creamy lemon miso dressing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, there are a couple of ways to do this.
1) Roast the beets whole but wrap each individual beet with aluminum foil. Roast for 1 hour, no need to turn them.
2) Peel and cut the beets into 1-inch cubes, toss with olive oil, salt and black pepper (no foil needed). Roast for 30-35 minutes or until fork-tender.
Although beet juice will eventually come off if it stain your hands and cutting board, you can speed up the process by putting lemon juice on them first then wash with soap and warm water.
More Kale Salads
I hope you love this Beet Kale Salad! If you make this recipe, please leave a comment & a star rating below. Thank you!
Roasted Beet & Kale Salad
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds beets any variety
- olive oil
- 1 large head curly kale hard stems removed and cut into bite-size pieces
- ¼ cup dry roasted macadamia nuts roughly chopped
- vegan poppy seed dressing to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F/200ºC.
- Massage kale. Add washed and spun kale leaves to a large bowl along with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Use your hands to massage the kale for 1 minute to soften and tenderize the leaves. Set aside.
- Prep beets. Trim off the beet greens (if your beets have them), leaving 1-2 inches of the stem at the top but leave the tail intact. Wash the beets under running water and give them a little scrub (a veggie brush works well here) to remove the dirt.
- Roast beets. Add a generous glug of olive oil to the bottom of a dutch oven pot or line it with parchment paper. Arrange the beets in a single layer then cover with a lid and bake for 1 hour, turning the beets over halfway through. Check smaller beets for doneness after 45 minutes with the tip of a sharp knife.
- Cool and peel. Let cool for a several minutes then trim off the tails and stems and remove the skin using a sharp knife to help pull it off. Cut the beets into bite size pieces.
- Combine. Add the sliced beets and a few tablespoons of the salad dressing. Toss to combine then transfer to a shallow serving dish, top with chopped nuts, and enjoy!