Beet and Grapefruit Salad with Blue Cheese and Walnuts

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This healthy Beet and Grapefruit Salad is a delicious, vegetarian anytime recipe! Sweet toasted beets are paired with tart slices of grapefruit, all topped with toasty walnuts and blue cheese crumbles. Vibrant and nutritious, I look forward to making this tasty salad as soon as my favorite citrus fruits come into season.

What is a Beet and Grapefruit Salad?

Beet and grapefruit salad is perfect for packed lunches, meal prep, or a lovely starter for a wintery roast meal. Winter just won’t let go of us here this year. We live in the one part of Canada where winters are usually fairly mild and short -- but not this winter. The snow just keeps coming, with no end in sight! I think most everybody has had enough winter by now.

Beet Peeling 101

This beet and grapefruit salad includes fresh ingredients that are local and organically grown right here. Beets, like other root vegetables, keep well, which is a blessing at this time of year. BUT, beets are messy. Do you hate staining your hands, countertops and cutting board? Try this tip from Real Simple: How to Peel Beets.

Here's What You Need to Make Beet and Grapefruit Salad

For the Roasted Beets:

• Beets: Most of the time allotted for this recipe is the roasting time for the beets. You can roast the beets anytime and keep in the fridge until you want to make this salad, or you can use leftover beets.
• Red grapefruit: Peeled, sectioned, with the pith removed, this beet and grapefruit salad would be incomplete without this delicious, tart citrus fruit.
• Oranges: I had some blood oranges, so I used them in this beet and grapefruit salad along with the walnuts. But regular oranges would be even better, for a more colourful salad. Use those if you have them, but the salad is so good either way.
• Other ingredients: Sliced shallots, salt, and pepper.

For the Salad Dressing:

• Blue cheese: I know that not everyone is a fan of blue cheese, so feel free to swap it for feta if you aren’t. It will be just as delicious. Or you can leave out the cheese altogether to make this a vegan beet and grapefruit salad.
• Green onions: Sliced
• Toasted walnuts: If you or someone you are serving has a nut allergy, you can leave out the nuts. The slightly bitter crunch is what they bring, so if you can, substitute arugula, or radicchio.
• Other ingredients: Green onions, olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt.

How to Make This Beet and Grapefruit Salad, Step By Step

Step 1: Prep

Preheat oven to 400° then wrap beets in foil, and place on a baking tray, along with sliced shallots.

Step 2: Cook Beets

Roast until beets are fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven, open foil, and allow to cool. When beets have cooled, rub the skins off with paper towel. Cut them into cubes.

Step 3: Make Dressing

In a bowl, combine beets, grapefruit and orange segments. Whisk together olive oil, cider vinegar, and salt. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Finally, add the walnuts and blue cheese and gently combine.

Step 4: Garnish and Serve

Refrigerate beet and grapefruit salad for about an hour, then top with green onions for serving.

Sunny Citrus is Perfect With Sweet Roasted Beet Salads

That’s why I love citrus fruits. They have a sunny flavour that just brightens up a dreary winter day. They even look like sunshine. And they come from sunny places, so maybe they bring a little of that warm sun with them, at least the essence of it. We especially love the sweet tartness of grapefruit, my favourite being the pinks. We’ve also been getting our fill of navel, Valencia, and blood oranges. And lemons and limes are always in the fridge, year-round. When we can’t get seasonal fruit locally, we can at least get in-season fruit from somewhere, right?

If you’re still hungry for beet salads, you may want to check out Wild Rice and Roasted Beet Salad, Roasted Beet and Apple Salad or Beet Pistachio & Orange Salad.

Beet Salad with Grapefruit, Blue Cheese & Walnuts

Beet and Grapefruit Salad is a healthy and delicious anytime recipe! Sweet toasted beets are paired with tart slices of grapefruit, all topped with toasty walnuts and blue cheese crumbles. Vibrant and nutritious, I look forward to making this tasty salad as soon as my favorite citrus fruits come into season.

4.67 from 6 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American, Vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 273kcal

Author: Colleen Milne

Ingredients

Roasted Beets

• ▢ 4 medium beets
• ▢ 2 shallots sliced
• ▢ ½ tsp salt
• ▢ ½ tsp pepper
• ▢ 1 large red grapefruit peeled, sectioned, with pith removed
• ▢ 2 oranges peeled, sectioned, with pith removed

Dressing

• ▢ 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• ▢ ½ tsp coarse salt
• ▢ ½ cup walnuts toasted
• ▢ ¼ cup blue cheese crumbled
• ▢ 2 green onions sliced

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400°.
• Wrap beets in foil, and place on a baking tray, along with sliced shallots.
• Roast until beets are fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven, open foil, and allow to cool.
• When beets have cooled, rub the skins off with paper towel. Cut them into cubes.
• In a bowl, combine beets, grapefruit and orange segments.
• Whisk together olive oil, cider vinegar, and salt. Pour over salad and toss to coat.
• Add walnuts and blue cheese and gently combine.
• Refrigerate for about an hour.
• Top with green onions for serving.

Notes

• Most of the time allotted for this recipe is the roasting time for the beets. You can roast the beets anytime and keep in the fridge until you want to make this salad; or, use leftover beets.
• If you or someone you are serving has a nut allergy, you can leave out the nuts. The slightly bitter crunch is what they bring, so if you can, substitute arugula, or radicchio.

Nutrition

Serving: 3g | Calories: 273kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 477mg | Potassium: 621mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 1005IU | Vitamin C: 60.1mg | Calcium: 121mg | Iron: 1.5mg

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