Beet cucumber salad recipe is as simple to throw together as it is healthy and delicious. Sweet earthy beets and refreshingly crunchy cucumber are tossed with salty feta and pistachios and finally, doused in lemon vinaigrette and fresh mint. Dig in for a light lunch or serve it as the perfect side from early spring right through the end of summer. This is healthy eating at its finest!
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I made this salad and my 2 year old, who normally loves snacking on crunchy cucumbers, completely ignored the cucumbers on his plate and stuffed beet after beet into his tiny mouth. He then picked all of the cucumbers left on his plate and placed them one by one onto the table. When his plate was ‘clean,’ he pointed at the bowl and asked for more (beets, of course).
We added the leftovers to a lettuce salad two nights later. I tossed the lettuce leaves in a little balsamic and olive oil and then added the leftover beets and cucumbers. The cucumbers were a little softer, but overall, a great way to use it all up.
How to Clean and Cook Beets
For this healthy beet cucumber salad, I used organic, pre-cooked beets – mostly because they cost the same as the fresh beets in the store, which looked small and actually came with fewer beets. (Crazy, right? But welcome to winter shopping in Minnesota.) Using pre-cooked beets is a nice time-saver and come summer, a nice time-saving hack because you don’t need to turn on the oven.
However, if you can’t find pre-cooked beets or you like to control how your ingredients are prepared, here’s how to clean beets as well as two different ways to cook your own beets after cleaning them.
Cleaning Your Beets
- Remove the leaves. Beet greens will continue to pull nutrients from the beetroot until they have been removed, which will result in less flavorful beets. You can eat beet greens in many of the same ways you eat kale or Swiss chard – and they are packed with nutrients – but they don’t keep long. So, it’s best to use right away.
- Wash beets. Note, if you store your beets before using, do not wash them. If they get wet, dry them well before storing them in the vegetable crisper in your fridge. Wash beets when ready to use.
- Scrub your beets: clean the beets to remove dirt.
- Cut off roots and stems: While you don’t need to peel beets before cooking, cutting off roots and stems makes beets easier to peel later.
Roasted, in the Oven
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wrap each beet in aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil, using your hands to coat the beet.
Place the beets on a baking sheet and roast for 40 to 90 minutes, depending on their size, until soft and fork-tender. Remove the beets from the oven, remove the foil, and set aside to cool.
Once cool enough to handle, peel the skins. The skins should peel away easily. If they don’t, they likely need to cook for longer.
Pressure Cooked, in the Instant Pot
The instant pot is a great, set-it-and-forget-it way to cook beets, and it’s particularly helpful in warmer weather since you don’t have to turn on the oven. How long you cook beets in the instant pot depends on the diameter of the beets you are trying to cook. One way to reduce cook time is to cut beets in half and cook based on their new diameter.
Place a rack into your instant pot. Add 1 cup of water (very important for the machine to come to pressure). Add beets. Cook beets on high pressure, referring to size in the list below to determine cook time.
For tender beets you can sink a fork into, here are some cook times based on size:
- Very small beets (1.5” to 1.75” diameter) – 15 minutes
- Small beets (2” diameter) – 20 minutes
- Medium-large beets (2 ½” diameter) – 30 minutes
- Extra Large beets (3” diameter) – 40 minutes
Once cool enough to handle, peel the skins. The skins should peel away easily.
Salad Ingredients
- Beets: Beets have earthy flavors, natural sweetness, the most gorgeous color and delicious taste. If you decide to roast them, those flavors will be even more pronounced, but any way you slice it (or cook them), the beets work to counteract the acidity in the vinaigrette and their soft texture is a nice contrast to all the crunch in this salad. In addition to the bright pop of color, beets also have many health benefits including being packed with nutrients (folate, manganese, and copper) and low in calories. Consumed regularly, beets are good for your blood pressure, digestive system and have anti-inflammatory properties.
- English cucumber: I like using English cucumbers in salads because I find their flavor more predictable when I buy them at the grocery store. They also don’t have as many seeds as other types of cucumbers.
- Feta Cheese: Salty flavors in the cheese crumbles = flavor, flavor, flavor! Goat cheese makes an excellent substitute if feta isn’t your thing. If you want to make this salad vegan, you can omit this and use salted pistachios instead.
- Fresh mint leaves: Fragrant mint makes everything taste cool and fresh. Perfect for a spring or a summer salad. Alternatively, you can replace it with fresh dill.
- Shallot: Milder and sweeter than regular onions, and therefore perfect added raw to salads. Replace with finely minced red onion if you don’t have any shallot.
- Pistachios: The first time I made this salad, I didn’t add pistachios. We ended up grabbing a handful and eating them with the salad. You can omit if needed, but they give this salad added flavor and crunch.
- Fresh squeezed lemon juice: The first time I made this salad, it was the starter to a date-night cheese and charcuterie board. I balanced our rich dinner with the lemon salad dressing.
- Dijon mustard: Fun fact: Yes mustard adds flavor. But the main reason you see mustard in so many vinaigrette and dressing recipes is that mustard acts as an emulsifier, helping to bind oil and vinegar!
- Maple syrup: Lemon vinaigrettes can be overpowering if there is no sweetener to help balance out the flavors. I like using pure maple syrup because it’s already in a liquid state that makes it easy to incorporate.
- Extra-virgin olive oil
How To Make This Healthy Beet Cucumber Salad Recipe
Prepare vinaigrette in a small bowl. Start by adding lemon juice, mustard, and maple syrup. Slowly whisk in the olive oil so that it emulsifies. Add in minced garlic and salt and pepper. Since everyone is so different with salt, I recommend adding half of the recommended salt, tasting and adding the rest of it depending on preference.
Slice cooked beets. Place in a large bowl or a serving platter.
Split fresh cucumber in half lengthwise and remove seeds with a spoon. Slice into half moons. Place cucumber slices in salad bowl with the beets.
Crumble feta. Place in bowl with the vegetables.
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl: the diced shallot, mint and pistachio. Pour vinaigrette over everything and toss gently.
Since the beet will stain the cucumber pink and the pistachios will soften if they sit in the vinaigrette for too long, if you are making this for a party or a BBQ, you can also prepare the salad ingredients in advance and store beets and pistachios in two separate containers, adding to the rest of the salad right before serving.
How To Avoid Beet Stains
Beet stains everything! You can keep from getting beet juice all over your hands by wearing gloves. If you don’t want to stain your cutting board, you can line it with paper towel or wax paper.
How To Keep Cucumber From Getting Soggy
I recommend adding the cucumber to this salad right before serving to prevent the cucumber from getting soggy. But you can also add your sliced cucumbers to a colander and toss with a generous pinch of salt, letting it sit in the sink for 20-30 minutes before patting dry with a paper towel. This process draws out moisture so the cucumbers stay fresh longer.
What To Serve With This Beet Cucumber Salad
- Crusty bread: It would be delicious brushed with olive oil, rubbed with fresh garlic and toasted slightly in the oven.
- Sandwiches: A nice light alternative to chips. Delicious with egg salad, tuna or turkey sandwiches.
- Chicken or Salmon: Delicious with any French, Italian or Mediterranean style chicken or salmon.
If You Love This Salad Recipe, Try…
- Grilled Romaine Lettuce Greek Salad
- Lemony Swiss Chard Salad with Garlicky Breadcrumbs
- Dill Quinoa Salad with Asparagus and Jammy Eggs
📖 Recipe
Healthy Beet Cucumber Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- LEMON VINAIGRETTE INGREDIENTS
- 3 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon pure maple syrup sub. with honey
- ¼ to ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- SALAD INGREDIENTS
- 4 small beets (8.8 oz)
- 1 English cucumber 8-12 oz
- 2 oz feta
- ½ cup mint leaves
- 1 shallot sliced into rings
- ½ cup pistachios crushed
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- Lemon juice to taste I added 2 teaspoon after I tossed the salad
Instructions
- Prepare vinaigrette in a small bowl. Start by adding lemon juice, mustard, and maple syrup. Slowly whisk in the olive oil so that it emulsifies. Add in minced garlic and salt and pepper.
- Slice cooked beets. Place in a large bowl or a serving platter.
- Split fresh cucumber in half lengthwise and remove seeds with a spoon. Slice into half moons. Place cucumber slices in the salad bowl with the beets.
- Crumble feta. Place in the bowl with the vegetables.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl: the sliced shallot, mint and pistachio. Pour vinaigrette over everything and toss gently.
- Add 1-2 teaspoon more lemon juice to taste. Add salt to taste, starting with ¼ teaspoon and increasing until the salad is seasoned to your liking.
Notes
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Wrap each beet in aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil, using your hands to coat the beet.
- Place the beets on a baking sheet and roast for 40 to 90 minutes, depending on their size, until soft and fork-tender. Remove the beets from the oven, remove the foil, and set aside to cool.
- Once cool enough to handle, peel the skins. The skins should peel away easily. If they don’t, they likely need to cook for longer.
- Very small beets (1.5” to 1.75” diameter) – 15 minutes
- Small beets (2” diameter) – 20 minutes
- Medium-large beets (2 ½” diameter) – 30 minutes
- Extra Large beets (3” diameter) – 40 minutes
