Beetroot's vivid colour provides a dramatic addition to any plate. In this healthy salad recipe I have combined it with peaches and feta to give an earthy, sweet, and salty flavour experience.
Like all my healthy salad recipes, this is simple and quick to make. With each of my salad recipes, I want to show you how easy it is to make flavourful and healthy salads at home and save you money. For the price of one shop purchased salad you can easily get two or even three portions of homemade salad if you make it at home. So now nothing can stop you from enjoying all those glamorous salads, on a budget.
Planning a party or barbecue? Why not create a sunshine spread with these other healthy salad recipes: Kohlrabi, Grapefruit and baked feta; heirloom tomato, strawberry and feta; and heirloom tomato Panzanella
The beetroot not only looks good, it packs a high nutritional punch to. Amongst its various health benefits are potential anti-cancer properties, aids digestive health, and is good for blood pressure. Remember though, everything in balance.
I decided to roast the beetroot in this healthy salad recipe so as to preserve its nutritional benefits as far as possible, and to give an earthy flavour. Cook times may vary depending on the size of the beetroot. It will be cooked when a knife slides easily into it. Not too soft though. We are aiming for a little bite to it.
In order to enhance the sweetness of the peaches, they are slightly caramelised by grilling.
Adding the feta cheese helps to balances the flavours. Feta is quite a salty cheese and fresh tasting. I used the vegan feta from Violife (this in not a product placement!). I can honestly say it is just like the dairy feta, so no compromise on the flavour. The texture is a little different but that's OK.
Video Tutorial
📖 Recipe
Beetroot, Grilled Peach, Feta & Baby Spinach Salad
Equipment
- Weighing scale
- meauring spoons
Ingredients
- 380 gms Beetroot small to medium sized
- 280 gms Peach
- 50 gms Baby Spinach
- 100 gms Vegan Feta Cheese I used Violife
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash and dry Beetroot, peaches and spinach.
- Pre heat oven to 180ºC. This temperature is for fan assisted oven. You may need to adjust the oven temperature if its not fan assisted.
- Trim the top and tail of beetroot and wrap in aluminium foil. ( make sure the shiny side is in, this helps to retain heat ).Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes. Cook time may need to be adjusted depending on the size of the beetroot. Top tip, using a knife poke the beetroot all round. this helps the heat to penetrate deep inside.
- Cut Peaches into halves and then wedges. Grill peaches on a griddle or Barbecue for a few minutes, to acheive a nice chargrilled mark. Set aside.
- Once beetroot is cooked, let it cool in the foil. Once cooled down, remove from foil and under a running tap, rub the beetroot to remove skin.
- Cut the beetroot into bite sized wedges.
- Arrange baby spinach on the serving plate.
- Mix olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper in a jam jar and shake to emulsify.
- Pour the dressing over the, the beetroot and peaches and give it a toxx to mix.
- Arrange beetroot and peaches on top of spinach.
- Crumble the Feta between your fingers into chunks and sprinkle over salad.
Recipe Variations & Notes
The Vegan feta cheese can be substituted for dairy feta cheese.
Can I cook the peach in the oven or a pan? Cooking the peaches in the oven doesn't work because the heat is drying and will cause the peach to lose a lot of moisture. However, you can sear it on a pan. Have a look at my video. I don't have a griddle pan or barbecue. So my way to get those sear marks on the peach while using a pan is to cut the peaches with a crinkle cutter or knife.
Can I cook the beetroot another way? Beetroot can be cooked in many ways. Another good method to retain the nutrients is to steam them. This can take up to 30 minutes to make them fork tender. You can be sure that this remains a healthy salad recipe.
Can I prepare this salad in advance? Absolutely! I would recommend not to mix everything together until you are ready to serve. Store you prepared ingredients in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Megan
This was such an easy recipe to follow and put together! The dressing was slightly more acidic than I liked so I added a pinch of sugar and a little more olive oil. It's the end of season here for peaches so my peaches weren't as juicy or sweet as I would have liked but the flavor combo with the beets and feta was outstanding. Made a perfect light lunch!
Tip: make your beets the day before . They took almost an hour at 400°
Chef Tripti
Thank you so much Megan! I really appreciate you taking out the time to leave me feedback.I am glad that you enjoyed the salad, I hope that it will stay on your list of recipes for next year as well when the peaches are in season where you are. Thank you for mentioning your cook time for the beetroot.I will add a note to the recipe.