This is a gloriously gobstopping golden beet salad recipe, perfect to adorn the tables with during the holiday season. Inspired by Plant Test Kitchen’s Citrus Beet Salad, tenderize these golden beets by braising them in orange juice and herbs, and then serving ’em atop a bed of crunchy fresh endive greens. A reduction of the braising liquid, which turns out to be a zippy orange vinaigrette, is then drizzled that over the top. To be extra fancy, sprinkle on some toasted coconut flakes while you’re at it. Eaten all together, you’ve got yourself a truly remarkable bowl of golden beet deliciousness.
Main Ingredients For Golden Beet Salad Recipe
- 3 – 4 medium golden beets
Golden beets are less.. “beet-y” tasting than their magenta counterparts, meaning they tend to be more tame tasting overall, so much so that even people who usually dislike the classic red beet can stomach the golden ones.
- White balsamic vinegar
If you don’t have or can’t find white balsamic, use apple cider vinegar instead, as in the beet salad recipe by Plant Test Kitchen.
Do make sure they are unsweetened. The sweet versions would be too cloyingly saccharine for this dish.
- Curly endive greens
A.K.A. frisée for the fancy people. If you don’t care for endive greens, continue reading for my suggestions for alternatives.
How To Braise Beets
Braising is basically when you cook something slowly in a fatty liquid.. usually this applies to meat, but why not beetroot? It’s the meatiest of the veggies after all.
Here’s what you need to do for the perfect braised golden beets for this beet salad recipe!
- Peeling the outside of the beets is imperative. The exterior of a beet is usually dirty, gritty and tough, and so we’ll want to take that off with a simple peeler (like the kind you’d use for potatoes) before we do anything else. You’ll find that peeling beets is surprisingly easy.
- Next, cut the beets in half length-wise. Then, lay the flat side down, and cut the beets in to half-moons, about 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thick. Just make sure that all the beets are relatively even in size and thickness.
- Add the orange juice, white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup, dried rosemary, salt and bay leaves to a large baking dish (I used a 9×13-inch baking dish), and whisk this briefly.
- Add the sliced beets to the baking dish. Ensure the beets half-moons are spread relatively evenly and mostly fully submerged. Cover this with aluminum foil, and then bake the golden beets for about 60 – 75 minutes, until tender when poked with a fork, removing the foil from the top of the baking dish after 30 – 40 minutes of baking.
You’ll know what the golden beets are done when you poke them with a fork and they feel tender. There shouldn’t be too much resistance or difficulty – a little bite and texture is not a bad thing though. Nobody wants a completely soft or gelatinous beet.
And there you go – the perfect braised beets for your golden beet salad recipe. That wasn’t so difficult, right?
Alternative To Curly Endive
Curly endive greens (also known as frisée) are, in my opinion, the perfect green for this beet salad recipe. They’re bitter, crisp, interestingly textured, beautiful and frizzy. Really, they have it all. But if for some reason you’re not a fan of endive greens, or if you’re unable to find it, there are alternatives for you.
- Arugula
This is the first green that comes to mind. Equally as bitter, but more spicy, too. Also, arugula tends to have less wild texture, like something more akin to the smooth green surface of spinach. It should taste equally as delicious in this golden beet salad recipe. Check out this roasted beet bowl with arugula for an example.
- Watercress
If you still want to go with that super wispy look for your salad, watercress are a good option. They have a neutral taste, and work well as the base of any salad.
- Radicchio
Both from the chicory family, radicchio is endive’s cooler older brother. That being said, raddichio is quite a bit more bitter than endive, so only go for this alternative if you really love that flavor profile.
- Napa Cabbage
This cruciform has a similar color and texture to endive, without as much bitterness. Finely shred it for the base of this beet salad recipe instead.
I hope that you enjoyed this golden beet salad recipe. If you did, consider leaving me a comment and recipe rating before you go.
Braised Golden Beet & Endive Salad with Toasted Coconut
Equipment
- Large baking dish (9×13-inch recommended)
- Cast-iron pan
Ingredients
For the Braised Golden Beets
- 3 – 4 medium golden beets, peeled and cut into ¼''- ½'' half moons
- 2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice, about 4 medium oranges
- ⅓ cup white balsamic vinegar
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 – 3 bay leaves
For the Toasted Coconut & Vinaigrette
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon ginger, minced (about 1-inch of root, peeled)
- ½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- Several cups fresh curly endive greens (frisée), or other frizzy, bitter greens
Instructions
- Firstly, preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C), and begin to peel your golden beets, just until the rougher and darker outside layer is fully removed. Slice the peeled beets in half, and then lay the flat side down. From there, cut the beets into half-moons.
- Next, in a large baking dish (9×13-inch recommended), add the orange juice, white balsamic vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup, dried rosemary, salt and bay leaves, and whisk this briefly. Now add the sliced beets. Ensure the beets are spread relatively evenly and mostly fully submerged. Cover this with aluminum foil, and then bake the golden beets for about 60 – 75 minutes, until tender when poked with a fork, removing the foil from the top of the baking dish after 30 – 40 minutes of baking.
- About 15 minutes before the beets are done braising, in a cast-iron pan over medium heat, toast the coconut flakes until golden brown. This should take no more than 5 minutes. Transfer the coconut flakes to a small bowl, and then return the cast-iron to the heat.
- In the same cast-iron also over medium heat, in 1 tablespoon of olive oil sauté the shallot, garlic and ginger until aromatic and it's just starting to turn golden brown, about 5 – 7 minutes. Once the golden beets are done, remove the golden beets from the baking dish, and then carefully add the remaining braising liquid to the cast-iron with the shallot, garlic and ginger. Reduce down this liquid for 2 – 3 minutes, until it has thickened slightly. This will be your vinaigrette.
- To assemble, lay down a bed of fresh endive greens, followed by fanned out slices of golden beets, drizzled with the orange vinaigrette, and lastly the toasted coconut flakes.
Nutrition
May you have good food in good company,
That Vegan Nephew
This is a salad for dinner salad. The beets so sweet. The endive with it’s hint of bitterness. The dressing herby and full of flavor. And then the nuts to top it off and make it a complete meal. Yum. Thanks Vegan Nephew