Colorful Crave-Worthy Salad
Have an aversion to beets? This is the cold beet salad recipe that will make you crave them. Cooked beetroots lightly dressed with a tart citrus-balsamic vinaigrette and topped with crumbled feta cheese and chopped cilantro. It’s an everyday salad disguised as a date-night or dinner party salad.

A beautiful salad in the colors of the Mexican flag, green, white, and red. If you have never prepared beets before it is far simpler than you may think.

How to Make Beet Salad
First, gather your ingredients.

You will need:
For the Salad
- 4 medium beets
- ¾ cup feta cheese
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
For the Vinaigrette
- Juice of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp. honey
- ½ tbsp. dijon mustard
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 clove garlic
Cooking Beets
- Cut the tops off the beets and discard the tops.

- Place the beets in a large pot and cover with 2″ of water. Bring to a boil then reduce to low and cook for 45 minutes until they are fork tender.

- Set the beets aside and allow to cool.

- Peel the beets once they are cool to the touch.

- Cut the beets into 1″ pieces.
Making the Beet Salad Dressing (Vinaigrette)
Make the vinaigrette while the beets are cooking. This gives the flavors of the dressing time to blend.
- In a small mixing bowl add the orange juice, lime juice, balsamic, vinegar, honey, and dijon mustard.
- Whisk the ingredients briskly while slowly pouring in the olive oil.
- Whisk vigorously until the ingredients have combined.
- Add the chopped garlic and salt. Whisk in incorporate.
- Taste the dressing and add salt to taste if needed.
- Set Aside.

Serving the Salad
- Divide the beets into 4 small salad bowls.
- Top with crumbled feta cheese and chopped cilantro.
- Lightly drizzle each salad with vinaigrette. (Shake well before dressing.)
- Serve lightly chilled.

Looking for the best beet salad? This may be it. Provecho!
Beet Salad Recipe with Feta Cheese and Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 medium beets
- ¾ cup feta cheese
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped cilantro
Vinaigrette
- Juice of 1 orange
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp. honey
- ½ tbsp. dijon mustard
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 clove garlic
Instructions
Beets
- Cut the tops off the beets. Place the beets in a large pot and cover with 2″ of water. Bring to a boil then reduce to low and cook for 45 minutes.
- Set the beets aside and allow to cool.
- Peel the beets once they are cool to the touch.
- Cut the beets into 1″ pieces.
Vinaigrette
- In a small mixing bowl add the orange juice, lime juice, balsamic, vinager, honey, and dijon mustard.
- Whisk the ingredients briskly while slowly pouring in the olive oil.
- Whisk vigorously until the ingredients have combined.
- Add the chopped garlic and salt. Whisk in incorporate.
- Taste the dressing and add salt to taste if needed.
- Set Aside.
Serving
- Divide the beets in 4 small salad bowls.
- Top with crumbled feta cheese and chopped cilantro.
- Lightly dress with vinaigrette dressing.
- Serve lightly chilled.
Notes
- You can substitute goat cheese or ranchero cheese for the feta cheese. The goat cheese will give the salad a sharper taste and the ranchero cheese will give it a milder taste.
- You can substitute 1 tbsp. lemon juice for the lime juice.
- A tsp. of diced red onion in each bowl adds a little kick.
Nutrition
More Mexican Salads
Mexico has many great salads. Here are a few of our favorites. They go far beyond the bagged salad mixes.
mary says
Steam beets whole until you can poke a skewer through them, then let cool. Skin etc can then be easily removed. I have used parsley instead of cilantro; also delicious.
Sarah says
This recipe is delicious! By far the best beet salad I have had the pleasure of eating. I followed the recipe exactly and would not change a thing.
Douglas Cullen says
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!
Marlene VanderLaan says
I had this beet salad while visiting the Magical Kingdom of Disney in Florida 2 weeks ago. We had lunch at one of the many restaurant’s on site..
The base of the salad was your recipe and they modified it by adding yogurt, granola, and mandarin oranges. They did not use your Citrus/Balsamic dressing, which i believe would have enhanced their salad greatly.
I was quite impressed and purchased beets today to make it for my guests coming Friday. I’m looking forward to using your recipe and adding candied pecans.
Thank you from Canada!
lorraine says
Absolutely fabulous. Will serve this one often.