Cucumber Beet Salad

This Beetroot cucumber salad with goat or feta cheese is easy and fast to make. Using pickled beets is a great way to add a lot of flavor and also a big timesaver. I have used whole pickled beets, but canned beets or already sliced beets works great too.

For a sweet recipe using beets, try this Beetroot Chocolate Cake or this Beet and Blood Orange Smoothie.

Ingredients

To make this cucumber salad with beets and walnuts, all that’s needed are just a few ingredients. Take a look at the ingredient list below.

For the full recipe with the quantities, see the recipe card below.

• English cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, deseed it with a spoon and then sliced.
• Canned beets (about 2 large beets) cut in half lengthwise and sliced
• Red onion, thinly slices or pickled red onion.
• Walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
• Fresh dill, chopped
• Feta cheese or goat cheese, crumbled

Dressing

• Olive oil, a good quality extra virgin olive oil tastes great in this dressing. 
• Lemon juice, freshly squeezed always tastes better. 
• Garlic, gives this dressing a punch of flavour.
• Honey, to balance out the acid from the lemon juice. For a vegan option, use maple syrup.
• Dijon mustard, just a little adds a lot of flavor. 
• Sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Making this healthy cucumber and beetroot salad is fast and easy. Just follow the step by step photos below. 

For the full instructions see the recipe card at the bottom.

Drizzle over the dressing and toss to combine.

Hint: For a milder tasting onion, soak it in cold water for 15 minutes, drain and then add to the salad.

Substitutions

• Cucumbers – Using English cucumbers will give the best tasting cucumber salad. They are crispy, don’t have to be peeled and with fewer seeds. Persian cucumbers also tastes great, they are normally a lot smaller then English cucumbers, so use two or three of them. Regular cucumbers can also be used, I would recommend peeling them before adding to this salad. 
• Beets – This recipe uses whole, pickled beets. Sliced pickled beets or canned beets also works great. You can also roast or boil fresh beets, then peel and slice them before adding to the beetroot salad.
• Herbs – Instead of chopped fresh dill, frozen dill can also be used. Other herbs like parsley, basil or cilantro also works well in this canned beet salad. 
• Onion – The red onion adds a lot of flavor to this salad. It can also be replaced with some pickled red onion, spring onion or sliced shallot. If you don’t like onions, just leave them out.
• Nuts – For an allergy friendly beet salad, replace the walnuts with pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds.

Another great salad to try is this Cucumber Salad with apple cider vinegar.

Variations

• Spicy – To add a little spice to this easy cucumber and beetroot salad, top the salad with some little red chill flakes or even sliced fresh chili. Another option is to use hot honey in the salad dressing.
• Cheese – Instead of the crumbled or feta cheese or goat cheese, substitute with shaved parmesan cheese or fried cubes of hallomie cheese.
• Vegan – for a vegan beet salad, use maple syrup instead of honey in the dressing and a vegan feta cheese alternative.
• Veggies – Add more veggies to this beetroot salad, some great options are chopped tomato, bell pepper or some sliced avocado.
• Nuts – Instead of the walnuts, use pecans, almonds or pistachios.

Serve this fresh side salad with a slice of homemade bread like this No knead olive bread or this No Knead Whole Wheat Bread.

Storage

This beetroot and cucumber salad can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3-4 days. The pink color from the beets will turn the rest of the salad ingredients a hue of pink, but that won’t affect the taste. Toss the salad again after being stored and top with some fresh dill and ground black pepper if desired.

This salad does not freeze well so I don’t recommend that.

Salad recipes

Side dishes

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