How to Make a Delicious Beet Salad

Beets can be prepared in many other ways, like a roast, in soups and purees. By learning to make this delicious beet salad, you have a colorful and nutritious dish at your disposal.

Beets are a vegetable with and edible root that have a very characteristic flavor and color. Beet salad is a delicious way to eat this vegetable.  

In this article, we’ll show you a recipe that will allow you to enjoy the characteristic flavor of beets and their wonderful health benefits.

The nutrients and benefits of beets

Looking for reasons to eat beets? Check out their incredible nutritional properties. Beets:

• Are low in calories. Despite their sweetness, they only contain 43 calories per serving.
• Don’t have lipids and cholesterol so they’re not a risk to your cardiovascular health. Because of this, beets are ideal during weight loss diets.
• Contain an amino acid known as betaine, which protects against stomach and colon cancer.
• Have a high amount of dietary fiber. This is excellent for protecting the health of your intestinal system.
• Contain manganese. This strengthens your bone, venous, muscular and immune systems. They also regulate the amount of glucose there is in your blood.
• Also have potassium, which contributes to helping to build muscle and optimizes the electrical activity of your heart.
• Contain vitamin C, folate and magnesium. These nutrients benefit your RNA and DNA, as well as helping to prevent anemia.

All these components make beets a food with great antioxidant value. According to nutritionists, those who eat themget a high percentage of nutrients.

When buying beets

To ensure freshness and that they really contain all the elements and nutrients mentioned, you have to choose beets that have the following characteristics :

• The stalks must be firm to the touch. If they’re soft, they’re not fresh or they haven’t been properly stored.
• If the outside is a little brighter, it is better. Do not buy them if they are very opaque, that’s a sign of poor conservation.
• Choose the most intensely colored beets with light green leaves. This color gets lighter the longer it is around.

Next, we’ll take a look at some great beet recipes:

Beet, apple and orange salad

This incredible recipe includes ingredients that, together with the beets, result in a very harmonious combination of flavors. Because of its sweet and citrus flavor, this salad is usually recommended for meetings, Christmas dinners, and so on. 

The ingredients are for approximately eight guests:

Ingredients

• 1 turnip (40 g)
• 1 spice clove
• 3 apples (60 g)
• 2 oranges (50 g)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 medium head of lettuce (40 g)
• 50 grams of brown sugar
• ½ cup of nuts (100 g)
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil (30 mL)
• Three beets  (80 g)
• 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (30 mL)

Preparation of the beet salad

1. Cook the beets in water, without peeling them, for about 40 minutes, together with the sugar and the spice clove.
2. Once they’re done, remove them and then remove the skin.
3. Cut them into small pieces. Save the water you cooked with.
4. Finely cut the lettuce and rinse it very well. Dry it completely.
5. Remove the peel from the oranges, as well as the thin skin and seeds, if there are any. Separate the fruit into segments and cut them in half.
6. Peel and cut the turnip into small squares.
7. Peel and cut the apples the same way. The apple pieces should be used as soon as possible because they will brown.
8. Make a dressing with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
9. Put all the ingredients together and pour the dressing on as well as a few tablespoons of the cooking water.

Beets can be prepared in many other ways, like a roast, in soups and purees. By learning to make this delicious beet salad, you have a colorful and nutritious dish at your disposal.