Marinated Beet Salad with Oranges

The intense flavor and eye catching presentation of this Marinated Beet Salad with Oranges blows away any other beet salad I’ve ever had!

Early Fall-like temperatures turned my thoughts to roasted vegetables, and beautiful red beets in particular. I’ve always been a big fan of beets, but prefer a recipe that balances out their sweetness. This is that recipe! Tangy sherry vinegar, earthy fresh thyme and a healthy dash of salt infuse a punch of tart, sweet, herby flavor which is sublime.

Roasting & Marinating the Beets

This is another winning vegetable recipe from my Vegetables Illustrated cookbook. In addition to finding this new recipe, I also picked up a new beet roasting technique. Instead of individually wrapping beets, put them in a single large foil packet, along with some water. This ensures the beets are roasted until tender, but prevents them from getting over caramelized.

Prepping the Oranges

For extra visual impact I used a combination of Cara Cara and naval oranges. Here’s a great tip for prepping citrus fruit for any salad: Start by cutting around the fruit to remove the outer peel. Then cut between the membranes so you’re left with pith and membrane-free fruit slices. While I prefer fresh oranges, you could use a can of drained Mandarin oranges if you want to skip this step.

Finishing Touches

A lovely sprinkle of chopped toasted walnuts marry up perfectly with the thyme in the marinade. Shaved Parmesan, a drizzle of olive oil and you’re Marinated Beet Salad with Oranges is ready to serve.

Serving Note – this salad looks amazing assembled on a serving platter. But for ease of serving, you could opt for assembling the salad on individual plates instead. I say that because, the beet juice-infused marinade has that lovely deep red color. The very color you’d prefer not to drip on your tablecloth if you were serving up this salad at the table. Either way, it will look beautiful!

My deviations from the original recipe included using shaved Parmesan vs Pecorino Romano and baby romaine vs arugula, both based on personal preference. But as I always say about salads, they’re very flexible, so tweak to your heart’s content!

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Marinated Beet Salad with Oranges

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Marinate: 1 day day

Servings: 4

Author: Adapted from Marinated Beets with Oranges and Pecorino from Vegetable Illustrated cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 pound beets trimmed (select similar sized beets, 2-3 inches in diameter)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Salt and pepper
• 2 oranges
• 4 ounces baby mixed greens or arugula
• 2 ounces Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese shaved with vegetable peeler
• 1/2 cup walnuts toasted and chopped coarse

Instructions

• Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 16 by 12-inch piece of aluminum foil on rimmed baking sheet. Arrange beets in center of foil and lift sides of foil to form bowl. Add water to beets and crimp foil tightly to seal. Roast until beets can be pierced easily with fork, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Peel beets once they are just cool enough to handle (you want them to still be slightly warm to better absorb the marinade.) Halve each beet vertically, then cut into ½-inch-thick wedges.
• Whisk vinegar, oil, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Add beets and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours (I marinated for 24 hours and they turned out delicious and flavorful!)
• Cut away peel and pith from oranges. Holding fruit over bowl, use paring knife to slice between membranes to release segments; set aside. Arrange greens on a serving platter. Spoon beets over green and drizzle with remaining marinade. Arrange orange segments over salad and top with shaved cheese and walnuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with extra oil and serve.

Notes

Canned Mandarin oranges (drained) are an option if you don’t want to peel fresh oranges.