Roasted Beet Salad with Cashew Cheese
Chock-full of cleansing ingredients, this vegan roasted beet salad is clean eating at its best. Each bite offers a lovely mix of flavor.
This roasted beet salad is just one of many ways to enjoy beets.
My grandmother used to grow beets in her garden and pickle them. They were delicious. We would have them as a side dish in little bowls. Since we were natives of New York’s Catskills but not the Borscht Belt variety, it never occurred to us to eat beets any other way—as soup or otherwise.
I only experienced the wonders of roasted beets a few years ago. For a time, my sister offered a delicious roasted beet side dish at her restaurant in Saint Paul, MN.
Following my sister’s lead, I’ve become more adventurous with beets. I’ve even tried my hand at borscht—but that’s for another post. When I picked up a beautiful bunch of beets from my local farm buying club, I knew I wanted to make a roasted beet salad.
Roasted Beets
Roasting beets has become my preferred cooking method—probably because it’s so easy! I simply snip the tops off the beets. (Be sure to save the beet greens—they make a great addition to smoothies, sautés, and salads!)
Then, I place the beets on a sheet of aluminum foil and fold up the edges to create a sealed packet.
I roast the packet on a baking sheet in my toaster oven at 400 degrees for approximately one hour. (I don’t bother to preheat the oven.)
I allow the packet of beets to cool, and then trim the roots and any remaining stems with a paring knife, and use a paper towel to simply rub off the skin—it slips right off.
Cashew Cheese
Giving up cheese has been one of the greater challenges I’ve faced since switching to a plant-based diet.
I’ve become quite fond of nut “cheeses.” For this roasted beet salad, I was looking for a flavor and texture similar to goat cheese—but it had to be simple to make. (I’m a lazy cook!)
ForksandBeans.com shares a wonderful Raw Vegan “Goat” Cheese Dip recipe that fits the bill nicely. I share an adapted version below.
Of course, if you aren’t following a strictly plant-based diet, you can use regular goat cheese!
Roasted Beet Salad with Cashew Cheese
You will appreciate the cleansing properties of the ingredients in this roasted beet salad if you, ahem, enjoy this salad after attending a party the night before. Beets are known to detoxify the liver. Other ingredients commonly found on top detox food lists include:
- Apples
- Lemon
- Dark leafy greens
If you want to enhance the sense of freshness and clean eating, add a few sprinkles of fresh mint for a little extra kick.
While the salad itself is quick and easy to make, it does require some preparation. The easiest approach is to make the cheese and roast the beets at least a day or two ahead of time. I made the cashew cheese the day before and roasted the beets in the morning before I made the salad for lunch.
Roasted Beet Salad with Cashew Cheese
Ingredients
Cashew "Goat Cheese"
- ½ cup raw cashews (soaked in hot water 1-2 hours, then drained)
- ½ lemon
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (extra virgin)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ⅛ tsp Himalayan cooking salt
Roasted Beets
- 6 beets – small-medium sized
Salad
- 2 cups baby romaine chopped
- 4 beet leaves chopped
- ½ cup cucumber diced, peeled and seeds removed
- ¼ cup red onion diced
- ½ organic apple small, chopped
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ lemon cut in half (2 quarters)
- 4 fresh mint leaves minced (optional)
Instructions
Cashew "Goat Cheese"
- Line two 8 oz ramekins with plastic wrap.
- Add the cashews, lemon, water, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, and salt to a high-speed blender.
- Begin blending on low and increase to the highest speed.
- Blend on high for approximately 35 seconds, until smooth.
- Scrape the mixture into the ramekins, dividing evenly.
- Refrigerate for several hours until set—ideally overnight.
Roasted Beets
- Scrub and trim beets.
- Place beets on a large sheet of aluminum foil and fold up the edges to form a sealed packet.
- Place the packet on a baking sheet and roast in an oven for one hour at 400ºF. (I use my toaster oven.)
- Allow the beets to cool. Then, trim the roots and any remaining stems with a paring knife and rub off the skin with a paper towel.
- Slice beets into wedges and set aside.
Salad
- Divide the salad greens, beet wedges, cucumber, onion, and apple between two individual salad or pasta bowls.
- Sprinkle each bowl with walnuts.
- Squeeze the juice from a quartered slice of lemon over each bowl.
- Add large dollops of the cashew "goat cheese" to each bowl.
- Sprinkle with fresh mint if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
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