Arugula beet salad with feta and walnuts

Healthy and nutritious arugula beet salad with feta and walnuts with olive oil and lemon dressing – a delicious gluten-free and keto lunch idea that can be made ahead and shared with your family and friends! 

Jump to:

• Ingredients you will need
• 5 ways how to cook beets
• How to make arugula beet salad
• Serving ideas
• More keto recipes
• Recipe

Ingredients you will need

Beetroot – If you don’t know how to cook beetroot, there are detailed instructions that you can find by scrolling down. Or, if you want to save your time, you can buy vacuumed-packed cooked beetroot at your local grocery store. Despite beetroot having 8g net carbs per 100g, they’re very nutritious (very high in folate) and can be enjoyed on a keto diet.

Feta cheese – Feta and beets are an amazing combo that will excite your taste buds. You can also use white cheese instead of feta if you like.

Walnuts – A great source of omega-3 fatty acids. 

Arugula – Fresh arugula leaves bring an interesting (and a little bit spicy) flavor to this beet and arugula salad. Also, it’s a great source of vitamins K and A.

Olive oil dressing – I really like to use a light olive oil for this salad recipe because of its very neutral flavor. But, you can definitely replace it with an extra virgin olive oil. Also, this dressing for beet salad includes lemon zest, lemon juice, ground black pepper, and salt to your taste!

5 ways how to cook beets

No matter which method you choose, we need to prepare our beetroot before cooking it. To do that, cut off the leafy tops as close to the beets as possible and wash them well (or even scrub them with a brush!) The cooking time will vary depending on the size of your beets. Also, there’s no need to peel off the skin before cooking! Once done, it’s easily removed by rubbing with a paper towel or using a potato peeler.

Roasted beets

Take out (still wet after washing) your beets and grease with some olive oil before covering them individually in aluminum foil. Place the foil-wrapped beets on a baking tray and bake in an oven preheated to 400F (200C) for 45-60 minutes depending on their size. Check the beets after 30 minutes; if they look dry, add one teaspoon of water inside the foil wrap, close it, and keep baking until they’re done. The beets are ready when a fork easily pierces to the center. Remove the beets from the oven and let them cool. When the beetroot is just warm to the touch, peel off the skin. It should come off easily by rubbing with a paper towel.

Boiled beets

Place the beetroot into a stockpot and add cold water so that they’re fully submerged. Boil for 30-40 minutes or until soft in the center. You can check it by piercing the beets with a fork. When done, place the cooked beets into cold water for 10 minutes before peeling off the skin.

Steamed beets

Place a steamer basket in a deep stockpot, or whatever you use for steaming, and add some cold water so it doesn’t touch the basket. Place the beetroots inside the basket, cover with a lid, and steam for 20-30 minutes or until tender all the way through. Once done, wait until the beets are warm to the touch and peel off the skin.

Microwaving

Pierse the clean, wet beetroots with a fork in different places. Then, place into an oven bag, close it, and pierce the bag with a toothpick or knife so the steam can escape when cooking. Microwave for 10-12 min at 800W or until soft in the center. When ready, remove our beetroot from the microwave allow to cool until warm before removing the skin.

Pressure cooking

Place the beets into a pressure cooker, choose manual, and set a 15-minute timer. After the timer goes off, the pressure in the Instant Pot will naturally decrease. Your beetroot should be tender all the way through at this point. Let them cool down a little bit before peeling off the skin.

How to make arugula beet salad

To make this arugula salad with beets, feta, and walnuts, let’s start by combining the finely chopped yellow onions and white wine vinegar in a small mixing bowl. Soaking onions in white wine vinegar will make them sweet, removing the strong onion flavor.

Then, combine the cooked and cubed red beets (you can find detailed instructions on how to cook red beets in the post above) and pressed garlic in a large salad bowl. Now, we’re going to add all dressing ingredients to the salad bowl - lemon zest, juice of the lemon, and salt with ground black pepper to taste - and mix well. 

By now, our onions should be ready to be removed from the vinegar. You can do thus by using a sieve or just by fishing out the onions with a spoon before placing them into a salad bowl.

Lastly, add the arugula, feta cheese, and walnuts and toss gently. Adjust saltiness if needed and serve what’s most likely one of the best beet salad recipes you'll ever try!

Serving ideas

Cooked beets can be stored in an airtight container in a fridge for up to 2 weeks! It makes it so easy to cube them up and toss in a simple summer keto-friendly salad whenever you like. Enjoy with some LOW-CARB CHIA CRACKERS or KETO SEED CRACKERS on the side. Or, toast some MICROWAVE KETO BREAD to make your keto lunch more satisfying. You can also serve it as a side dish with pork or chicken. Check out my BBQ KETO RIBS recipe or this LEMON BUTTER CHICKEN for inspiration.

More keto recipes

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KETO COLESLAW

KETO EGG SALAD RECIPE WITH AVOCADO

KETO CHICKEN SALAD

Recipe

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