Colorful Beet Salad with Carrot, Quinoa & Spinach
Reset with this healthy superfood salad featuring raw beets, carrot, quinoa, spinach, edamame and avocado. It's as colorful as it is nutritious!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 1, 2024
Reset with this healthy beet salad recipe featuring superfoods like carrot, quinoa, spinach, edamame and avocado. This salad is as flavorful and nutritious as its bold colors would suggest.
This beet salad is tender, crisp and irresistible! The light apple cider, lime and herb dressing brings it all together.
Yesterday was not my day. I stayed up too late the night before (will I ever learn?). I ate lasagna for breakfast, forgot several important items on my grocery list, and fell over in yoga class. More than once. Maybe it was a normal day after all.
I managed to piece together this mega colorful beet salad with ingredients from the store and some substitutions based on what I had at home.
It’s a meal-in-a-bowl version of my simple beet and arugula salad that helped me find some much-needed balance during my totally ungraceful day. The recipe comes from a brand new cookbook called Inspiralized, by my friend Ali Maffucci.
Beet Salad Tips
The original recipe called for two beets instead of one beet, one carrot, and chopped mint instead of cilantro. I toasted the nuts (it’s a pain, but adds so much flavor!) and tinkered with the dressing a bit. I love how it turned out!
I don’t have a spiralizer (the contraption that turns vegetables into noodles), so I picked a recipe that didn’t necessarily require one (although, if you’re buying the book, you’ll need a spiralizer as well). I made do with my mandoline and julienne peeler. (This post contains affiliate links.)
All that said, don’t worry if you don’t have any of those things! You can make this salad with a sharp chef’s knife as well. (Or better yet, Charlotte grated the beet and carrot on her box grater!)
Watch How to Make Colorful Beet Salad
Please let me know how this salad turns out for you in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Craving more colorful, healthy recipes? I think you’ll love my cookbook! Here are a few more options on the blog:
- Simple Beet, Arugula and Feta Salad
- Peanut Slaw with Soba Noodles
- Colorful Chopped Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Build-Your-Own Buddha Bowl
- Veggie Sushi Bowls
Colorful Beet Salad with Carrot, Quinoa & Spinach
Reset with this healthy beet salad recipe featuring superfoods like carrot, quinoa, spinach, edamame and avocado. It’s as colorful as it is nutritious! Recipe yields two meal-sized salads or four side salads. If you plan on having leftovers, store the greens separately from the other prepared ingredients and toss just before serving.
Ingredients
Salad
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
- ⅓ cup slivered almonds or pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
- 1 medium raw beet, peeled
- 1 medium-to-large carrot (or 1 additional medium beet), peeled
- 2 cups packed baby spinach or arugula, roughly chopped
- 1 ripe avocado, cubed
Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or cilantro
- 2 tablespoons honey or maple syrup or agave nectar
- ½ to 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, to taste
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To cook the quinoa: First, rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh colander under running water for a minute or two. In a medium-sized pot, combine the rinsed quinoa and 1 cup water. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then cover the pot, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the quinoa from heat and let it rest, still covered, for 5 minutes. Uncover the pot, drain off any excess water and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Set it aside to cool.
- To cook the edamame: Bring a pot of water to boil, then add the frozen edamame and cook just until the beans are warmed through, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- To toast the almonds or pepitas: In a small skillet over medium heat, toast the almonds or pepitas, stirring frequently, until they are fragrant and starting to turn golden on the edges, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large serving bowl to cool.
- To prepare the beet(s) and/or carrot: First of all, feel free to just chop them as finely as possible using a sharp chef’s knife OR grate them on a box grater. If you have a spiralizer, you can spiralize them using blade C, then chop the ribbons into small pieces using a sharp chef’s knife. If you have a mandoline and julienne peeler (this is a pain), use the mandoline to julienne the beet and use a julienne peeler to julienne the carrot, then chop the ribbons into small pieces using a sharp chef’s knife.
- To prepare the vinaigrette: Whisk together all of the ingredients until emulsified.
- To assemble the salad: In your large serving bowl, combine the toasted almonds/pepitas, cooked edamame, prepared beet(s) and/or carrot, roughly chopped spinach/arugula (see note above about leftovers), cubed avocado and cooked quinoa.
- Finally, drizzle dressing over the mixture (you might not need all of it) and gently toss to combine. You’ll end up with a pink salad if you toss it really well! Season to taste with salt (up to an additional ¼ teaspoon) and black pepper. Serve.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Inspiralized: Turn Vegetables into Healthy, Creative, Satisfying Meals by Ali Maffucci.
Make it vegan: Opt for maple syrup or agave nectar instead of honey.
Make it nut free: Opt for pepitas instead of almonds.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This salad was amazing! I made it for a BBQ and everyone loved it. I switched the avocado for grilled haloumi as my sister is pregnant (so no soft cheese) and husband is allergic to avocado. I also added some curly leaf kale.
Thanks for sharing, Eileen!
Is the beet raw or cooked? Can’t wait to try this salad!
Hi Elizabeth, the beets are raw!
can i used can beets?
Fresh beets work best here, but if that is all you have, it should be ok. I would adjust the dressing to taste since canned beets tend to me more salty.
Delicious! I make extra dressing to have on hand for other quick salads once this is all gone.
So light and delicious! I didn’t have edamame on hand, so I used garbanzo beans instead and it was very tasty.
Thanks for this next go-to salad recipe!
I’m happy to hear you loved it, Aly!
Delicious and perfect. I followed your recipe and the end result was perfection! My family ĺoved it so much, i was asked when l’ll make it again.
That’s great, Susan! Thanks for sharing.
This has become a summer staple in our home. However, I omit the quinoa. It was hearty enough without it. I make a big batch, lay it out in segments – just like your photo – and let eveyone pick the balance of ingredients they want in their bowl of salad. i.e my hubby doesn’t like avocado (what?) so he omits it but like extra mint.
Also, I make twice as much dressing so I have more for another batch. Just so refreshing! Love this recipe!
Thank you for sharing! I’m glad you like it. I appreciate your review!
Another winner recipe that I’ve been making for my family for some time now. Sometimes I add chopped roasted potatoes. It’s delish both ways!
Thank you for your review, Jillian!
Having just discovered the genius of our roommate’s spiralizer, we had fun with a liberal variation on this. We subbed roasted chickpeas for edamame, bulgur for quinoa, added some cabbage since we had lots to be used, and added a bit of tahini to the dressing for some more umami (I felt it was a bit too sweet and I didn’t even use all of the honey it called for). Would have added a bit of feta if we had some. We make a lot of epic salads at home, but this is definitely a new favorite.
I like it! Thank you for sharing, Aldyn.
This recipe is a winner. I recently fell in love with roasting beets. Eat them like candy. So this recipe intrigued me because I had never made a recipe with raw beets. Sooooo delicious. It’s incredible. I agree the roasted almonds are worth it. I have fresh mint from the garden. So perfect!!! And so healthy. Thank you for this recipe!!!
Thank you for sharing, Patti!
Do you have to skin the beets?
I prefer to for this one, yes!
This recipe is delicious!!!!!!! My husband is having some uric acid issues so we are on a “eating” journey to try and heal with food. This one has all the ingredients he is allowed to eat and the flavors are just so playful and satisfying!! I did everything as the recipe said, only adding a sliced red onion. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!!!!
I’m glad you loved it and this recipe works so well with your family, Kemberly!
This was EXCELLENT. Followed recipe exactly. Wouldn’t change a thing and will definitely be making again!
Wonderful, Kayla! Thanks so much for sharing.
I love beets; my husband doesn’t like them at all. But I made this recipe despite his skepticism. I loved it, and he grudgingly admitted that it was good. (He ate it all up without any complaints – an admittance that he actually really liked it!) :) It’s a great way for me to get those healthy beets into him! I used both beets and carrots (and used them both raw as written). I added some goat cheese that I had on hand, and that gave it a little saltiness without adding salt. I gave it a couple of twists of freshly ground pepper at the end as you had suggested. Next time, I may add just a bit more freshly chopped spinach because I love spinach, too, and I loved the color it added to the beautiful red beets. Thanks for another great recipe, Kate!
I’m glad you still made them anyway, Jan! I appreciate your comment.
Nutrition information contains no nutritional information. It looks healthy, but would like to know how many servings and calories per serving.
Hi Margaret! I’m sorry for the frustration. We are currently working through an issue with the nutrition information appearing. I appreciate your patience and apologize.
Love this crunchy, tasty salad. This is my “go-to” winter salad for sure. Thank you so much for this. However, I’m not so pleased with the dressing. It’s missing something. Not sure what but I just make my own up and the salad is excellent!
Thanks for sharing! I’m sorry you don’t love the dressing. I appreciate the feedback.
I made the colourful beet salad for lunch the other day and it was fantastic! The toasted almonds added a nice crunch and the mint in the dressing gave a wonderful freshness. This recipe is a keeper!
Hooray! Thanks for sharing, Brianna.
How long Does it last in the fridge? Can I keep it for up to 6 days? Looks amazing was wondering if I could meal prep it!!
It should last 3-4 days. Although, once the dressing is on the spinach it will start to break down. If you plan to keep this for a few days, I would recommend dressing it as you eat it so it holds up better. I hope this helps!
I’m in the midst of making this salad and just realized that I can’t use Dijon mustard because one of the guests coming to dinner tonight is allergic to garlic and onion. Can you please suggest how to adapt the dressing recipe? I’ve already got all the other ingredients in it all the other ingredients in it. I used agave, about half as much as you suggested because I figure I can always add more later if I want to. Would be very grateful if you’d reply before 3 PM California time. Today is January 10, 2020. Thanks!
Hi, sorry for not getting back to you when you needed. How did it go? You could omit, although the flavor is important for it. You could always not toss it and have them dress their salad as it works for them!
This was SO GOOD!! I didn’t think raw beets could taste so good. The dressing was also amazing. It was a bit sweet for my taste, so I think I will just cut the maple syrup in half Next time…because there will be a lot of next times with this one. Anyway, thanks so much for this recipe. It was so lovely…I even sent it to my mom to try! Looking forward to trying more things in your site!
Hooray! Thank you for sharing, Christi. Beets are surprisingly good.
Made this last night with pepitas – what a wonderful hearty salad! I admit to a few small tweaks to the dressing: zested the lime, because I can’t have citrus around and not zest it, and cut the sweetener to line up with my love of sour. It’ll make an excellent packable lunch. Kate, you really have a way with salads!
It’s awesome. Couldn’t stop eating it. Served it with cauliflower mashed potatoes. YUMMY
Can this recipe be made with cooked beets? instead of raw ones?
Sure, if that is how you prefer them!
So delicious, I roasted the beetroot and carrots, cut into chunks, cooked in olive oil with freshly ground cumin sprinkled over them and then pulled it all together with the warm quinoa. ☺️
This may have been the best salad I have ever eaten! It was also beautiful and full disclosure, we used canned beets ad eliminated the edamame, turned out great. Thank you so much for a great salad recipe!
This looks so beautiful and yummy! Can I used canned beets? If so how would the directions change? Thanks Kate!!
Hey Kiki! I’ve not tried that, but if you can successfully grate the canned beets, I don’t see why not! I don’t know that you’d need to use the whole can’s worth of beets (maybe just half).
You might want to update the qinoa/ water ratio so the water quantity is consistent with the serving size
Perfect quinoa bite and pop; no mush! Kate, you’re the Quinoa Whisperer❣️
Hooray! Thank you for your comment, Audrey.
Is the nutritional information for the whole salad or just a serving? It seems low for the whole thing considering the ingredients, but I wanted to check.
Great salad btw. I make it often for family gatherings since we have several vegetarians in our clan. It is always a hit.
Hi! The nutritional information is per serving. You can find more about my nutritional information on the blog.
I made this for lunch today and adapted it based on what I had – it was DELICIOUS!
I added cooked lentils (didn’t have any edamame and worked well as a substitute protein), used lettuce instead of rocket, added some radish, spring onion and a dollop of hummus (what meal is complete without it?!) and I roasted the beetroot.
The real highlight of this dish is that delicious dressing. I will be putting it on everything! Thanks for the inspiration!
My boyfriend, who dislikes beetroot, quinoa, and basically everything I try to feed him, absolutely loved this, so thank you!
(I stumbled upon this recipe when checking your instructions on how to cook quinoa! I got lazy so I threw mine in the Instant Pot and it came out beautifully so I thought I’d share: 1 cup quinoa (rinsed), 1 and 1/4 cup water, in the IP for 1 minute on high pressure, with 5 minute natural release. Still had some bite to it but absorbed all the water and fluffed up perfectly!)
Thanks again!
I love it! Thank you for sharing how you made this salad, Hana. Thanks for taking the time to comment and review!
Amazing!!! Huge hit everyone even non beet fans enjoyed it. Topped with a piece of oven roast salmon. Family want it again later this week. Thank you.
This salad was delicious!! I had beets, spinach, and mint in my box from the Farmer’s Market so this recipe was perfect!! I roasted the beets and grated the carrots and beets. It was perfect!! I didn’t have almonds on hand, so I used the Trader Joe’s Honey Roasted Sliced Almonds instead. My husband added some goat cheese and loved it with that little addition. Thank you for this recipe :) I love beets and will definitely make this again!
Super yummy. I didn’t have any cilantro or mint for the dressing so I used basil instead, and it was also delicious! I think I’ll even add more when I go for leftovers. Thanks!
So good!
Thank you, Al!
I used golden beets and their greens, almonds, mint and fried chickpeas in place of edamame. This was delicious. The vinaigrette ties everything together so nicely. And the variety of ingredients is well balanced. Thank you. The link for your recipe was on my CSA newsletter…I’m so glad I used it!
Hi Kate, this recipe sounds delish as always.What do you think about subbing kale for spinach?
Hi Andrea, I think that would be great!
This salad is so so good. I used my food processor to shred the beets and carrots which made it super quick. Per a comment below, I added goat cheese and it was fabulous. The vinaigrette truly shines. I will definitely be making it again!
This was delicious! Sadly didn’t have cilantro/mint available but the salad still tasted great. I will definitely add this to my regular meal rotation…the perfect summer meal :-) Thanks for sharing!!
Really lovely!
I made this last night and everyone loved it! Colourful, crunchy and the perfect side for a BBQ!
Made this salad this evening. OMG, it is crazy good. Even my husband who wants animal protein with all meals was satisfied with this salad without meat on the side.
Amazing flavor. Thank you C&K.
This is so delicious, tastes just like summer! I searched for a beet, carrot salad recipe since that is what I had growing in my garden and I’m so glad I landed on this one. I used raw veges shredded fine, luckily I also have arugula and mint growing in my garden. I was missing edamame but I don’t think it impacted the flavor and I agree with the others toasting the almonds is a must! Look forward to having the leftovers for lunch.
Hiya! I’ve had this recipe bookmarked for a long time and finally made it as a last minute side salad for dinner this week. I was missing a few ingredients so I followed it as closely as possible with what I had. My boxed salad mix was baby lettuces, I didn’t have a raw beet so I subbed a cooked one, I was out of almonds so I toasted some walnuts, and my avocados weren’t ripe so I left them out. I had to add a but of lemon juice to the dressing because my line only produced about a tablespoon of juice. It was still delicious! Can’t wait to try it again as written. Thanks for the recipe!
I just made this for dinner and it was delicious! Had to substitute lettuce instead of spinach, but it was still great. Fairly simple in concept but the toasted almonds make it perfection.
This salad is wonderful! I swapped the spinach for kale as I have an overabundance of it, and it was amazing! As good the next day as it was freshly made!
I’m happy you loved it, Suzanne!
Can I just shred the beets and carrots in my food processor?
Sure! Make sure to use the right blade. I hope you love it!
This salad is so good. It’s one of those salads that becomes more than the sum of its parts and transforms into next level deliciousness. It was easy too! I replaced edamame with frozen peas (just barely cooked) and lime juice with lemon juice because that’s what I had on hand and it turned out great. Fresh beets are a revelation. Thanks so much for another amazing recipe. This one I’m taking to my next potluck for sure.
We made this for the first time, and enjoyed it so much we made it twice in the same week! Delicious combo of flavors. Dressing is unique and wonderful. Shredding the carrots and beets in the food processor worked fine and saved a lot of time.
We loved the pantry-friendly salad. I used my food processor to grate the carrot and beet, and I put the lime zest in the dressing. We loved the sweetness of this salad. My only reservation is that once it was mixed, this salad was all bright pink—the edamame and carrot didn’t stand a chance. This recipe was four main-dish salads for us.
Hi Kate, I tried this recipe, and like you I used what I had around the house. I had fresh garden beets and carrots. Instead of spinach, I chopped up carrot and beet greens along with fresh Dandelion from my Yard. The carrot tops were a little minty at first, but toned down after the salad sat in the fridge for a few hours. I also added turkey and feta cheese which made it the main dish. I thought the avacado really took the salad up a notch.