This is a delicious and easy beet salad with creamy goat cheese, maple-candied walnuts, mixed baby greens, and a tangy balsamic dressing which is spectacular for a fall or winter meatless main course.
UPDATE: I love, love this salad. For the beets I like to roast them (as you would a potato-1 hour @ 450, wrapped whole in foil) then cubed marinated overnight in vinegar (balsalmic or red wine). I also sub feta for the goat cheese. 9/15/2007:Whenever I go to Cheesecake Factory this is the salad I order. Thank you so much for this recipe (its going to save me so much $ to make it at home). The only changes I would make is to substitute pecans for the walnuts and add some roasted asparagus spears.
Read MoreUPDATE: I love, love this salad. For the beets I like to roast them (as you would a potato-1 hour @ 450, wrapped whole in foil) then cubed marinated overnight in vinegar (balsalmic or red wine). I also sub feta for the goat cheese. 9/15/2007:Whenever I go to Cheesecake Factory this is the salad I order. Thank you so much for this recipe (its going to save me so much $ to make it at home). The only changes I would make is to substitute pecans for the walnuts and add some roasted asparagus spears.
Very tasty. For the dressing instead of OJ concentrate I used a sprits of regular OJ and it tasted just fine. Combination of the goat cheese, beets, and nuts really pops your taste buds. Loved it.
This recipes was awesome. I used chilled canned beets instead of fresh beets and they were just as good.
I didn't have any walnuts, so I substituted pecans. Also, I left out the orange juice as I didn't have it but the magical mixture here is the beets/goat cheese/candied nuts. Absolutely heavenly salad!
great salad- a hit at a big summer potluck. roasted the beets for 1 hour- 400 degrees. doubled the walnuts, used feta cheese and added orange slices as well. also- i just made a basic balsamic vinaigrette and added orange juice to the beets to give a citrus punch.
This recipe is very unique and flavorful. Definitely 5 stars. Took reviewers advice and used feta cheese. No one will be disappointed with this recipe. Everyone absolutely loved it.
This was a great dish. I roasted the beets in the oven, used warmed spinach instead of greens, and added a little port wine to the dressing instead of syrup. All these changes were made only because I make the recipe so much that I needed to change it up a bit. The original recipe is amazing as well.
This salad was excellent. I made it for Valentine's Day (cut the beets into heart shapes), and made it again with chicken for a main dish salad. Delish both times! I had no idea making candied walnuts was so easy, I'm glad I tried it. The dressing was easy and good also. The goat cheese is missing from the ingredients list but it's definitely worth including! Will make again.
Wonderfully festive! It is so tasty, that people who hate beets will reconsider. Beets took a little longer, more like 40 min. (until easily pierced with a knife) and I slipped the skins off after boiling. I used pecans (recommended from review) since I had them, and added arugula to the salad mix with a clove of garlic and S & P to the dressing. You cannot go wrong with this one! THANK YOU!
Excellent combination of flavors. I used canned beets to good effect, but it would have been better with fresh beets.
Great salad! The goat cheese and beets give this salad a farmers market feel. Earthy, Creamy, Tart and Sweet. The salad is simple and bursting with flavor. Making the walnuts, I only had 2 Tbl of maple syrup so I added 1 Tbl of dark brown sugar to the pan and they were amazing. The walnuts were pretty tacky coming out of the pan, so I spread them out on a piece of wax paper and put in the freezer for 10 minutes which made them brittle and much easier to break up into pieces. For the dressing, I used an empty Eggo Syrup perfect pour - no drip container, put the OJ concentrate, Olive Oil and Balsamic in it and shook. This way I didn't dirty a whisk or a bowl and it was conveniently in a container for next time. Also, I made sure not to thaw the OJ concentrate out completely - just enough to resemble the consistency of a thick milk shake. That way when you add the balsamic and olive oil the dressing becomes slightly creamy (from the oil solidifying).
Fabulous salad. I roasted my beets (wash, cut in half, wrap in foil, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt -- bake 2 hour at 400 - cool and peel). Made dressing with fresh o.j. The salad was superb. I ate enough to count it as a whole meal. Walnuts were a must have grand touch. I would be proud to serve this to the best of foodies! Thanks so much for this great offering.
I roast the beets (coat with olive oil, wrap individually in foil, or cover pan with foil) and then use the beet juice/oil mixture as the base for the dressing, adding new oil to make up the balance required. I also purchase candied pecans, as I don't care for walnuts...what a delicious salad!!!! PS: I also use disposable painter's gloves to rub the peels off the beets after roasting...it saves me from having stained hands!)
Placed the sliced beets in a plastic bag with the dressing for about 2hrs before serving and used feta cheese. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. Fantastic!
Absolutely amazing. I've been trying to find a dish to use the beets from my local CSA. I roasted my beets in the oven the day before. In comparison with boiling the beets, you retain much of the flavor and sweetness when roasting. Next time I want to try using freshly squeezed oranges, as I'm not a fan of OJ from concentrate. However it was still delicious.
This was a great salad. I cooked extra beets for dinner the previous night, and used those for this recipe. Instead of walnuts, I used pecans and thought the use of maple syrup to candy them was fantastic (and I'll use this idea again for other recipes). I did use the orange juice concentrate for the dressing, but half the amount called for. This salad was a big hit with my family.
Beets and goat cheese are an awesome combination. And with the addition of the maple walnuts, I'm in salad heaven! I've never used orange juice concentrate in a dressing, but it came out very tasty. I did add a little extra balsamic vinegar because I like my dressings zippy. I found crumbled goat cheese, which is perfect for salads. You can count on me making this salad again!
Excellent use of beets. It makes a very good salad. I did find the "dressing" was too thin and cooked it with corn starch to thicken it. That way it clings to everything better. Yum, yum!
This has to be illegal. THE most delicious salad I have ever eaten. I just joined allrecipes today after four years, so that I could give you kudos on this. If I get a bunch of SPAM it will be worth it. You finally gave me a reason to crack open that bottle of walnut oil someone gave me as a gift last year. I had to use canned peaches (as it is April) and I subbed green ends of scallions for the shallots, but this is just an explosion of deliciousness I did not expect from such a simple recipe. Also, do NOT sub feta for goat cheese--that's like subbing skim milk for whipping cream. Goat cheese is expensive, but a little goes a long way. I also had some pomegranate balsamic vinegar on hand, which was was awesome.
My wife and I loved this salad. The earthiness of the beets is balanced by the tang of the goat cheese and the sweet and sour dressing. The candied walnuts add the right crunch and sweet pop to the overall salad. This is a salad I will make again. One complaint, which really isn't a complaint as such,is that the recipe makes enough dressing to float the Navy of Andorra. The dressing is so good though, that I am sure we'll find a use for it!
Excellent. I substituted walnuts for pecans. For a short-cut I used a store bought dressing - a pomegranate vinaigrette. Any fruity dressy would do I think.
Omg! THis recipe is DEEEELISH! I had an extra can of organic beets that i had bought for another recipe...so i thought it would be super yummy for this salad. I sure was rite! I drained the beets and sliced them thinly and it was a lot easier than baking fresh beets but still organic and delicious. Like some others , I also used crumbled feta cheese instead of the goat cheese. AND I also added an apple, chopped into cubes. The apples complimented the candied walnuts and vinegar so well. I highly recommend it! This is my new fave salad EVARRR! :)
Would have been 5 stars except that I knew I wouldn't like the walnuts candied in maple syrup. I candied the walnuts by heating them gently in a teflon frying pan with brown sugar. The brown sugar melts and makes a lighter candied nut, good for salads. Dressing was surprisingly good. I was a little concerned because the orange concentrate makes a rather thick texture to the dressing, but the flavour is great. I like to toss the greens in the dressing before plating the salad and adding the beets, nuts and cheese. Be careful that you use just enough dressing to coat the greens lightly.
Love beets! I have been cheating because the whole roasting, boiling makes a bloody mess when removing the skins. Costco now carry wonderful vacuum sealed cooked, peeled beets 4 beets per package, excellent deal to put beets in salads. I know people don't like it in reviews when someone changes the recipe~~I'm not trying to change it, just stating the changes I made to make it easier. Also when I did the walnuts I tried them with the syrup initially~~what a mess. Next time I just toasted them in a skillet. Didn't use OJ either, balsamic is the way we like to go. Anyway, I LOVE the combination.
My family loved this salad! I grilled the beets (just olive oil rubbed on, no foil necessary) outside on a grill in a veggie basket for about 45 min on med hi. I used pecans instead of walnuts, I think they compliment the beet texture better. I was thrilled with how easy it was to use maple syrup and candy the pecans, took no time at all and they were very tasty (I chilled pecans in the fridge to firm up glaze because of the high temps we're getting). I cut the dressing in half, glad I did because there was still more than enough. I served this salad with grilled lemon vinaigrette halibut, steamed green beans and corn on the cob(garden is producing)my husband has been talking about this dinner for 2 weeks now :) Thank you Donna!
PHENOMENAL - The flavor combination of this salad is phenomenal! Earlier in the day, I roasted the beets in foil pouches for an hour at 400 degrees (cut the tip and tail off of each beet, then create foil pouches leaving enough room for steam to circulate inside the pouch), instead of boiling them. I find that roasting the beets brings out more of the natural sweetness. When it came time to assemble the salad, I opened the pouches, removed the skins by rubbing them with my finger. We didn't make the maple-coated walnuts, we used raw walnuts instead. We didn't have any frozen orange juice concentrate, so we omitted it and the salad was still VERY sweet, especially with the balsamic:olive oil ratio. This is one of my new favorite salads, the creaminess of the goat cheese, the sweetness of the beet, the bite of the walnut, the slight crunch of the baby spinach combined with the dressing (without the orange juice) is incredible AND beautiful. I'll definitely be serving this for Christmas this year. Thank you for this delicious recipe. We'll definitely be making this at least once a month.
I've made this recipe twice in the last week-- my husband and I LOVE IT. We usually have something else, too, for a bigger meal, so I wouldn't call it a single-dish meal. Other than that, it's perfect!
Great salad. The only change I made was cutting back the amount of oil and using orange juice rather than concentrate.
amazing!!! LOVE this. My potluck friends ALL complimented positively on this salad. A+
Yum! I made it exactly as written and I loved it! Even more... my boyfriend loved it and he is usually a "plain food" eater. Will definitely make again!
My husband, daughter and I liked this salad very much. It is a nice light tasting dressing, great for the summer time. I cut the beets in small chunks in order for them to cook quicker. I substituted fresh squeezed orange and sliced almonds since that was what I had in my kitchen.
Quite possibly my favorite salad EVER. I roasted the beets for an hour in a little olive oil, and used homemade candied walnuts instead of the maple stovetop version in the recipe. AMAZING. Also topped it with some sauteed chicken breast that I finished with a bit of the dressing. The hubs loved it too, said it was "Gourmet" and "restaurant quality". Will be making this many more times.
Delicious! I simplified and bought raspberry vinegarette dressing & candied walnuts. I will make this as a regular "company's coming" salad!
Exceptional! I placed the beets into the dressing and marinated them for about 1 hour, then removed them and placed them on a bed of arugula. I did however need to skip the walnuts since our kids are HIGHLY allergic. This is a definite keeper. I'll even plant beets in my garden next year just for this.
pretty tasty...the beets were a bit of a pain, but i suppose that it was worth it (even though it was the most passed up dish at thanksgiving dinner).
Great recipe. I've tried this salad in a few restaurants and was looking for a copy cat recipe of it. I followed the recipe exactly, with only a few changes; to reduce the amount of concentrated orange juice to only a few table spoons & also with additions of garlic powder & garlic salt! Otherwise absolutely Yummy!
I LOVE beets and goat cheese, so this salad was a combo of two of my favorites! It made for a really good salad, except the dressing was just so-so, which is why I only gave it 4 stars. I would recommend more of a balsamic vinagrette. The orange juice didn't turn out quite right for me.
This is delicious! I used pecan instead of walnuts, because I have an allergy. I recommend tossing the greens with about 1/4 of the dressing and adding the beets and cheese on top. The remaining dressing should be reserved for another use. This salad is just delicious! I could eat it every day!
This was super, super yummy. My only critiques were that it had a bit too much orange-y flavor. Perhaps I'll use less orange concentrate next time and the beets took easily twice as long as they were supposed to. But still an excellent dish and will definitely make again!
I made a "Gourmet Day" of my boyfriend's birthday and cooked this with scallops and gnocchi. It was a hit! The candied walnuts are so good you could eat them all day, and the goat cheese and dressing really make it all come together. A really great, inventive dish that I will make again!
This was OK it fell a little flat. Have not given up on it, will try marinating the beets in the salad dressing for a few hours see if that solves the problem. As we were eating every one said they thought it need a little onion sprinkled over the top.
Excellent recipe--didn't have orange juice, so I used the "Balsamic Vinaigrette" recipe from this site by Gary R--added two Tablespoons of maple syrup to sweeten it up...YUM!
FABULOUS recipe!!! I now have a new favorite salad! Thanks:) Substituted the dressing which I am sure would have been very good with my own because I am a GoodSeasons Italian Dressing fanatic; I added the orange juice where GoodSeasons calls for water. YUMMY!
This salad is incredible! I added some roasted asparagus on top, and I also used canned beets rather than fresh ones simply due to convenience. I was able to whip this whole thing up in less than 15 minutes, and it was great!
fantastic! I will make again and I think I'll throw some blueberries on top. :)
I found plain beets lacked the flavor I wanted. I substituted with pickled beets. also used feta cheese instead. My husband, who is not a big salad fan, raved about the recipe.
Fantastic salad! The candied walnuts turned out perfectly - not too hard, not too sticky, and oh so easy. I buy the vacuum-packed, pre-cooked beets in the produce section of my supermarket, which makes this a snap to prepare.
I like beet salad but this dressing is a bit more tart than I usually like. Also, when the walnuts cooled the maple syrup made them harden into a block. I used plain chopped walnuts and they were good.
This was a huge hit, i have made it 3 times already for dinner parties. People love it and it seems very elegant but so easy to make :)
A very good salad for those of us who don't care for beets. I always thought beets tasted like dirt, but the candied walnuts and sweet dressing mask the beet flavor. I thought this was very good, even with crumbled feta, which was all I had. But I believe the smooth goat cheese is an even better choice. Thanks for sharing.
Very, very nice recipe - my girlfriend loves beets and goat cheese! Didn't change the recipe except for using 'bagged' salad. Tasty, delicious - will do again.
Didn't read far enough to see the part about putting it over the mixed greens so I just combined it all with about 1/4 of the dressing. Excellent!!
Simple yet out of the ordinary salad. Using fresh beets is worth the effort. Warming the goat cheese before placing it on top of the salad takes it up a notch as well as adding fresh herbs to the dressing. I will make this salad often!
We loved this salad just as it was written. I have also made a warm salad by using the salad dressing first to deglaze the pan in which the walnuts were done. Delish!
This was wonderful! I used 1 cup walnuts to 3 tblspoon maple syrup. It makes a ton of dressing... about twice what we needed. Delicious!
My favorite salad. Period. If you change anything in this excellent recipe then serve the beets warm! Also, make more candied walnuts... better to have too many than too few.
So easy and so delicious! The goat cheese really made it. I think feta would be good too.
Delicious. The dressing was incredible, but makes way too much, so add as needed. I was too lazy to make fresh beets, so I used two cans of pickled beets and this worked out fine. The candied walnuts were quick and easy to make, actually the whole salad was quick and easy to make. I highly recommend!
I had a similar salad in Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in Las Vegas where he used pistachios. I will use them when I make this again. I roasted the beets, adding in some oil and balsamic vinegar, as described by previous reviewers (thank you!). I had only fresh baby spinach, and that was a perfect green for this. Finally, I had only fresh orange juice, so I boiled it down for the dressing and it was perfect. Many raves for this salad, I will certainly serve it again.
Dressing is very tasty. I opted to use seasame oil, some herbed goat cheese and I candied sliced almonds instead of walnuts
Happy to have found a variety of beet colors for the salad. Also served it on baby kale and it was great, too.
Great salad! The walnuts add an awesome crunch and the the cheese is so creamy... just wonderful. All the flavors work really well together.
This was delicious! I'm always looking for good, quick, healthy 1-person recipes to cook for myself. This one was all of that, and easy to modify the amount of ingredients to suit one person. I think I'll also make it for my group of friends! It's an easy and impressive dinner party dish. I used canned beets and it was great. I also added a tiny bit of ground ginger and pepper to the dressing (and made a whole bottle so I can use it later, too--same with the walnuts-now I can sprinkle them on my salads). Thank you!
Nice salad, but alot of work.. use gloves when you are handling the beets to avoid staining your hands.
This was my first time making beets, so I was a little scared, but I have to say that the flavors really complimented each other well. I didn't do the dressing because I don't like salad dressings. I used feta because I had it around, but I'm a goat cheese fan and I think it would be even better with goat cheese.
Made this for a lunch for 40 - was a big hit. I used pecans instead of walnuts, feta instead of goat cheese, and granulated sugar to candy the pecans rather than maple syrup. As per the reviewer who commented that the recipe makes enough dressing to float the entire Andorra fleet, I cut the dressing in half and there was still plenty. Next time I might cut it by 2/3. Too much dressing can ruin this salad. As per a number of reviewers, I decided to bake the beets - I'll never do that again. For this salad I much prefer the texture of a boiled or canned beet. Update: have never served a salad when having a turkey dinner but this salad was so beautiful I decided to make an exception this year - serve it to 12 at Christmas dinner, halving the dressing - it was a hit, with several having seconds. Had requests for the recipe. I'll be making it again.
EXCELLENT! I used fresh OJ and that worked fine. Awesome combination of flavors and textures. My foodie neighbors loved this salad!
We loved this salad. I just used what I had on hand, so I used fresh beets, the maple walnuts as directed, romane lettuce, sliced scallions, hemp seeds, apple cider vinegar, and feta cheese. Added diced chicken tenders, and it was delish. Will use this from now on. Thank you, Donna, for a great tasting and nutritous dinner idea.
Very tasty salad. Made it for a dinner party and it was a big hit with everyone. Easy to make. Great instructions!
This recipe is absolutely DELICIOUS! I make it almost once a week for the family...Even for those who arent fans of beets...You should try this!
Absolutely loved this recipe! I didn't have orange juice concentrate, so I subbed lemonade concentrate (~ 1/3 cup) plus some orange juice to get up to a 1/2 cup. Fabulous! Next time I will probably use a little less lemonade and a little more OJ, but I have to say, it was fantastic as made :). Thank you!
This one is great, I loved the dressing! I roasted the beets instead of boiling them, and used candied pecans instead of the walnuts. All the flavors just blend together perfectly. I'd give it 10 stars if I could!
Love this salad! I roast the red beets the day before and then peel the next day. Also eliminated the OJ (didn't have any on hand) and used aged balsamic vinegar and olive oil drizzled on top.
Amazing. We will be making this again (and again)! I used a package of 50/50 baby spinach and mixed spring greens and I think it was a good mix of salad greens for this recipe. The flavors and textures in this salad are simply lovely together. I roasted the beats in the oven rather than boiling them, otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you for a great new way to enjoy our beets this summer.
Love this salad - very similar to one we eat in a cool little cafe in Sisters, OR whenever we're there. I make the dressing following another beet salad on this site which uses balsamic reduction (reduced balsamic vinegar), 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice and just 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil for a stronger flavor that we prefer, and then double the goat amount of beets and goat cheese which makes it a meal.
OMG!!! I've been using All Recipes for about 5 years and this is the first time I've made time to rate a recipe. Stupendous!!! I've always detested beets but this was excellent. I wanted to skip dinner and just stick to the salad. I prepared enough of everything to last all week including the carmelized nuts which should last w/out a problem. A must try.
Great Salad. It got rave reviews at work.I made it for Valentines day and used canned beets and cut them into hearts with a cookie cutter. Also added oranges and pomegranate seeds and feta cheese instead of the goat cheese
I was a little skeptical of using the orange juice concentrate but it turned out awesome! I would definitely make this again.
I love this! I can hardly wait each spring for the fresh greens to kick off the growing season and make this salad.
This is an easy sweet salad. I like sweet salads. The walnuts were amazing! I will make this again.
This was my first attempt at a beet salad and I thought this recipe was very good. The only changes I made was I used the juice of 2 oranges since I didn't have concentrate and I used shaved Parmesan since I dont like goat cheese. This tastes like a salad you would get at an high end restaurant.
I served this for a dinner party and everyone raved, including those who don't usually like beets. A great use for CSA beets in the fall!
Served at a pot luck and it was a hit. I followed exactly but only used half of the dressing to keep it lighter. I used goat cheese, as I thought feta was too salty for this sweeter dish.
Fabulous! We had this with Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone loved it. I'm looking forward to trying it with Feta, also.
Guys, this was AWESOME! Took me a while to understand that the dressing is made with thawed or semi-thawed frozen O.J. concentrate ( NOT watered down!). Even my husband who couldn't care less for beets loved it! The candied nuts (I used pecans) were crucial to this dish and made each bite truly magical. Definitely a culinary delight. Better than in restaurants!
This is my go-to salad, I love the crunch of the walnuts against the soft beets. The orange concentrate adds a touch of citrus freshness.
Excellent salad. Made exactly but used Pecans instead. Was a hit at a dinner party. Used fresh beets and steamed the greens...YUM
My husband says this is his new favorite salad - and he's not a big fan of salad. I used greens from the garden, including arugula and pea shoots. Also used yellow beets instead of red. And I ran out of balsamic vinegar. It was awesome anyway.
