Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

Name: Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 105 min
Ingredients: 16 ounces baby arugula; 3 large beets (peeled and roasted); ¼ cup olive oil; ¼ cup balsamic vinegar; 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup; 2 teaspoons stone ground mustard; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; Bourbon Candied Pecans and Cranberries; goat cheese crumbles; Fresh cracked pepper

Roasted beet and arugula salad with maple balsamic vinaigrette, pecans, goat cheese, and dried cranberries – a flavorful and healthful salad recipe!

Check out these beet wedgies!

This isn’t exactly the first, second, third, or even forth beet salad I’ve shared with you…Beet salads are kind of a revolving thing ’round these parts. But you guys, this salad is meaty.

I recently went to a restaurant in Nevada City, CA (about a 1.5-hour drive from where I live) called New Moon, which had a beet salad on the menu that is off the chisel. < – get it? That’s like off the chain hybridized with off the hizzle.

Kind of like if Guy Fieri and LL Cool J got together and made omelettes…they’d be off the chisel. Moving right along.

The beets were served warm, fresh out of the oven with peppery arugula, goat cheese, red onion, candied walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette. The beets were so juicy, sweet, and meaty that they made the salad super filling and packed with flavor.

The second I took a bite of the salad, I knew I would be re-creating it at home. So I did, with some minor ingredient changes.

I used some of the maple bourbon roasted pecans and cranberries from the Stuffed Sweet Potatoes I showed you recently instead of walnuts.

The spiced toasty candied nuts and cranberries add all sorts of warmth and oomph to the salad, making this plate a legit entree salad. Like this thing fills.you.up!

And the beets…

Have you noticed how amazing beets are when they are in season?

First off, they are HUGE! Secondly, they’ve been juicy and sweet. And finally (here’s the kicker), they have been tasting far less earthy than usual.

How to Roast Beets:

There are many ways you can roast beets. You can roast them the same way you do a whole potato by poking them with a fork, wrapping them in foil and roasting at 400 degrees F for about 90 minutes.

I personally prefer to chop the beets before roasting them, then wrap the chopped wedges in a foil packet. Place the foil packet on a baking sheet and roast for 35 to 40 minutes. The result is still nice soft, sweet, juicy beets, but in half the time.

How to Make Roasted Beet Arugula Salad:

Begin by roasting the beets using your preferred method (either option 1 or option 2 from above).

While the beets are roasting, make the vinaigrette.

Once the beets are out of the oven, simply arrange all of the salad ingredients on a plate and drizzle with the maple balsamic vinaigrette. BOOM! salad!

Recipe Adaptations:

Use spinach or green of choice instead of arugula.
Use any type of cheese you would like – blue cheese and feta are amazing too!
Replace pecans with walnuts or almonds.
Add roasted or rotisserie chicken for protein.

For those who aren’t in love with beets, this is the perfect time of year to revisit them, since they are in season. If you’re new to beets, Cooking Light has a great Guide to Beets article, which tells everything you could want to know about beet picking, storage, and prep.

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Get your beet wedge on!

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If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @TheRoastedRoot on Instagram!