Sweet roasted beets are the perfect complement to the sweetened, orange-spiked ricotta topping. With the components stored separately, the salad is easy to prep ahead of time then assemble before serving chilled or at room temperature.
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Katrina says: “Great recipe! It was my first time roasting beets. We loved the lightly sweetened ricotta with the beets. We had a little bit of ricotta left over which was delicious on toast the next morning!”
Humble Roast Beets Are The Star of This Simple Salad
I’m not the only person to add tangy, creamy cheese to a roasted beet salad and call it heaven. “If there’s a recipe that wouldn’t benefit from clouds of lightly sweetened, citrus-kissed ricotta dolloped generously over the top, I haven’t met it yet,” is how my friend, blogger, and cookbook author Erin Clarke of Well Plated describes this most delicious beet salad recipe. She should know, she created it!
This recipe comes from Erin’s cookbook, The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You’ll Want to Eat — and eat and eat and eat. Loaded with easy, family friendly recipes that make weeknight cooking quick and lightened up, this is the type of cookbook you’ll turn to for making dinnertime memories any time of year.
After making a batch of my roasted beets, I was flipping through Erin’s cookbook and this beet and ricotta salad recipe caught my eye. The ying and yang of earthy beets combined with tangy cheese is one of my love languages.
Enjoy!
Ingredients You’ll Need
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Fresh beets — Choose red, golden, yellow, or a combination.
- Ricotta cheese — Full fat is creamier, but if you’re being watchful, part-skim saves on the fat and calories yet still tastes delicious
- Orange — Use it for both the zest and juice.
- Honey — Adds a floral sweetness that goes perfectly with the beets.
- Extra virgin olive oil — For making the dressing.
- White wine vinegar — This recipe calls for the mellower bite of white wine vinegar, but a golden balsamic or rice wine vinegar subs in nicely too.
- Fresh mint — Fresh mint imparts a bright, Mediterranean flavor Or, try fresh basil, tarragon, or thyme leaves instead.
How to Make This Beet and Ricotta Salad
- First, roast the beets. Click here to learn more about how I roast beets. I used to follow the wrap-in-foil method, but now I just plonk the whole beets into a baking dish and cover the dish with foil. It saves me time (and foil!), and it works just as well.
- Make the dressing. Because the orange vinaigrette has so few ingredients, it’s easy to make on the fly. Whisk the orange juice, extra virgin olive oil, and vinegar with the salt and pepper before drizzling over the roasted beets, which will absorb the dressing as they sit.
Heidi’s Tip: To save time the day of, make the dressing ahead of time, up to a week ahead.
- Make the sweetened ricotta cheese. Whisk the fresh orange zest, ricotta cheese, and honey together until combined. Add a pinch of kosher salt to heighten the sweetness.
- Dress the beets with the dressing. Because the orange vinaigrette has so few ingredients, it’s easy to make on the fly. Whisk the orange juice, extra virgin olive oil, and vinegar with the salt and pepper before drizzling over the roasted beets, which will absorb the dressing as they sit.
Heidi’s Tip: If using varying colors of beets, dress them in separate bowls so the red beet juice doesn’t overwhelm the golden hues of yellow or orange beets.
- Spoon mounds of the ricotta mixture over the combined beets. Add more grated orange zest for color and sprinkle with extra kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. For even more sweetness, give a quick, extra drizzle of honey if desired. Alternately, slather the bottom of the dish or plate with the ricotta mixture and top with the dressed roasted beets.
What to Serve With This Roasted Beet Salad
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Roasted Beet and Ricotta Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the Roasted Beets
- 2 pounds medium-sized fresh beets
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- kosher salt
For the Salad
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons orange zest , divided
- 2 tablespoons orange juice , divided
- 1 ½ teaspoons honey
- 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Prep the beets. Cut the greens from the tops of the beets, saving for another use, then trim the bottom of the stems, and discard. Scrub the beets under cold water, pat dry with a paper towel, and place in a bowl. Toss with the olive oil and generous amount of salt and pepper.
- Roast the beets. Place the beets in a baking dish and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 1 hour for large beets, or about 45 min for medium. The beets will be done when you can easily slide a sharp knife into their tender centers. Set aside to cool enough to handle.
- Peel with paper towels. To peel, trim the ends and use a paper towel in each hand to rub off the skins. If you don't want your hands to get red, wear plastic gloves.
- Slice the beets into wedges, thick rounds, or half moons. If using two colors of beets, place the cut beets in separate mixing bowls. If using the same color, add to the same mixing bowl.
- Make the honey ricotta mixture. In a small mixing bowl stir together the ricotta, 1 tablespoon of the orange zest, honey, and ¼ teaspoon of the salt. Set aside.
- Make the dressing in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together the orange juice, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, freshly ground black pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the mint with ¾ teaspoon salt. Drizzle over the beets and toss, dividing the dressing if using two different colors beets.
- Assemble and serve. Plate the dressed beets on a platter or in a serving dish. Top with dollops of the honey ricotta and the remaining mint and orange zest. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition
More Beet Salad Recipes
- Roasted Beet, Avocado And Goat Cheese Spinach Salad With Chicken
- Beet, Carrot And Pomegranate Salad
- Green Salad With Shrimp, Beets, Sweet Pecans And Goat Cheese
- Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad With Roasted Beets, Pecans And Goat Cheese
- Beet, Avocado And Fried Goat Cheese Salad
Get The Well Plated Cookbook: Fast, Healthy Recipes You’ll Want to Eat and more of Erin’s recipes online at Well Plated.
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Tammy
Are there orange beets? I’ve only ever seen red beets. But I love them. Am I missing
out on something?
Hayley
Hi Tammy! We used golden beets (which can look more on the orange side sometimes)–could also be in part because of the photo editing. :) We hope you can give this a try!
Katrina
Great recipe! It was my first time roasting beets. We loved the lightly sweetened ricotta with the beets. We had a little bit of ricotta left over which was delicious on toast the next morning!
Hayley
Thanks for sharing Katrina! We’re happy to hear you loved it! :)
Tressa
This ricotta beet salad was awesome! So delicious! I made it with homemade ricotta (so easy and so much better!) I had orange juice but no actual orange to zest, so I used lemon zest. I also couldn’t find mint nearby so I used basil. It was fantastic, even with the substitutions. Can’t wait to try it with mint.
Hayley
Thanks for sharing, Tressa—we’re so glad you enjoyed it. And omg we bet it was especially amazing with homemade ricotta—yum!
Duncan Edwards
A healthy, nutritious, and well-prepared salad, We love it
Hayley
We’re so glad you enjoy it Duncan!
Sabrina
love this salad, beets and ricotta are not paired often enough, very creative, thank you!
El
Heidi – Thanks for the tip about not wrapping each beet individually. Never thought of that! For small beets though, especially in the summer, I often wrap and roast them in the toaster oven, rather than heating up the big oven.
This salad sounds great! It’s also similar to a salad that my sister-in-law and I often make, which has roasted beets, spinach, and goat cheese. I like your salad dressing with the orange juice – we used champagne vinegar but no orange juice in our’s – amazing the difference between it and white wine vinegar!
Thanks again for some great ideas!
Erin@WellPlated
Heidi, THANK YOU for sharing this recipe and about my book. (Also, I am just in awe of your photos). I want to try one of your beet salads next! xoxo