Perfect fall beet salad with feta

The flavors and rich colors of this beet salad with feta remind me of fall. Of course, I make it all year round because it’s so healthy and easy to make.

This beautiful red and green salad makes a great holiday side dish.

The health benefits of beets

Beets are a superfood. What does that mean?

Beets contain many more vitamins and minerals and have a higher fiber content than most other vegetables. They are low in calories and contain no cholesterol. They do contain sugar, though, so also contain carbohydrates.

Beets contain betalains

We’ve been taught that richer vegetable colors mean that they are more nutritious. The dark red color of beets is due to betalains, which have many protective activities.

Betalains are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents

Oxidative damage from things like chemical exposure and biological and physical stress can produce inflammation.

We aren’t talking about the angry red skin inflammation that happens when you get a bug bite.

We’re talking about the type that occurs within your body due to stress, trauma, surgery, infection, or chronic disease. In those conditions, the immune system overreacts.

The results can include pain, chronic fatigue, depression, gastrointestinal symptoms, weight gain.

Inflammation is common in people with diabetes, heart problems, arthritis, lung diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and allergies.

But it’s not clear which comes first, the disease or inflammation. Either way, decreasing oxidative damage and inflammation is important.

Betalains can help to prevent cancer

Normal cells become cancerous all the time. Luckily, our body has mechanisms to detect and take care of abberrent cells.

Betalains were shown to reduce pre-cancerous lesions in rat studies.

Other compounds in beets help to promote natural cancer-killing processes (like apoptosis, programmed cell death, a process lacking in cancer cells).

Beets are high in nitrates, potassium, and fiber

Beets contain many heart-healthy compounds.

Potassium can help to lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of stroke and heart disease. Nitrates can also help to lower blood pressure and help muscles work better.

Fiber lowers cholesterol and is a prebiotic food—it feeds probiotics, the healthy bacteria our guts need to function properly.

Beets contain silica and folate

We don’t hear much about silica, but it’s a mineral that works with calcium to help make bones stronger and prevent osteoporosis.

Folate is very important for the nervous system and crucial for fetal nervous system development.

The health benefits of spinach

Let’s not forget the health benefits of spinach—the biggest ingredient in this salad.

Popeye taught my generation that spinach makes you strong. I’m sure he single-handedly got an entire generation to eat spinach. Now we know why is was so good for us.

Spinach is another superfood, with over 300% of the average value of vitamin K (important for clotting and bone health), vitamin A (for vision, cell growth, reproduction, and immunity), and vitamin C (for cell and bone growth and immunity).

It also has iron, folate, magnesium, calcium, and potassium.

Beet salad

This beet salad with feta can be made from fresh beets, but it’s a little intimidating to prepare beets, so the recipe uses canned beets.

The easiest way to make this salad from fresh beets is to use leftover beets. Make them for dinner one night, then add the cold, sliced beets to this salad the next day.

Fresh beets can be prepared in several ways. Here are three ways to cook beets: roasting, boiling, and cooking in an instant pot.

Boiling is the fastest method, but the skins are usually removed after cooking by any of these methods. You might not need to do this if the beets are small and young and you like the texture of beet skins.

Beet greens are delicious! Beet greens from young beets (that aren’t even big enough to eat) are the most tender, but you can remove the stalks and try eating any and all beet greens. Whether you like them depends on your texture preferences.

Either way, be sure to try beet greens. They are my absolute favorite greens—above even spinach and Swiss chard. I look forward to them every spring as an early garden-harvested vegetable.

The recipe calls for balsamic vinegar, but I love this simple blackberry ginger balsamic dressing. It’s lusciously delicious. I don’t know how else to describe it. Try it and tell me how you’d describe it!

How to serve this beet salad

Since this dish is so colorful, it’s the perfect accompaniment to meat that’s prepared simply, like pork roast, grilled chicken, or steak.

Adding extra cheese adds more protein, so this salad can stand alone as lunch or a light dinner.

Other great beet recipes

Beet puree, like prune puree, can be added to sweet baked goods, like brownies, to make them healthier and give them a richer texture.

Another fall favorite is borscht. This is a hearty vegetable soup that’s distinctly different from all other soups I’ve tried. Borscht is delicious! Give it a try.

There are many beet salad recipes online. I’m looking forward to trying this beet salad with feta. It’s a little different than my recipe above, with pistachios, orange zest, and cilantro. I think I’ll add some chopped apples, too.

But this “beetball” recipe for vegan spaghetti and beetballs caught my eye. How clever! I bet beetballs are yummy.