Israeli Beetroot Salad

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This Israeli beet salad is simple to put together and is delicious. We add onion and cilantro and we season it with oil, vinegar, cumin, salt, and pepper. It’s a healthy beetroot salad that gets even better if you let it sit a little bit.


I love beets. I love their color, I love their shape, I love that they store so well and last forever, I love their taste, and I even love their greens (that I use to make these amazing veggie patties).

Beets are very low in calories, they contain no cholesterol, and are very rich in vitamin C, iron, copper, phosphorus, magnesium, and fiber. They are so healthy, however, they do contain the highest sugar content of all vegetables, which is probably the reason they are so darn tasty!

Israeli Beetroot Salad…

This Israeli beet salad is simple to put together and is delicious. We add onion and cilantro and we season it with oil, vinegar, cumin, salt, and pepper. It's a healthy beetroot salad that gets even better if you let it sit a little bit.

Just like my favorite Israeli red cabbage salad, this salad also gets better with time which makes it the best salad for a party since you can easily make it the day before. I also love making a large batch for myself and storing it in the fridge for a few days, this way every time that I make myself a sandwich or an easy meal I have a salad ready to go with it.

Ingredients For Israeli Beet Salad…

For the salad, we are going to use four large fresh beets (you can also use canned beets), a small white or yellow onion, and a bunch of cilantro. I personally prefer this salad with cilantro but you can also use parsley instead or even combine the two.

To dress this salad we’ll use canola oil (olive oil doesn’t work so well here), a little bit of vinegar, cumin, and salt and black pepper.

Tools That You’ll Need…

To soften the beets, you’ll have to boil, steam, or process them in the pressure cooker. So depending on what you decide to do make sure that you have the right pot. We’ll also need a cutting board and a chopping knife, and a mixing bowl to mix the salad. Then, you might want another, nicer looking bowl, for serving.

How to Make Israeli Beetroot Salad…

Processing beets in the pressure cooker.

First thing first, we have to soften the beets. As I mentioned before, you can either steam the beets or boil them. Cut the tops but don’t peel the beets just yet, process them with their skin. Steaming or boiling will probably take somewhere between 20 to 40 minutes depending on the size of the beetroot. You can stick a fork in the beet to check if it’s soft.

To shorten this time, I usually process my beets in the pressure cooker. I add a couple of cups of water to the pot and add the beets. I close the cooker and place it on high heat. It takes the water a few minutes to come to a boil and for the pressure to build. Once the weight starts to jiggle it only takes 7 minutes or so for the beets to soften.

Peeling beets.

Once the beets are soft, I wash them with cold water to help them cool (if you have time, you can just leave them on the counter and let them cool slowly). And then peel them.

Cut the top and the bottom and use a knife to help you remove the skin. When the beets are soft it’s very easy to remove their skin.

Slicing beets.

Next, slice your beets or dice them, it doesn’t really matter. Place the beets in a large mixing bowl…

Chopping cilantro for the beet salad.

Cut the stems off a bunch of fresh cilantro and chop it. Add to the bowl…

Slicing onion for the salad.

Then, slice a small onion very thin and add to the bowl…

All the vegetables for the beet salad in a bowl before seasoning.

So now we have the cilantro, onion, and beets in the bowl. All that we have left to do is dress this salad…

Israeli beet salad ready for serving.

To dress this Israeli beet salad, add one tablespoon of canola oil, two tablespoons of vinegar, half a teaspoon of cumin, and salt and black pepper to taste. Give it all a good mix, taste, and correct seasonings if you need to.

Serving Israeli Beet Salad…

We serve this salad next to any dish! It goes really well with red meat, poultry, or fish. It’s an amazing side for a sandwich. It can be served alongside an egg salad, or tuna salad, or chicken salad…

Storing Israeli Beetroot Salad…

You can keep this salad in the fridge for a few days (up to a week). Make sure to place a plastic wrap over the bowl or transfer the leftovers into a container and place in the fridge. Before you serve it again, make sure to give it a good mix.


I hope that you’ll give this recipe a try! It’s a regular in my house and a salad that takes me back to my Israeli childhood every time that I make it. It’s a great way to use beets!

If you like beets, also chack out…

Israeli Beetroot Salad

Israeli Beetroot Salad

Yield: 4 Servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

This Israeli beet salad is simple to put together and is delicious. It's a healthy beetroot salad that gets even better if you let it sit a little bit.

Ingredients

  • 4 large beets
  • 1 bunch of cilantro
  • 1 very small onion
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Cut the beet tops and wash the roots well. Don't peel your beets. To soften the beets you'll have to steam, boil or process them in the pressure cooker. Usually steaming or boiling takes between 20 to 40 minutes. The pressure cooker is a bit faster. To check if your beets are soft, simply stick a fork in them.
  2. Let the beets cool (you can wash them with cold water to speed this up a bit), cut their top and bottom and use a knife to peel them. The skin should come right off when the beets are soft.
  3. Slice or dice your beets and add them to a mixing bowl.
  4. Remove the stems from a bunch of cilantro and chop the leaves. Add them to the bowl.
  5. Slice a small onion into very thin slices and add them to the bowl.
  6. Season with oil, vinegar, cumin, salt, and pepper. Taste and correct seasonings.

Notes

You can serve this salad right away or store it in the fridge for up to a week. The beets absorb the seasonings and it's even tastier a day or two later.

It's a great salad to make for a party because you can make it ahead. I sometimes make myself a large bowl and store it in the fridge, this way I have a ready to go side salad for a sandwich or any other meal.

I personally like it with cilantro, however, you can replace the cilantro with parsley or combine the two if you'd like. It's also optional to add one minced garlic clove.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 64Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 189mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 1g

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4 thoughts on “Israeli Beetroot Salad”

  1. This is an interesting recipe. I love my beets, Had not thought of cilantro in the mix. I simply use my bare hands to peel the skins and remove the stems, etc. They clean up easily. If something resists beyond that, then I get out a knife or peeler.

    1. Roasted beets and beet salad are my favorites! Just started more beets indoors today. Can never have too many beets!

  2. Kathleen McCollum

    Hi Lady Lee,
    We’ve communicated previously but not for a long time. I live in a dry climate (Colorado) and, just to make gardening more challenging, live at 7300 ft. elevation. We finished our carport-frame greenhouse early in the summer but not soon enough for the seedlings we started inside in April, so we planted them in a straw-bale garden. The straw bales worked great because our soil is rocky so we didn’t need to dig that up! We placed soaker hoses on the bales, watering every couple days using a timer. To keep the elk, deer, bear, and rabbits out of the veggies, we put up 7 foot vinyl fencing and installed a “Scare Crow” motion-activated water shooter; the elk ran from it! Quite entertaining!
    Our beets, yellow squash, kale, leaf lettuce and dill did well. We have a large brown bag of green tomatoes (snow today). Broccoli, peas, swiss chard, and carrots are still out there. I called this year’s garden “an experiment” since we haven’t planted one in many years. Hopefully it will pay for itself next year.

    We cooked some of the beets (with 2″ of stem and the root still attached) and, after cooling them, put on latex disposable gloves, rubbed off the peel, stems, and roots; the beets looked beautiful! I suggest you try this method!

    We still have our 1952 dump truck which we’ve used for hauling and landscaping.

    Thank you for your website and your tips! It’s always a great reprieve from everything else going on!

    1. Kathleen, it’s so good to hear from you again! Thanks for taking the time to write this.
      I am surprised that you can grow tomatoes! Isn’t your growing season too short for them up where you are? And for the rest of the stuff that you still have in the garden, do you cover them this time of the year?
      It’s funny that you mentioned planting in straw! I am currently filling a few garden beds with old hay from my goat fence. I want to see if I can plant directly in it in the spring without needing to purchase garden soil for new beds. We’ll see how this is going to work.
      I’ll try your method with the beets. Unfortunately, they didn’t do good at all in my fall garden so I’ll have to wait for next year.
      Again, thanks for stopping by! It’s great hearing from you.

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