This healthy Beet and Kale Salad is packed with flavor and nutrients like oranges, red quinoa and tossed in orange vinaigrette dressing. Not to brag, but this salad is amazing!
If you are feeling guilty about your weekend indulgences, you can always get back on track with a nice healthy meal packed with superfood goodness. Not to brag, but this salad is amazing!
Some like to prepare this amazing beet and kale as a side-dish to go with a bigger meal, but with ingredients like quinoa and diced oranges, this becomes a main course with ease–and filling, too!
Prep time for this is only around 10 minutes, and the total time needed is well under an hour. It’s a great option and this recipe is flexible, as we’ll discuss below.
Beet & Kale Salad Ingredients
Salad Base
- Kale
- Beets
- Oranges
- Red quinoa
- Chicken broth (or vegetable broth to make it vegan)
Pickled Onion
- Red onion
- Rice wine vinegar
- Sugar
Vinaigrette
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Agave
- Apple cider vinegar
- Orange and orange zest
- Salt
(Scroll down to the bottom for the printable recipe card with exact measurements and instructions.)
How to Make Beet and Kale Salad
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Some just aren’t fans of beets, so when making this recipe you can always swap them out for red potatoes or any other favorite vegetable! This is a flexible recipe that also lets you off the hook if you aren’t in the mood to make your own salad dressing.
You can swap out the mixture with any equivalent you find in the grocery store. Citrus is one of the important flavor profiles in this salad, so if you can find one at the store with a similar composition to our recipe here, all the better.
Really though, this dressing recipe is so simple! All you have to do is mix together some olive oil, vinegar, orange zest, fresh orange juice, garlic, and a touch of agave and you are good to go!
The rest of the meal comes together easily. The most time consuming part of this is cooking the quinoa and boiling the beets. 20 minutes each and you’ll be serving in no time.
You can save a bit of time by making the quinoa the night before and storing it in the fridge. It’s best to let it come up to room temperature before making this recipe. And let’s not forget about the pickled onions–these are incredibly easy to make.
First, blanch the onions in boiling water ( all this means is boiling some water and throwing in thinly sliced onion for about 15 seconds then straining and immersing in an ice-water bath!) then add rice vinegar and let sit in the fridge for about 20 minutes and you are set!
And once made, red pickled onions are good on so many things!
Honestly, you don’t even have to blanch them if you can let them soak overnight in the fridge the day before you make this recipe. Some really prefer blanching, but in a pinch, the overnight method can save time.
Beet and Kale Salad Variations
Vegan Option
This is very nearly a vegan salad to begin with, swapping out chicken broth for vegetable broth seals the deal.
Add-Ons
There aren’t too many additional hacks to include here except the notion that if you’re worried this salad might not be filling enough, you can always add some cooked shrimp or a bit of skinless chicken (more of a topping than a main ingredient) to help. If you want to go vegan, some dairy-free cheese made with coconut oil might also help.
Make Ahead
We have already mentioned cooking the quinoa the night before and pickling the onions likewise.
The final hack? This dish is best served right away, but if you put it in the fridge overnight, try spritzing it with a bit of fresh orange juice to revitalize the leftovers.
- Salad Base
- 3 cups chopped kale
- 2 medium beets diced
- 2 orange diced
- 1 cup red quinoa (raw)
- 2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth to make it vegan)
- Pickled Onion
- 1 red onion (thinly sliced)
- ½ cup rice wine vinegar
- A pinch of sugar
- Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tsp. agave
- 2 TBS. apple cider vinegar
- the juice of 1 orange
- the zest of 1 orange
- 1 tsp. salt
- Fill a medium-sized pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the beets and allow to cook over a medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until tender.
- In a separate pot, add 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa is al dente.
- In another pot, bring about 2 cups of water to a boil. Thinly slice the red onion, and add to the boiling water. Allow to cook for only 15 seconds, then immediately strain and immerse in a cold ice bath. In a bowl, add the strained onion, the rice wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar. Keep in fridge until ready to serve.
- To make the vinaigrette, simply combine all of the ingredients and whisk together until well combined.
- In a large bowl, add all of the ingredients and toss to combine. Serve immediately!
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