Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets, Blood Orange and Feta

A colorful beet quinoa salad with roasted yellow beets, tangy blood orange, salty feta cheese and sweet pomegranate seeds all dressed with a simple blood orange vinaigrette.

I practically jump up in glee once I see blood orange and pomegranates in season. Yes, I do love the winter for reasons of braising short ribs or osso buco, but it's these jeweled fruits that I can't get enough of.

Ingredients for Quinoa Beet Orange Salad

Like most of the recipes I make. this is another versatile one. Use what you have or can find but the pops of vibrant colors in this salad are so appealing.

• Cooked Quinoa: use single or tricolor for this recipe. I like to make a batch and use the leftovers for different recipes, such as kale tabbouleh salad.
• Roasted Beets: Another item I make in bulk to use for a number of things. Roast beets for roasted beet hummus or red and yellow beet soup.
• Blood Orange: tangy and beautiful, the juice is also used in the vinaigrette. If blood oranges aren't in season, cara cara oranges would be wonderful.
• Feta Cheese: just a bit crumbled for a layer of saltiness and goat cheese would be a great substitute as well.
• Fresh mint: roughly chopped and thrown in for freshness.

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Beets, Blood Orange and Feta

Samantha Ferraro

LittleFerraroKitchen.com

A colorful winter quinoa salad with roasted yellow beets, tangy blood orange, salty feta cheese and sweet pomegranate seeds all dressed with a simple blood orange vinaigrette.

5 from 9 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Beet Chilling 1 hour hr

Total Time 2 hours hrs 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Servings 4 servings

Calories 465 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 yellow beets
• ▢ 2 cups cooked quinoa
• ▢ 1 blood orange peeled and cut into segments
• ▢ 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• ▢ ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
• ▢ Mint leaves roughly chopped

Blood Orange Vinaigrette

• ▢ ½ cup olive oil
• ▢ 1 blood orange zest and juice
• ▢ 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons honey
• ▢ Salt and pepper

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and wrap beets in foil tightly. If any are very large, cut in half before wrapping in foil.
• Place beets on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes to 1 hours until cooked through. You can test this by inserting a knife all the way through. Once done, remove and let cool for about an hour.
• Once beets are cool enough to handle, peel the outer peel off and cut into ¼ inch pieces.
• In a large bowl, add the cooked quinoa, roasted beets, blood orange segments and toss to combine. Stir in crumbled feta, pomegranate seeds and mint.
• For the dressing, Combine all the dressing ingredients in a bowl or mason jar and whisk or shake to incorporate. taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.
• Pour vinaigrette all over quinoa salad and gently toss and garnish with extra herbs if preferred.

Notes

This is a perfect recipe to prep ahead of time: Roast the beets a day ahead and let cool in fridge before adding to salad. 

Do the same for quinoa and make a batch ahead of time. 

Quinoa beet salad holds up very well in the fridge and the quinoa soaks up the dressing up. Will stay in an airtight container for 3-4 days, though the herbs will start to wilt.

If making ahead of time, add the fresh herbs and feta closer to serving for  optimal freshness. 

Nutrition

Calories: 465kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 8gFat: 33gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 250mgPotassium: 417mgFiber: 6gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 112IUVitamin C: 10mgCalcium: 122mgIron: 2mg

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This post has been updated on February 14th, 2021 since originally posted in April, 2013. Post has been updated with nutritional info, updated photos and retested recipe.