Roasted Beet, Quinoa, and Carrot Salad

This roasted beet, quinoa, and carrot salad is packed with healthy and good-for-you ingredients! It’s super flavorful and has the best lemon dressing!

Once you’ve gotten HOOKED on this salad, be sure to try these other popular salad recipes: Thai quinoa salad, honey lime quinoa salad, or this fruity quinoa salad.

Roasted Beet, Quinoa, and Carrot Salad

Hey everyone! It’s Chelsea back from Chelsea’s Messy Apron with delicious salad recipe to share! As we’re approaching summer, this is a salad recipe you’ll want to have handy! As summer approaches, I’m always ready to eat a bit more seasonally with all the fresh produce available! This salad is the perfect way to use that produce!

After a heavy meal or a few days of eating less healthy than you might like, this is the perfect salad to get you back on track and make you feel great.

How to Make this Roasted Beet, Quinoa, and Carrot Salad:

• Start by cooking your quinoa to have enough time to cool! I wrote an entire guide on how to cook quinoa that I’d recommend giving a look through if you’ve never made quinoa before.
• Next roast the vegetables: I recommend at 425 degree Fahrenheit for perfectly crisp and caramelized veggies!
• Make the dressing: simply shake together a few ingredients for an incredible lemon dressing!
• Toss: add everything together, toss, and ENJOY!

Health Benefits for eating this salad:

• Root veggies (beets and carrots) help regulate blood sugar levels in the body, which is especially important if you have type 2 diabetes. They also are very high in fiber, vitamin B, vitamin C, and antioxidants.
• Quinoa is very nutritious —it’s full of fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. From purely a calorie perspective: one cup of cooked quinoa has approximately 40 fewer calories than an equal amount of white rice.
• Lemon (in the dressing): this citrus is linked to being helpful in preventing anemia and kidney stones. It’s also theorized to help with weight control and improving digestive health
• Almonds: these nuts are packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein.

Tips for this recipe:

1. Rinse the quinoa. Quinoa has a bitter saponin coating so you’ll want to rinse it before preparing it. I like to pour the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve and rinse it quickly. I also typically cook quinoa in chicken or vegetable broth to infuse it with more flavor.
2. Try some different variations: pretty much whatever veggies you like will work great in this salad. We love these honey balsamic mushrooms, roasted brussel sprouts, or these parmesan garlic zucchini spears.
3. Only add dressing to what you plan on eating in the same day. Unfortunately this quinoa salad doesn’t sit very well with the dressing mixed into it. If you aren’t planning on eating the whole salad at one sitting, toss only what you’ll being eating on day 1 with the dressing. If you keep the dressing separate this salad can store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
4. Use a LARGE sheet pan: The more space the veggies have (aka the less crowded they are) the better they roast. When carrots/beets are overlapping or jammed into a sheet pan, they end up steaming instead of roasting which greatly affects the end taste/texture.
5. Add some meat. This salad is vegetarian by default, but it’s perfectly acceptable to grill some chicken (we LOVE this grilled chicken marinade) to serve on the side or to chop up and put on top of the salad. You also could grill up some steak (steak marinade recipe here) and thinly slice it across the grain and add it to this salad.

More Quinoa for you to enjoy:

• Quinoa Black Bean Salad
• Quinoa Fried Rice
• Winter Pomegranate Orange Quinoa Salad 
• Healthy Quinoa & Veggie Salad
• Quinoa Salad (With Avocado)

Roasted beet, quinoa, and carrot salad

This roasted beet, quinoa, and carrot salad is packed with healthy and good-for-you ingredients! It’s super flavorful and has the best lemon dressing!

• 1 pound medium beets
• 1/2 pound medium carrots
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, (separated)
• Fine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper (to taste)
• 4 ounces mixed greens lettuce
• 1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
• 1/3 honey roasted sliced almonds
• 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons dijon mustard (do not use regular mustard)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 clove garlic (minced)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 large lemon (3 tablespoons juice)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel the beets and cut them into 1-inch wedges. In a bowl, toss the beets with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange in one half of a large tray. Add carrots, toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt and pepper. Toss and place in oven for 30-35 minutes or until tender.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the quinoa. Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve to remove the bitter coating. In a small saucepan, combine quinoa with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cover the pan with a lid.

3. Turn heat all the way to the lowest setting and cook covered for 15 minutes or until the water has completely absorbed in the quinoa.
4. Turn off the heat and let stand covered for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the lid and fluff the quinoa gently with a fork. Set aside.

5. Toss the cooked and mostly cooled quinoa and mixed greens in a large bowl.

6. Meanwhile, prep the dressing. Whisk the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, dried oregano, dried basil, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste), and 1/4 teaspoon pepper (or to taste) together in a small bowl. Slowly add in the olive oil into the vinegar mixture while whisking briskly. Whisk in the lemon juice. Pour into a jar and store in the fridge while you finish the salad.

7. Add roasted beets and carrots to quinoa and lettuce. Add goat cheese and almonds.

8. Toss the salad with desired amount of dressing (you might have some leftover depending on how dressed you liked your salads!) Enjoy immediately.
9. Do not dress anything you don’t intend to eat that day. This salad is best eaten immediately after being dressed, so if you want leftovers, only toss what you will eat with the dressing.