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This Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts is a wonderful dish that combines bright colors, fresh flavors, and textures that evoke a range of sensory experiences!
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Why You’ll 🫶🏻 this Salad
The rich ruby-red beets contrast beautifully with the vibrant green arugula and the white cheese crumbles, creating a stunning visual. This salad not only looks impressive but also tastes fantastic, allowing you to feel like a culinary artist with little effort. You get the tender, almost melt-in-your-mouth quality of the roasted beets, the slight crispness of the fresh greens, the satisfying crunch from the hazelnuts, and the creamy richness of the goat cheese. It’s a celebration for your taste buds that can be enjoyed year-round for any occasion! Enjoy!~Nicole
Key Ingredients for Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts
Roasted Beets have a delightful, earthy taste and a soft yet slightly firm texture. When roasted, the sugars in beets caramelize, transforming their flavor from earthy and raw to sweet and rich.
Arugula has a zesty, mildly bitter taste that adds a vibrant punch to this salad. Its consistency is fresh and crunchy. It also adds a vibrant green color that contrasts nicely with the other ingredients.
Goat Cheese adds a richness to the salad with its tangy flavor and creamy texture. Its versatility allows it to pair well with a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and greens for a composed salad. Use fresh goat cheese that crumbles well. Aged goat cheese is too strong.
Hazelnuts have a rich, nutty taste with a hint of sweetness, and their crunchy texture provides a delightful contrast to the other salad ingredients. Toasting them elevates the salad’s flavor profile, adding complexity and enjoyment. See my Kitchen Tip on how to skin and toast them the easy way!
Orange Vinaigrette is composed of reduced orange juice, the zest of the orange, balsamic vinegar, olive oil or hazelnut oil, fresh thyme, and shallot. It boasts a bright, tangy taste with a touch of sweetness from the oranges, which makes it both refreshing and lively. The texture is usually smooth and light, enabling it to evenly coat salad ingredients without feeling heavy.
Note:
- I zest the orange first, then juice it. You can either juice another orange or use a pure premium orange juice to equal 1 1/2 cups total.
- I use lemon thyme, but regular thyme is equally lovely.
Equipment Needed
Tips on Making Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts
- Roast the beets- see my post HERE for the full recipe! Once roasted, cooled, and peeled, cut the beets into wedges if small, or dice them if large.
- To make the vinaigrette, reduce the orange juice to 1/3 cup. That will take approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on the cooking method and heat level.
- While the orange juice reduction is cooling, place the vinegar, oil, zest, thyme, and shallots in a jar or container with a tight-fitting lid.
- Once the reduction has cooled, add it to the jar and shake to emulsify the vinaigrette before adding it to the arugula.
Substitutions
- Use a combination of arugula and spinach or just a spring mix to replace the arugula.
- Use walnuts, pecans, almonds, or pistachios instead of the hazelnuts.
- Blue cheese, feta, ricotta salata, or even parmesan are suitable substitutes for the goat cheese.
- Use a nut oil that complements the nut chosen instead of olive oil.
Here are some nut-and-cheese combinations that work for my taste buds.
*Blue cheese with pecans or walnuts
*Feta cheese with almonds or pistachios
As I always say- “Make it for you, make it your own!”
Serving Suggestions
Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts pairs well with Roast Chicken, Grilled or Pan-seared Steak, or as a side with pasta dishes like Baked Macaroni and Cheese or Penne and Pancetta with Parisienne Cream. It also pairs well with soups like Easy Cream of Mushroom or Carrot-Apple Soup, to name a few 😉. It also enhances holiday meals, making it an excellent addition to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or any festive gatherings.
Yes! The beets can be roasted and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Please bring them to room temperature or warm them briefly in the oven or microwave before assembling the salad. The vinaigrette can be made and stored in the refrigerator, but do not add the shallot until serving time.
The standard ratio for fresh to dried herbs is 3:1. So, use 1/3 teaspoon dried thyme.
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Roasted Beet and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Hazelnuts
Ingredients
For the Vinaigrette
- ½ teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
- 1 ½ cups orange Juice
- 2 tablespoons Extra-virgin olive oil or hazelnut oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme or lemon thyme
- 1 small shallot, minced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the Salad
- 1 ½-2 pounds Roasted Beets, diced or cut into wedges, depending on size
- 10 ounces baby arugula
- 4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
- ½ cup Toasted Hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Instructions
For the Vinaigrette
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the orang juice to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, incovered, untili the juice is reduced to ⅓ cup, about 20-30 minute. Transfer the reduction to a small bowl and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Meanwhile, place the vinegar, oil, zest, thyme, and shallot in a jar with a tight fitting lid.
- When the orange juice is cooled, pour it into the jar and shake the vinaigrette to emulsify.
For the Salad
- Place the arugula in a large bowl. Drizzle ¼ cup of the dressing over the greens; toss to coat. At this time you can either place the greens on individual plates and top each plate with the beets, goat cheese, and hazelnuts and drizzle each plate with the remaining vinaigrette. Or you can transfer the dressed arugula to a serving bowl, top with the beets, goat cheese, and hazelnuts and gently toss. (If you toss the salld too much the goat cheese will break down and weigh down the arugula.) Enjoy!
Notes
The beets can be roasted and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Bring them to room temperature or warm them briefly in the oven or microwave before assembling the salad. The vinaigrette can be made and stored in the refrigerator, but do not add the shallot until serving time.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
