Salads

Easy Russian Beet Salad with Walnuts

This Russian Beet Salad with Walnuts is so easy to make and tastes great if you love red beets. It’s a salad often made in the Russian culture, but the traditional version uses raisins. The salad is sweet thanks to the beets and also a bit tangy, thanks to the mayonnaise dressing and the dried cranberries. The roasted walnuts provide some crunch and the nutty taste. So good!

Red beet salad served in a bowl with bread

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Russian Beet Salad Recipe

Roasting Walnuts

Measure out your walnuts. You can use 1/4 to 1/2 cup of them. Adding more doesn’t change the taste; it just adds more crunch to the salad. In a small skillet, roast the walnuts on medium heat. Keep an eye on the walnuts as they roast as they burn easily. Take out from the skillet (so that they don’t cook further). Then, set them aside and let them cool.

How to Cook Red Beets

You need cooked red beets for this recipe. Strangely enough, raw red beets in Germany are kind of rare. Generally we have to go to the Russian store to buy them. Or some of the bigger grocery chain stores carry them. The little stores, like Aldi, usually carry the beets already cooked and vacuum sealed (how convenient! see the picture below). I like to cook my own red beets too, but I won’t go into details here. Just make sure you have cooked beets for this one.

When I do cook red beets, I just place them in a pot, cover with water and add some salt. I bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook for about 45 minutes to an hour. The beets are done when a fork can easily pierce the beets.

Side note: For a detailed post on how to cook red beets (5 different ways), check out the How to Cook and Prepare Beets page from Just Beet It, a site I stumbled upon that is dedicated to red beets 😍.

How to Make Beet Salad with Walnuts

Grate the beets using a box grater.

Use a small cheese grater and grate the garlic. Or mince using a knife. Add to the red beets.

Chop the walnuts and add them to the red beet salad.

As I mentioned above, the traditional salad calls for raisins. But we use dried cranberries, or Craisins as they are called. Measure out the dried cranberries and add them to the bowl with the other salad ingredients.

Red Beet Salad Dressing

My absolute favorite dressing for beets is very easy: just mayonnaise. That’s right! Mayonnaise has a slightly tangy taste and I love to even just dip cooked beets into the mayonnaise and eat plain. It’s so good.

So just add mayonnaise and salt to the red beets and mix everything together.

Doesn’t it just look so pretty? The color changes to light purple thanks to the mayonnaise and the salad is so eye catching thanks to this color.

Red beet salad with walnuts and craisins served in a salad bowl garnished with parsley.

I hope you like this red beet salad recipe. Let me know in the comments below if you try it and how it turns out.

Lastly, if you make this Russian Beet Salad with Walnuts, make sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating here! I’d love to hear back from you and will do my best to answer and respond to every comment. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram if you make this recipe. I’d love to see the photos of the recipes you have made!

Easy Russian Beet Salad with Walnuts

Easy salad using red beets, cranberries, walnuts, and minced garlic with mayo used for the dressing.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time5 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Russian
Keyword: Beet Salad, Beet Salad Recipe, Cranberries, Red Beet Salad, Red beets, Roasted Walnuts
Servings: 4

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Cooked red beets
  • 2 Garlic cloves
  • ¼ cup Dried cranberries (craisins)
  • ¼-½ cups Walnuts
  • 2 tbsp Mayonnaise
  • ¼ tsp Salt, or to taste

Instructions

  • Roast the walnuts in a small skillet making sure they don't burn. Remove from the skillet and set aside to cool.
  • Grate the cooked red beets using a boxed grater. Transfer to a salad bowl (or grate directly into the bowl).
  • Grate the garlic clove using a fine grater (I used a cheese grater) or mince using a knife. Add to red beets.
  • Coarsely chop the roasted walnuts and add them to the salad.
  • Measure out the cranberries and add to the salad.
  • Add the mayonnaise and season with salt. Mix well together. (Add more salt if needed).
  • Serve.

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