Roasted Beet Salad with Horseradish-Cashew Cream

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Using a variety of beets, such as red, golden, or Chioggia (sometimes called candystripe), adds stunning color to this vibrant beet salad recipe from London chef Carine Ottou. The beets are cut into wedges and then roasted with garlic and fresh rosemary, which intensifies their earthy sweetness. Nutty and crunchy, the flax, chia, and poppy seed crisps stand in for croutons; soaked and pureed cashews serve as the creamy base of the vegan horseradish sauce that ties the beet salad together.

By Carine Ottou

Updated on August 2, 2023

Tested by

Food & Wine Test Kitchen

Candied Beet Salad with Horseradish Cashew Cream — Photo: Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Audrey Davis

Active Time:

20 mins

Total Time:

2 hrs

Servings:

Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

Beets

2 pounds trimmed multicolored baby beets (from about 3 pounds beets with greens, or 12 to 14 beets), unpeeled, scrubbed, and cut into 1-inch wedges
5 unpeeled garlic cloves
3 (3-inch) rosemary sprigs
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
1 ¼ teaspoons fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Crisps

2 tablespoons golden flax seeds or brown flax seeds
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt

Horseradish-Cashew Cream

¾ cup raw cashews, soaked in water at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours
¼ cup fresh lemon juice, plus more for serving
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

Additional Ingredient

Baby salad greens, pea shoots, or torn beet leaves

Directions

Make the beets:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange beets, separated by color, in an even layer in a 13- x 9-inch baking pan. Add garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs to pan; drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in preheated oven until beets are tender and slightly wrinkled, about 1 hour. Let stand at room temperature until cool, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the crisps:

Increase oven temperature to 375°F. Pulse flax seeds in a spice grinder until coarsely ground, 4 to 6 pulses. Stir together ground flax seeds, 2 tablespoons water, chia seeds, poppy seeds, and salt in a large bowl; let stand at room temperature, uncovered, 10 minutes. Spoon mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and top with an additional parchment paper sheet. Roll mixture to 1/8-inch thickness. Remove top parchment sheet. Bake mixture at 375°F until hardened, about 15 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes. Break into about 2-inch pieces.

Make the cashew-horseradish cream:

Drain soaked cashews. Place cashews, lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, horseradish, vinegar, nutritional yeast (if using), and salt in a blender; process until smooth, about 30 seconds.
Remove and discard rosemary sprigs from pan with beets. Peel garlic cloves; discard skins. Arrange salad greens on a large platter, and top with beets and garlic. Sprinkle with crisps, and dollop with cashew cream. If desired, sprinkle with additional lemon juice.