Greek Beet Salad is a healthy and flavor packed side dish. Tender beets in a garlicky Greek salad dressing topped with feta cheese and pickled red onions.
Greek Beet Salad Recipe
The first time I had Greek beet salad, patzarosalata, was on my 25th birthday at a local Greek restaurant. We went for a meze style Greek dinner where you get a tasting menu of all their signature dishes. I never knew that something as simple as a beet could be transformed into such a flavorful and beautiful salad!
If you have been a reader on our site for a while now, you know we are not short on Greek recipes here! We love everything about Greek cuisine and this Greek Beet Salad is one of my favorites!
What is Greek Beet Salad?
Greek Beet Salad (Patzarosalata) is a simple, yet delicious and impressive side dish that is perfect for a weeknight dinner or holiday entertaining! The salad has a beautiful color combination from the deep red beets, the white crumbled feta cheese and the red onions.
The dressing for the salad is a simple Greek salad dressing. The beets are tossed in the salad and they soak up all the flavor from the red wine vinegar, garlic, oregano and parsley. As the beets marinate in the dressing they get even more flavorful, making this salad perfect for make ahead and meal prep. The salad is topped with crumbled feta and quick pickled red onions.
What to Serve with Greek Beet Salad
I love having a Greek inspired dinner at home. It is more cost effective than takeout, healthy and most important incredibly delicious! Pair this Greek Beet Salad with some of my most popular Greek recipes:
What is in Greek Beet Salad?
- Cooked Beets - beets are an underrated vegetable in the kitchen! Not only are they beautiful, they are incredibly healthy and are the perfect blank canvas for so many recipes. Beets on their own may have a very neutral flavor but that just means that you can spice them up however you like!
- Olive Oil - the base of the salad dressing. Use a light tasting olive oil or neutral oil of choice (ex. avocado oil).
- Red Wine Vinegar - a staple ingredient in Greek salad dressing. It has a sweeter flavor than regular white vinegar and a beautiful red color.
- Garlic - everything is better with garlic and this salad dressing is packed with garlic flavor! Don't worry about the garlic going into the dressing raw. The vinegar pickles the garlic and leaves a beautiful garlicky flavor without a raw overpowering flavor.
- Fresh Parsley and Dried Oregano - I love the combination of fresh parsley and dried oregano. You can use dried parsley but fresh has a nice aroma and fresh flavor. If you can find Greek oregano try using that. It has a more earthy flavor than regular oregano. Regular dried oregano works great too.
- Salt & Pepper
- Feta Cheese - one of my favorite cheeses! I love this crumbly, salty and creamy cheese. Greek feta is truly incredible. A note when it comes to serving, if you are prepping the salad in advance, wait until just before serving to add the feta or it will turn red/pink from the beet juice.
- Red Onions - I love raw red onions just as much as I love pickled red onion. In this recipe you can top the salad with fresh raw red onions or a quick pickled onion. I like doing a quick pickle as it pairs perfectly with the salad dressing.
How to Make Greek Beet Salad
Full Printable Recipe at Bottom of Page
1 If using store bought beets skip this step. To cook your own beets, cut the leaves and about an inch of the stem off the beet. Wash thoroughly. Place in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil on medium high heat. Boil for 40 - 50 minutes or until tender to the touch. Drain the beets and allow to cool. Use a paper towel to peel the skins off the beets.
2 For the quick pickled red onions, combine the red onions, warm water and red wine vinegar in a small bowl or jar. Set aside while you prepare the salad. Before serving the salad, drain the red onions from the liquid and serve over top of the salad.
3 Slice the beets into wedges or cubes, or your personal preference. Place sliced beets in a large bowl.
4 In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the beets and very GENTLY toss to combine completely. Take your time and don’t rush this step. If you stir too hard the beets will crumble. Or you can add the beets and salad dressing into a large Ziploc bag and toss to combine.
5 Serve immediately or keep covered in the refrigerator for up to one week. The salad is even better the next day because the herbs and spices have had time to come together.
6 Just before serving, top with crumbled feta cheese and pickled red onions.
Serve the salad warm, at room temperature, or refrigerate until cold for a refreshing taste. Enjoy!
Tips for the Best Greek Beet Salad
- Beets - this recipe is great because you can use any variety of beets. You can buy store bought precooked beets (without flavoring). With the rise in popularity of beets, most grocery stores sell vacuum sealed precooked cooked beets. You can roast your own beets in the oven and then slice them up. Or can you can make the beets in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot and then slice them up for the recipe.
- Feta - the feta cheese will pick up a red/pink color from the beets. For this reason, add the feta on top of the salad just before serving. I also recommend not stirring the salad together before serving or else the feta will turn red/pink from the dressing. But there is nothing wrong with a little red/pink feta cheese!
- Dressing - for a quicker prep recipe you can use a store bought Greek salad dressing instead of homemade. I love using a homemade dressing because the raw garlic has such an amazing flavor. Whereas, when you use a store bought dressing the garlic has already had time to fully pickle and it has a more subtle flavor.
FAQs Greek Beet Salad
Store the beet salad in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. The longer the salad sits the more flavorful the beets become. Note: if storing the feta cheese with the salad it will turn red/pink over time from the beet juice.
Yes! This salad is perfect for make ahead as the beets marinate in the dressing and become more and more flavorful. To make ahead, follow the recipe as usual, prepare the beet salad and pickled red onions. Store the pickled onions, feta cheese and beet salad in separate containers (this is to prevent the feta and onions from becoming too red/pink from the beet juices). Just before serving transfer the beet salad to a serving platter, top with the pickled onions and feta and enjoy!
Yes! Beets are highly nutritious and packed with health benefits. To name a few, beets can support the health of your heart, brain, and digestive system. They are a good addition to a balanced diet, are known to boost athletic performance, alleviate inflammation, and more.
This recipe is vegetarian.
For a vegan Greek Beet salad follow the recipe as normal but use a vegan feta cheese.
This recipe is gluten free.
For a dairy free Greek Beet salad follow the recipe as normal but use a dairy free feta cheese or vegan feta cheese.
Looking for More Easy Salad Recipes?
- Olive Garden Salad
- Strawberry Panzanella Salad
- Dill Pickle Chopped Salad
- BLT Pasta Salad
- Italian Antipasto Tortellini Salad
Enjoy!
- Sab
Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, may earn me a small commission.
Greek Beet Salad (Patzarosalata)
Ingredients
- 3 large beets (or about 5 cups sliced into wedges, or cubed)
- 4 cloves garlic (very finely minced)
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon oregano (dried, Greek oregano recommended but not required)
- ½ cup olive oil (or neutral oil of choice (ex. avocado oil))
- ¾ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
- ½ cup feta cheese (crumbled, or more for personal preference)
Quick Pickled Red Onions
- 1 small red onion (sliced into bite sized pieces)
- ½ cup warm water (or enough water to cover the onions)
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
Garnish(optional)
- Fresh parsley (chopped)
- Fresh mint (chopped)
- Dried Oregano (or Greek oregano)
Instructions
- If using store bought beets skip this step. To cook your own beets, cut the leaves and about an inch of the stem off the beets. Wash thoroughly. Place in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil on medium high heat. Boil for 40 - 50 minutes or until tender to the touch. Drain the beets and allow to cool. Use a paper towel to peel the skins off the beets.
- For the quick pickled red onions, combine the red onions, warm water and red wine vinegar in a small bowl or jar. Set aside while you prepare the salad. Before serving the salad drain the red onions from the liquid and serve over top of the salad.
- Slice the beets into wedges or cubes, or your personal preference. Place sliced beets in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour the dressing over the beets and very GENTLY toss to combine completely. Take your time and don’t rush this step. If you stir to hard the beets will crumble. Or you can add the beets and salad dressing into a large Ziploc bag and toss to combine.
- Serve immediately or keep covered in the refrigerator for up to one week. The salad is even better the next day because the herbs and spices have had time to come together.
- Just before serving, top with crumbled feta cheese and pickled red onions.
- Serve the salad beets warm, at room temperature, or refrigerate until cold for a refreshing taste. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Barb says
I’ve been looking for a Greek Beet salad for so long and this by far has been the best recipe! Tried so many and this is my fave. Thanks for sharing.
George says
Perfect instructions for a delicious result! Thank you Seb. x
Cindy says
This was tasty
Alex says
I really enjoyed this salad. Thanks
Angela says
You forgot to add the garlic
fedbysab says
Hi Angela, the garlic is added in step 4 of the recipe when making the dressing.
Amanda says
This was flavorful and delicious! Made it on a whim to use up some beets and my teenage son and I loved it. Definitely adding this salad to our rotation. 🙂
fedbysab says
Hi Amanda! Thanks for your comment, so happy to hear you and your son loved the recipe!
Suzanne says
Can you make and keep pickled onions for a while in the fridge?
Kathleen Smith says
Are the store bought beets canned beets?
fedbysab says
You can use store-bought not pickled cooked beets, canned beets, or homemade cooked beets.
Ana says
Such a great recipe! The best beet salad I've ever made and huge hit with the family.
Maria says
I make this a lot,I also add garbanzo beans to it,it’s a fav in my family.
Tom Cavan says
Nice version very tasty,I still prefer goat cheese but it’s not for everyone so I used your recipe and it was a hit!,
Linda Daly says
It’s very good. We’ve had it several times, BUT there is no way 5 beets equals 5 cups. Mor like 2 1/2 cups. So only make a half recipe of the dressing. There will be plenty. And the red onion needs to marinate longer. You’ll only use a little of the red onion, but I’ve been adding the extras in all my salad. Great addition.
Marty McCann says
Easy and delicious! i didn’t have a red onion, so I used white peael.ones instead. it is just me, so halfed the d ecioe. My non dairy feta didnt crumble too well, but grated fine. I used red and gokd beets. Quite pleased. A delight fir the taste buds i highky recommend letting it sit over night in tge fridge.
Roz says
This was the best beet salad I have ever had and it was so easy to make!