Roasted Fennel Beet Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette, a simple roasted winter vegetable salad with red and golden beets, fennel, and shallots. A tasty, colorful side dish for holiday gatherings and busy weeknight dinners!
You know that time of winter when you can’t take one more soup or stew and you just need vegetables? We hear you! Enter the roasted vegetable salad: a simple salad of sheet pan-roasted root vegetables like beets and fennel and tossed with greens.
👉 Here are three reasons why you should make this fennel beet salad::
- It’s ready in under an hour. Get your vegetable fix even when you’re in a time crunch! This salad recipe is quick and easy, perfect as a dinner side or to pack for lunch.
- You can use it for meal prep and leftovers. This sturdy winter vegetable salad is great for meal prep because it holds up well as leftovers. Simply store dry ingredients in a glass food storage container and toss with the dressing when ready to eat.
- It’s flexible. Enjoy this salad as a main dish or an easy side for your hearty cold-weather comfort meals. You can even get creative by adding your own preferred spices and seasonings or adding other vegetables, like carrots or sweet potatoes, to switch it up.
Want the recipe for our favorite take on winter vegetable salad? Let’s do it!
🥬 Ingredients
You’ll need just 4 ingredients for roasting the vegetables, and 7 for the honey mustard vinaigrette. It doesn’t get simpler than that!
- Beets: add extra color to the salad by using red and golden beets! We love the sweet, earthy flavor that beets bring to this dish.
- Fennel: you’ll trim and core the fennel before baking it and tossing with the other veggies. Baked fennel adds a note of freshness to the salad and a mild “anise-like” flavor.
- Olive oil: adds flavor, and brings extra crisp to vegetables when they are roasted.
- Sea salt: just a pinch of sea salt is all you need to boost the flavor of this salad.
- Mixed greens: the base of this recipe; the greens are arranged with the roasted vegetables in the last step.
- Dressing ingredients: olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, mustard, fresh orange juice, salt, and pepper are the ingredients needed to make the honey mustard vinaigrette.
- Recommended tools: knife set, glass baking dish, small mixing bowl, whisk
🥣 How to make (step-by-step photos)
1️⃣ Step One: Preheat oven + prep vegetables
First, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Then prepare the beets and fennel for roasting:
- To prep beets: Wash beets well to remove any dirt. Place whole beets in a large glass baking dish filled with a small layer of water and cover with aluminum foil.
- To prep fennel: Cut the stems from the fennel, reserving the core. Then cut the hard root off the bottom, and make V-cut to remove the hard center (watch this video to see how to cut fennel). Then toss with olive oil and sea salt in a glass baking dish.
2️⃣ Step Two: Roast beets + fennel
Next, place the dishes with the roasted vegetables in the oven. Bake the beets until they are soft and fork-tender, which will take about 40 minutes. Let cool, then slice the beets into cubes.
The fennel will take about 30 minutes to bake, give or take depending on your oven. When it’s done cooking, it will be soft and golden brown.
Set the cubed beets and fennel aside and allow to cool.
3️⃣ Step Three: Make the dressing
While the beets and fennel are roasting, make the salad dressing.
To make the homemade honey mustard vinaigrette, combine olive oil, a splash of apple cider vinegar, mustard, honey, the juice of one orange, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a small glass mixing bowl.
Whisk until the dressing is well combined and does not separate, about 60-90 seconds.
4️⃣ Step Four: Assemble the salad
Finally, it’s time to put it all together!
Layer the roasted beets and fennel on top of a bed of mixed greens and top with sliced shallots.
Add a drizzle of homemade honey mustard vinaigrette to the vegetables. Toss to combine and enjoy!
❓ Recipe questions + quick tips
Beets taste great with other root vegetables like carrots, radishes, and potatoes. They also go well with greens like arugula, cabbage, celery, fennel, and spinach. Warm spices like cinnamon, allspice, cumin, pepper, and paprika complement the flavor of beets perfectly. You can also try them with herbs like thyme, parsley, or basil. Beets are commonly prepared as a side dish and can be enjoyed with a variety of plant and meat-based proteins.
Yes, fennel can be eaten raw in salads. It adds a note of freshness and crunch, especially when paired with greens and other vegetables. You can also cook fennel and add it to salads like we did in the roasted fennel and beet salad. Some people prefer roasted fennel because it makes the “anise-like” flavor more subtle.
👉 How to serve
You can serve this roasted winter vegetable salad any way you like. Here are a few of our favorite ways to enjoy it:
- As a main dish. This salad is hearty and filling enough to be its own meal. To make it more balanced, you can serve it with a plant-based protein like quinoa or tofu.
- Serve as a side dish. The flavors of fennel beet salad pair perfectly with just about anything. Add it to your dinner lineup or bring to your next gathering.
- Share at the holiday table. Bring this salad to share with your loved ones at Thanksgiving or other holiday parties. It’s easy to prep the recipe ahead and assemble when you’re ready to serve!
🧊 How to store
Whether you’re prepping this fennel and beet salad in advance or you have leftovers, here’s how to store it for the best quality:
- Refrigerator storage: store this simple winter salad in a glass food storage container in the refrigerator for up to four days.
- Freezer storage: we don’t recommend storing fennel beet salad in the freezer.
♻️ Sustainable kitchen tips
We’re all about sustainability here at Fork in the Road. This recipe uses a homemade dressing, which is a great way to prevent the packaging waste that comes from store-bought dressings. Here are a few other ways that you can take your ingredients further:
Make it during the fall and winter months. This is when beets and fennel are in season in most parts of the US, which is better for the planet and your wallet. Find out when the vegetables are at their peak of their growing season near you here.
Save the veggie scraps. Note that you can add beet scraps and peels to homemade vegetable broth, but they may darken its color. If you prefer not to use them in broth, you can compost them (the soil and the planet will thank you later!). Any other veggie scraps that you accumulate can be added to broth or composted as well.
🥗 More winter vegetable salad recipes
Can’t get enough roasted veggie salads? Check out our other cold weather vegetable salads:
Looking for more roasted vegetable recipes? Try our Roasted Carrots and Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Carrots and Leeks, and Maple Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potatoes.
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Roasted Fennel Beet Salad
Ingredients
Roasted Fennel Beet Salad
- 4 whole beets, red and golden
- 2 whole fennel bulbs, trimmed, cored, and sliced
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 4 cups mixed greens
- 1 whole shallot, thinly sliced
Homemade Honey Mustard Vinaigrette with Maille Mustard
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
- ¼ cup orange juice, from one whole orange
- 1 Pinch salt and pepper
Instructions
Roasted Fennel Beet Salad Ingredients
- Prep oven: Preheat oven to 400 F.
- To roast beets: Wash beets and place in a large glass baking dish filled with a small layer of water. Cover with aluminum foil and bake until soft and a fork can easily spear through, about 40 minutes. Let cool and sliced into cubes.
- To roast fennel: Toss trimmed and cored fennel with olive oil and sea salt, then bake in a glass baking dish until soft and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool.
- To build salad: Arrange mixed greens, cooled beets and fennel, and shallot slices on a plate. Toss with Homemade Honey Mustard Vinaigrette (see recipe below).
Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing Ingredients
- Combine + whisk ingredients: Combine olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, Maille Old Style Mustard, juice of one orange, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a small glass mixing bowl. Whisk until well combined and toss with salad.
Recipe Notes
- Prep ahead: roast the beets and fennel and prepare the homemade dressing up to two days ahead of time to make preparing salad easier when ready to eat
- Leftovers + storage: store this simple winter salad in a glass food storage container in the refrigerator for up to four days
- Nutrition notes: this recipe is completely plant-based and features many vegetables that are easily found in winter months. It is high in fiber, potassium, and plant-based protein and features mustard as an emulsifier, which binds together the homemade honey mustard vinaigrette.
Nutrition Information
UPDATE: This recipe was originally published in February 2019 and was updated for clarity in September 2021.
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