This Baked Beetroot and Feta Pasta Salad is a super quick and easy, delicious light vegetarian meal that comes together in as little as 30 minutes! Serve warm or chilled.
Beetroot takes a while to cook and I always think that some of its goodness is lost during cooking even when it’s boiled whole. So for this Baked Beetroot and Feta Pasta Salad I decided to prepare beetroot differently.
Prepping the beetroot
It’s important to slice the beetroot quite thinly (approx. 5 mm in thickness) for this pasta salad recipe. This really doesn’t take very long and the slices don’t have to be identical (my advice is to wear rubber gloves though as the beetroot will stain your hands). Baking sliced beetroot is not only quicker than cooking whole beetroot it also minimizes the loss of nutrients. Plus baked beetroot has an intensely sweet, rich flavour which is fantastic paired with tangy feta and almost neutral tasting pasta.
See also my Roasted Beetroot Zoodle Salad with Tahini.
What pasta to use
I chose orzo pasta for its small, delicate shape. I didn’t want the pasta to take over the dish and I felt the bigger, more robust pasta types might do that. Instead the pasta is there to provide a little more substance and tone down the sweetness of the beetroot.
I also used orzo in this Easy Pesto Chicken Pasta Bake Recipe.
Salad with feta
Feta cheese is an important ingredient in this recipe as it complements the sweetness of the beetroot. Baked feta is also not as sharp and acidic as raw so it doesn’t overpower the dish. The only drawback of using feta is that once opened it spoils quickly. Normally I would try to use up leftover feta within 1 or 2 days of opening (not always with success I must admit), but this time I decided to freeze it!
#EatitCookitFreezeit
Last week was #EatitCookitFreezeit week raising awareness about food safety and food waste. It made me realise that I could waste less food if I was more organised and made more of a conscious effort to try to prevent it. In my search for new ideas of how to be more efficient in the kitchen I came across a useful site which gives helpful tips on freezing foods I never thought were suitable for freezing.
I learned for example that I can freeze my leftover feta! So I have!
If you can’t eat or cook it – freeze it!
If you are a fan of feta you may also like this Easy Greek Shrimp Saganaki recipe. Check out also this vegetarian Roasted Fennel with Vegetables and Feta!
Warm pasta salad or chilled salad meal
This beetroot and feta salad is super versatile! It can be served warm as well as chilled. If you prefer it warm cook the pasta while the beetroot is in the oven so you can combine these mixtures as soon as the beetroot is ready. If you are planning to serve it cold you can cook the pasta, as well as the beetroot (and feta) ahead and refrigerate these until you are ready to make the recipe. Then simply combine these ingredients, stir in some freshly chopped arugula, season to taste, drizzle with oil and enjoy!
Related Post
See also 10+ Best Healthy Vegetarian Pasta Recipes.
This Baked Beetroot and Feta Pasta Salad is a super quick and easy, delicious vegetarian weeknight dinner idea - this healthy meal comes together in as little as 30 minutes!
- 4 medium beets
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 150 g feta cheese, cubed or crumbled
- 1 cup arugula leaves, roughly chopped
- 2.5 cups cooked orzo pasta, cook according to package instructions-use a little less than 1 cup raw orzo
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
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Preheat the oven to 400 F/ 200 C/ gas mark 6. Peel the beetroot, cut in half and slice thinly, then toss into a large baking tray. The slices can overlap each other. Crumble the feta over the beetroot. Combine the garlic with 4 tablespoons of the oil and drizzle over the whole thing. Bake for 30 minutes.
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In the meantime boil the pasta, drain and combine with the arugula and the remaining oil. Season to taste. Combine with the beetroot, drizzle with a little more oil if you like and enjoy!
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Serve hot or cold, as a main or side dish.
You will save time if you boil the orzo while the beetroot is in the oven.
Pin Baked Beetroot and Feta Pasta Salad
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RECIPE LINK PARTIES
I am bringing this easy beetroot and feta pasta salad recipe to Meat Free Mondays hosted by Tinned Tomatoes, Pasta Please hosted by Thinly Spread and Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by Searching for Spice.
After watching a couple eye-opening documentaries the past couple of days I’ve decided to start feeding my family pretty much vegetarian or vegan meals. I came across this recipe today and knew I had to try it. My husband, my two girls and I all liked/loved it! Seriously, I was shocked! There were only a couple tweaks I made – I did a 1/3 arugula, 2/3 spring mix blend and I added a bit of balsamic to mine on my plate. Soo good! This will definitely be added to our regular menu. Thank you for sharing!
PS. Everyone commented on how beautiful this was. I wish I would have taken a picture. Next time!
Thank you Catie! So glad you liked it and made it your own. I am not a vegetarian but I don’t eat much meat and find vegetarian/vegan dishes more appealing in general, that’s why I blog about them so much. Congratulations on embracing vegetarian/ vegan diet!
I’m totally addicted to beetroot at the moment and it pairs so well with feta, this is a perfect dish for Pasta Please, thank you!
Thank you Chris, I share your addiction to beetroot:)
I think you made this recipe especially for me. I love beetroot, pickled and plain. I am drooling looking at this. Stumbled, yummed, pinned and tweeted your recipe.
Thank you so much! Great to know that other people are crazy about beetroot too:)
I will definitely be pinning this recipe! We have some beetroot growing in the garden at the moment. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Thanks! Always happy to share with cookblogshare:)
Wow that looks utterly delicious, I’ve never baked beetroot before, will now x
Thanks again! This one is really easy to make too!
This sounds like a delicious salad – I’m loving beetroot this year and my youngest child loves it too (a child who loves veg – hurrah!) so I’m on the lookout for new things to try #CookBlogShare
Thanks Mandy, you are very lucky to have a child who likes beetroot!
This is lovely. Just picked a load of beetroot so thank you for the inspiration
You are welcome, please see my quinoa salad with beetroot and beetroot polenta cakes for more inspiration! Thanks:)
Yum – this looks great! I love the flavour of roasted beetroot and the pairing with feta, well that’s just a match made in heaven! I must confess though to often leaving the other half of the feta (for there always does seem to be half leftover) in the fridge a wee bit too long…and still eating it! Well…I don’t like to see good food go to waste and I kind of like that old feta taste…maybe that’s just me! Not sure of it’s bad for me or not, but I haven’t given myself food poisoning …yet! Eb x
Maybe it’s ok to eat old feta then, except I don’t like it… I froze my leftover feta this time, I wonder if it’ll taste different after defrosting. Hope it doesn’t. 🙂
My husband would love this, he loves beetroot. I shall have to try it.
If you do make it I’d love to know if he likes it:)
It looks delicious! I’m loving all your beetroot recipes at the moment.
Thanks Corina! I hope I am not becoming too boring with all these beetroot recipes, I’ll wait with the next one for a couple of weeks at least!
Not at all boring! I need beeteroot inspiration as I tend to buy beetroot but then not actually use it for a while – I think it’s because it stains and I’m worried about the kids smearing it all over the white chairs and walls! I just need to relax a little bit around it! Thank you for linking up with #CookOnceEatTwice as well!
My kids are past the smearing on the walls stage thankfully:) I use rubber gloves for peeling the beetroot though. It was your earlier comment that reminded me of linking up with cook once eat twice, so thanks:)
Absolutely loving the vibrant colors and look of this dish. Paired up with orzo, this makes a healthy and delicious meal! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words, always glad to find another beetroot fan!