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.
For this simple beetroot feta salad with pasta I roasted the beets along with the feta for extra flavour. This method produces fantastic results and is incredibly easy. Just chop the beetroot, crumble the feta, drizzle with a little oil and bake!
Why you will love this recipe
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 comforting pasta.
If you love roasted beets try roasted beetroot zoodle salad with tahini.
Feta cheese is an important ingredient in this recipe as it complements the sweetness of the beetroot. Baked feta is also quite mellow and delicious, not as sharp as raw so it doesn't overpower the dish. The only drawback of using feta is that once opened it spoils quickly. There is, however, a simple solution to this. Freeze it!
If you are a fan of feta you may also like easy Greek shrimp saganaki as well as Greek style buckwheat salad. Check out also vegetarian roasted fennel with vegetables and feta.
How to make beetroot and feta salad with pasta
1. Start by preheating the oven to 200 C. Peel and thinly slice the beets and spread over a large baking sheet. Crumble over the feta, combine the garlic with the oil and drizzle over the whole thing and bake for 30 minutes.
2. In the meantime boil the pasta al dente according to packet instructions. When the beets and feta are ready combine the pasta with some freshly chopped arugula, add the beets and feta, season to taste, drizzle with oil and enjoy!
What pasta to use in beetroot pasta salad
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.
This is a personal preference and if you like large pasta shapes use that instead!
I also used orzo in pesto chicken pasta bake as well as caprese orzo salad with pesto.
Expert tips and FAQs
- Slice the beets quite thinly, to about 5mm of thickness (they will roast faster!) 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).
- I recommend orzo pasta or another small pasta variety, such as soup pasta.
- Serve this pasta salad warm or 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 (for up to 2 days) until you are ready to make the recipe.
- Not suitable for freezing.
You might also like
- Quinoa Beets Salad with Orange and Capers
- Beetroot Salsa with Pomegranate
- Roasted Cauliflower Tabbouleh Salad with Pomegranate
- Spiralized Beetroot Salad with Zucchini, Apple & Maple Vinaigrette
See also this collection of over 12 healthy vegetarian pasta meals.
You might also like this collection of over 15 easy vegan salads.
Keep in touch!
How has your beetroot and feta salad turned out for you? Let me know in the comments below, thanks!
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Beetroot and Feta Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 4 medium beets
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 150 g feta cheese cubed or crumbled
- 1 cup arugula leaves roughly chopped
- 2½ cups cooked orzo pasta cook according to package instructions-use a little less than 1 cup raw orzo
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- 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.
- 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!
- Serve hot or cold, as a main, salad or side dish.
Notes
- Slice the beets quite thinly, to about 5mm of thickness (they will roast faster!) 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).
- I recommend orzo pasta or another small pasta variety, such as soup pasta.
- Serve this pasta salad warm or 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 (for up to 2 days) until you are ready to make the recipe.
- Not suitable for freezing.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is automatically generated and should be considered as an estimate.
Hi, I am Monika, welcome to Everyday Healthy Recipes! This blog is all about creatively simple recipes with a healthy twist, old classics with a modern take, and an occasional Polish dish thrown into the mix - all easy to make, healthy and delicious, perfect for everyday cooking.
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!