Roasted Beet and Chickpea Salad

This beet and chickpea salad is a refreshing, satisfying dish consisting of roasted beets, nutty chickpeas and a handful of vegetables served with a zesty sweet chili dressing. Easy to make, perfect for a summer bbq.   

This beet and chickpea salad shows just how versatile and adaptable beets are. Despite their strong flavour with earthy undertones, they work equally well with both savoury as well as sweet recipes (such as beet brownies). Beets, which are a quintessential Eastern European vegetable (and a staple in traditional Polish dishes, popular in soups and salads), can also be used with other flavour profiles.

In this recipe I paired garlicky roasted beets with mild tasting, nutty chickpeas, added a few more vegetables and served these with a 4-ingredient sweet lime and chili dressing. It's satisfying, thanks to the chickpeas, but also light and refreshing, thanks to the cucumber, cilantro as well as the dressing.

This roasted beet chickpea salad delivers great flavour yet requires surprisingly little effort. The preparation method I used to roast the beets may seem a little unusual but produces fantastic results and is quick and easy (see details below). You can also prepare the beets the night before, which I highly recommend (see my tips at the bottom of the post).

Beet chickpea salad ingredients and substitutions

• Beets: I do not recommend using ready-cooked beets instead of raw. It may seem like a handy shortcut, but in my experience ready-cooked beets tend to be overcooked and lack flavour.
• Chickpeas.
• Onion: I used red, but white onion is a good alternative.
• Baby spinach.
• Cucumber: I used seasonal baby cucumbers, but you can use about ½ regular English cucumber (cubed), instead.
• Pepper: I used red pointed pepper for its delicious, sweet flavour, but you can use red bell pepper, instead, if preferred.
• Cilantro.
• Garlic powder: or garlic granules.
• Sweet chili sauce.
• White wine vinegar: you can use rice or sherry vinegar, instead.
• Lime juice and zest.
• Oil: I recommend a mild tasting oil, such as rice bran or rapeseed oil.
• Onion seeds.
• Red pepper flakes.

How to prepare the beets

Beets can be prepared in a variety of ways, one of which is roasting. For this vegan chickpea and beet salad I like to peel then cut the beets into bite-sized pieces and season before roasting rather than roast whole (whole roasted beets are great to use in sauces). Beets prepared this way have lots of depth of flavour and, once cooled completely, can be simply stirred into the salad.

See also my beet pasta salad, where I've used the same method.

Step-by-step recipe instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/180 fan/gas mark 6. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (omit if using a non-stick baking sheet) and set aside.

2. Prepare beets: Peel, halve then quarter each beet and cut into approx. 1 cm/0.5'' wedges. Cut the wedges in half, place in a large mixing bowl and pat dry with a paper towel. Season lightly with salt and pepper, add the garlic powder, 1 tablespoon of oil and stir until thoroughly coated.

TIP: If your beets are quite small you don't need to halve the wedges.

3. Roast beets: Spread the beet pieces over the baking sheet and roast in the centre of the oven for 35-40 minutes, until tender. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

4. Make dressing: In the meantime, prepare the dressing. Place the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Set aside.

5. Assemble: To a large mixing bowl add the beets, chickpeas, cucumber, spinach, pepper, onion, cilantro, onion seeds and lime zest. Pour over the dressing and stir thoroughly. Season to taste with salt, stir again then sprinkle about a teaspoon of red pepper flakes over the top (or stir into the salad along with the salt) and serve.

Serving suggestions

This zesty chickpea beet salad makes a delicious, light summer meal, perfect to serve on its own, accompanied by lime wedges, with toasted pitas, naan bread or roti. For a more substantial meal serve with bulgur wheat, rice, grilled chicken or salmon.

What to make ahead

• Roast beets: you can roast the beets, cool then cover and refrigerate overnight and assemble the salad the following day.
• Prepare chickpeas: while this is a simple step draining the chickpeas the night before will save you time assembling the recipe the next day. Drain and leave the chickpeas in a colander for several minutes then pat dry, place in a bowl and refrigerate overnight.
• Prepare dressing: combine all the dressing ingredients, place in a jar and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Shake before using.

Top tips

• Remove excess moisture from the beets by patting dry before roasting.
• Drain the chickpeas thoroughly and pat dry before adding into the salad.
• To save time prepare the salad ingredients and dressing sauce while the beets are in the oven.
• This roasted beet salad with chickpeas is best served immediately.
• Not suitable for freezing.
• I recommend wearing rubber gloves when handling the beets.

More beet salad recipes to try next

• Quinoa and Roasted Beet Salad
• Pickled Baby Beet Salad
• Polish-Style Buckwheat Salad with Beets
• Roasted Beet Carpaccio
• Zesty Beet Salsa
• Polish Cold Beet Salad

See also these other easy, delicious salad recipes!

Recipe

Keep in touch!

If you make this roasted beet and chickpea salad recipe I'd love to know how it turned out for you. Let me know in the comments below, thanks:)

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