Prepare your grills, I've got a mighty list of awesome vegetarian grilling inspiration headed your way. The temperatures are heating up which means less time in the kitchen and more time on the patio (for which I am super excited.) Don't be fooled either, grilling season is not only for the meat-eaters!
Up first, this salad. I know, I'm on a complete quinoa kick but I've had a big batch of the cooked grain stashed in my refrigerator for a few days now. While any grain would work for the beet salad, I'm a sucker for the extra protein and complimentary earthy flavor quinoa has when paired with beets. And these beets? It was hard not to eat them straight from the grill. The char on the beets adds a bit of sweetness that makes me want to eat all the beets. I've played around with precooking the beets both in the oven and boiling. Normally I'd choose to roast the beets whole before grilling but boiling goes a bit quicker and you gain so much flavor from the grilling that you can't even tell they were boiled. This is a not-to-be-missed salad.
In addition to this salad, I partnered with Frontier Co-op to create three vegetarian and three vegan recipes for their seasonal grilling site. I always love working with their amazing ingredients and it's truly the herbs and spices that step the grilled vegetables up to the next level. You also might see a couple ingredients that you don't get often on this site (tofu! mushrooms!) along with some awesome gluten-free recipes from my friend Ashley (Edible Perspective) and seafood recipes from Brian (A thought for food). Pop over to Frontier's grilling site to see the full recipes or click on the image below to get see the recipe!
Grilled Beet, Quinoa, and Feta Salad (+ Summer Veg Grilling Inspirations)
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 2 1x
- Category: Dinner
Ingredients
- Salad
- 2 large red beets*
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2-3 handfuls loose leaf lettuce
- 1 cup cooked quinoa, cooled
- ¼ cup roasted almonds, whole or sliced
- 1 ounce feta
- Dressing**
- 2 whole scallions, minced
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar***
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Toast
- 2 slices sourdough bread
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
Instructions
- Light Grill to medium-low heat.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Scrub beets well and slice off the top and bottom then remove any wispy parts of the beet. Drop into the boiling water and cook for 12-15 minutes, just until the beet starts to be tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Let sit until cool enough to handle.
- Take the parboiled beet and slice into ¼" slices. Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Place beet slices on the grill and cook until charred on both sides, 6-8 minutes per side (depending on heat.) Remove and quarter each slice.
- Combine lettuce, quinoa, almonds, and feta in a large bowl. Add cooked beets and toss to combine.
- In a small food processor or blender, combine scallions, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Run until dressing has emulsified.
- Dress salad if desired or serve dressing on the side.
- In addition to the salad, to make the garlic toast, brush sliced bread with olive oil. Cut the end off the garlic clove and rub on the bread. Grill along side the beets but only for 30-60 seconds on each side (if grill is hot.) Serve salad with slices of toast or cut into cubes and use as croutons.
Notes
*Beets are one vegetable that if it looks healthy, I won't peel. However, if you want to peel the beets. Let cool after parboiling and peeling before cutting into slices.
**This makes a little extra dressing but I find the blender/food processor handles it a bit better. Store extra dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
***I love the light, refreshing taste champagne vinegar adds to vinaigrettes, however, if you can't find it, apple cider or white balsamic works as well.
|Disclaimer: This post is part of my freelance recipe + photography work with Frontier. All thoughts and opinions are my own.|
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
I crave summer grilling season! This salad is FAB!
Katie @ Whole Nourishment says
One of my favorite simple dishes is roasted beets with quinoa, so I love the looks of this recipe. Grilling beets is such a good idea!
Tina | Mademoiselle Gourmande says
This salad looks delicious! I never had a thing beets, but I tried a dish with beets made by a friends and was impressed. Maybe now is the time to really get into the whole beet thing... 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing, Erin.
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
That all looks delicious. I am on a huge beet kick at the moment and I have some growing in my garden. Can't wait for when they are ready.
Rosie @The Porridge Pot says
This sounds so good! I love the idea of barbecuing the beets - I love beetroot with smoked paprika so I guess this is the logical step forward. Bring on the barbie!
Kathryn says
I'm pretty desperate to crack the grill out and get my summer on. Thank you for all the delicious inspiration!
Brenda says
Totally not related to food, I love your sandals! I totally want some! 🙂
Kaylee @ Lemons and Basil says
This salad looks amazing, love beets and quinoa in salads! I would have never thought to boil the beets first, but that makes so much sense! Thanks for the great tip!!
Lindsey (dolly and oatmeal) says
i'm so stoked to grill up some veg this weekend, and now even more excited to see that grilling beets is actually possible! i totally would have threw them in some foil and let them cook like that, but i love how you threw them on the grill to get them all the charred. thanks for the inspo, erin!
Katie @ Produce on Parade says
Grilled beets, yes please!! 🙂
Eileen says
Yes, please! Grain salads are one of my favorite things, especially on hot days. And BEETS. Such an underrated vegetable, and so good. Yay!
dishing up the dirt says
We finally dusted off our grill and I feel alive again! These photos are amazing and I'm giddy with all the new veggie grilling ideas!
Rebecca says
Awesome salad! We absolutely loved it! Thanks for a great recipe.
★★★★★