Sweet and crunchy root vegetables roasted to their perfect sweetness, tossed with fluffy quinoa and a zingy dressing to bind it all together! This Roasted Beetroot and Carrot Quinoa Salad with Spiced Yogurt Dressing is a delicious, light and colorful meal. The roasted veggies with the spiced yogurt are wonderful on its own. But, when you add quinoa to that, it becomes a filling meal.
As much as I love beetroot, I don’t like peeling or chopping the root. It gets messy with red colored spattering on my clothes. Roasting is my favorite way to enjoy beetroot, unless of course, I am baking a cake with it. Carrots, on the other hand, always taste so good when roasted. These two root vegetables pair together effortlessly and make a great salad just on their own.
Before I get into the details of the recipe, I would like to mention the Wolf Gourmet® Elite Countertop Oven with Convection. I have been using this oven for a while now and I absolutely love it. It has several cooking modes, from roasting an entire chicken to toasting a couple of bread slices. The oven cooks quickly and evenly, thanks to five heating elements, intuitive controls and advanced electronics.
I have been using it almost every other day for quick roasting or baking. The non-stick interior makes wiping away dips and splatters super easy. The entire oven rack system is removable and a dishwasher-safe crumb tray slides out for easy access. How cool is that!
How to Roast Beetroot and Carrot
Most of the work for this Roasted Beetroot and Carrot Salad is done by the oven. You can roast the carrots and the beets together or separately. Here is how I did it:
- I wrapped the whole beetroot, without peeling or chopping, in an aluminum foil, drizzled oil and sealed it close. Then, I roast it at 400F for 40 minutes. This made the beetroot soft and tender.
- Then, I sliced the beets into wedges and roasted it again with the sliced carrots along with cumin and fennel at 400F for 20 minutes. The spices added an amazing balance to the sweet roasted veggies.
How to make Quinoa
The Roasted Beetroot and Carrot Salad is amazing on it's own with the spiced yogurt dressing. But with quinoa it turns from a side salad to a full meal. To make the quinoa extra flavorful, I prepared it in chicken broth. You can surely use water or vegetable broth.
Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve multiple times and then, transfer to a saucepan. Pour the stock or the water to the pan and bring it to a boil at high heat. (If you are using stock that has salt, you don’t need to add any. Otherwise, add ½ teaspoon salt). Once it comes to a boil, bring the heat to medium and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the stock/water is absorbed. Switch off the heat and set the pan aside covered for 5 minutes. Then, fluff it with a fork.
The delicious Spiced Yogurt Dressing for Beetroot and Carrot Salad
It’s a super simple salad dressing with yogurt, cumin powder, fresh cilantro, salt and extra virgin olive oil. I love the creaminess of the dressing and it can quite easily be used as a dip too. It's adds a refreshing taste to the warm roasted vegetables and the fluffy quinoa.
What else goes in the salad?
This roasted veggie salad is a minimalistic salad but you can surely add your choice of veggies or greens if you like.
I added few cherry tomatoes, grapes (because I love the sweetness it adds), walnut for the crunchy bite and pan-fried halloumi cheese.
Halloumi cheese is totally optional. I only added it because I had some. I served the salad a bit warm so that the pan-fried halloumi cheese paired nicely. If you are serving the salad room temperature or packing it for lunch/picnic, definitely leave out the cheese. Halloumi cheese gets rubbery when it’s cold.
Cumin and Fennel seeds works amazing with roasted vegetables by adding a hint of earthy flavor that blends to the sweetness of the roots. The Spiced Yogurt Dressing is refreshing and adds a lovely touch of sourness to the salad. This Roasted Beetroot Carrot Quinoa Salad with Spiced Yogurt Dressing is not only easy to make and filling, but it also adds a vibrant color to your menu.
Here are few more interesting salads to try!
Fruits Cold Cut Panzanella Salad
Grilled Watermelon Shishito Peppers Salad
Roasted Beetroot Carrot Quinoa Salad with Spiced Yogurt Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 beetroots (I saved some beetroot leaves to add in the salad)
- 5 carrots
- 3 teaspoons oil
- ½ cup quinoa
- 1 cup chicken/veg broth (you can use water too)
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 12 grapes
- ¼ cup walnut
- 1 teaspoon coarsely ground cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon coarsely ground fennel seeds
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Few slices of halloumi cheese
for the dressing
- ½ cup thick plain yogurt
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup (finely chopped cilantro leaves)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Massage the beetroots with 1 teaspoon oil and wrap them in an aluminum foil. Place in the middle rack and roast for 40 minutes. Once done and cooled enough to handle, open the foil carefully as the hot steam will come out. Trim the edges of the beetroot and slice into wedges.
- Trim the edges of the carrot and peel them. If the carrots are small, slice them in half. If the carrots are big, cut into multiple long strips. Layer the carrots and the beetroots in a baking sheet. Drizzle 2 teaspoon oil on it and sprinkle the spices along with the salt.
- Preheat oven to 400F and roast for 25 minutes.
- In the meantime, cook the quinoa. Rinse the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve multiple times and then, transfer to a saucepan. Pour the stock or the water to the pan and bring it to a boil at high heat. (If you are using stock that has salt, you don’t need to add any. Otherwise, add ½ teaspoon salt). Once it comes to a boil, bring the heat to medium and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the stock/water is absorbed. Switch off the heat and set the pan aside covered for 5 minutes. Then, fluff it with a fork.
- For the dressing, just put the yogurt, oil, cilantro, salt and cumin powder and whisk it.
- Once the root vegetables are roasted, take it off and keep it ready to be served
- Just before serving the salad, pan fry the halloumi cheese on a hot pan for 2 minutes on each side.
- Layer the quinoa, roasted beets and carrots along with halved cherry tomatoes and grapes. Layer the pan-fried halloumi cheese, drizzle the dressing on top and scatter few walnuts.
- Serve!
Nutrition
