Beet Vinaigrette

You all know by now that I love vinaigrettes, and I always make them with different ingredients. To me, it’s really fun to mix and match seasonal ingredients and flavors in pairing a salad with a vinaigrette.

Whenever I purchase canned beets, which happens when I run out of my own pickled beets, I always save the beet juice. That’s just a rule. I typically pour it, strained if necessary, into a little pot and reduce it to a syrup-like consistency. Then, it can be added to any basic vinaigrette for that beautiful beet color and earthy flavor.

But today I simply added an equal amount of white wine (red or champagne would have worked as well) to the beet juice and reduced the liquid to a syrup.

Then I poured it into a jar.

I added about 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup vinegar, in this case red wine vinegar, plus a little salt, and shook the jar. I prefer a more emulsified look of the vinaigrette because of the resulting red color.

Of course, you can get more involved with the vinaigrette and add garlic, cloves, mustard, and so forth, but I like the simplicity of the reduced beet juice in a simple vinaigrette such as this.

My salad was one of those use-what-you have salads which, besides lettuce, included sliced beets, mushrooms, carrots, sprouts, and toasted pumpkin seeds. I used a little bacon and some soft-boiled eggs for protein, as my avocados weren’t behaving properly. And I’d recently picked up a pomegranate, so I decided that the pomegranate seeds would be wonderful with the beet-based vinaigrette.

And it was delicious. I encourage you to save every little bit of everything and use it in a vinaigrette! It always works!

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This beet vinaigrette would be fabulous with all types of protein, including salmon, avocados, beef, duck and chicken. It pairs beautifully with walnuts, pecans, pine nuts and sunflower seeds.

By Published On: October 14th, 201427 Comments on Beet Vinaigrette

About the Author: Chef Mimi

As a self-taught home cook, with many years in the culinary profession, I am passionate about all things food-related. Especially eating!

27 Comments

  1. sallybr October 14, 2014 at 8:26 AM - Reply

    You are so creative with your salad dressings, I should follow your example. For some reason I am super lazy and resort to bottled dressing more often than I care to admit…. (let’s keep it a secret… ;-)

    • chef mimi October 14, 2014 at 2:59 PM - Reply

      I’m sure there are better ones out there than Good Seasons Italian, but I just enjoy making them! Your secret is safe with me!

  2. Debra Clark October 14, 2014 at 10:04 AM - Reply

    Looks absolutely divine! It’s so easy and soooo much better to make your own!

  3. HostessAtHeart October 14, 2014 at 11:04 AM - Reply

    Beautiful salad! I love your vinaigrette. My hubby would throw me out if I served him anything beets though.

    • chef mimi October 14, 2014 at 2:58 PM - Reply

      Oh don’t I know. My husband doesn’t like beets. And he’s never tasted one.

  4. StefanGourmet October 14, 2014 at 12:12 PM - Reply

    Very creative, Mimi, and nice photography. My vinaigrettes are very boring, so this is inspiring!

    • chef mimi October 14, 2014 at 2:57 PM - Reply

      I’m sure that nothing you create is boring. I just like playing with flavors. And when I cooked for a family for so many years, I never wanted to make the same vinaigrette or salad twice, so that got me more creative in the kitchen!

  5. lapadia October 14, 2014 at 12:51 PM - Reply

    OMG, I LOVE this Mimi! The last couple years I’ve been making a beet vinaigrette with a bit of the water left over after cooking our garden beets, so delicious. And when I saw you add pomegranate seeds I needed to share that my favorite vinegar for beet vinaigrette is a pomegranate vinegar I get at Trader Joe’s, I love the flavor combination of beet and pomegranate…thinking you might like to try it sometime, well, if you haven’t already. Beautiful photos…magazine cover worthy!

    • chef mimi October 14, 2014 at 2:56 PM - Reply

      Thanks so much! I definitely need to go to a trader Joe’s. Pomegranate vinegar sounds fabulous!!

  6. Amanda October 14, 2014 at 1:07 PM - Reply

    I love these vinaigrette. There’s nothing better than seasonal fruit to flavor your salads. Brilliant.

  7. ladyredspecs October 14, 2014 at 4:23 PM - Reply

    Love beets in any way shape or form. This sounds delicious,mthanks Mimi

  8. dianeskitchentable October 14, 2014 at 7:29 PM - Reply

    That vinaigrette sounds wonderful but my jaw was dropping as I kept reading everything you put into that salad. marvelous!

    • chef mimi October 15, 2014 at 8:21 AM - Reply

      I just love playing with salads! And vinaigrettes!

  9. Tasty Eats Ronit Penso October 14, 2014 at 7:51 PM - Reply

    Such a clever idea. Wonderful looking salad!

  10. nowathome October 15, 2014 at 3:52 AM - Reply

    What a great idea!!!

  11. Francesca October 15, 2014 at 12:16 PM - Reply

    You seem to be able to come up with an endless number of salad dressing! I wish I was so creative, Mimi! This sounds wonderful!!! :-)

    • chef mimi October 16, 2014 at 1:27 PM - Reply

      It’s probably because I cooked for a family for so many years, and always wanted to make something even as simple as a vinaigrette different.

  12. sue marquis bishop October 15, 2014 at 2:57 PM - Reply

    I’m not sure why, but I have never been able to really enjoy the taste of beets… BUT, I am going to take your suggestions and try to make a beet vinaigrette. It looks good> Sue
    womenlivinglifeafter50.com

    • chef mimi October 16, 2014 at 1:27 PM - Reply

      You could do the same thing with pomegranate, cranberry, or cherry juice! At least you’ll enjoy the flavor better!

  13. chefjulianna October 16, 2014 at 9:18 PM - Reply

    Your post is timed perfectly!! I have some leftover beet juice in my fridge, just calling out to be made into a vinaigrette! Thanks for this! :D

  14. DellaCucinaPovera October 19, 2014 at 5:37 AM - Reply

    You made salad look terribly appetizing. That vinaigrette looks wonderful!

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