Sweet, roasted veggies like carrot and beetroot are some of my favourite things, and when combined in a salad with earthy lentils and a lemon honey dressing, become an incredible dinner. This carrot, watercress and beetroot salad is fabulous, filling and full of good things!
Roasting vegetables is a fantastic, hands off way of supercharging the flavour. It caramelises the outside, giving a delicious ‘chew’. All you need to do is chop and put the vegetables in a dish, top with oil and seasoning, and leave them to do their own thing.
Combine those roasted vegetables with zingy salad leaves like watercress and you get a brilliant contrast. Balanced with a honey lemon dressing and some creamy goats cheese, this is flavour heaven.
Not only is it delicious, but this recipe is packed full of vitamins and nutrients. Carrot and beetroot both contain potassium – which is good for blood pressure, and beetroot also contains folate, good for your circulation. This is one of those great meals to have in your rotation that you know will be doing you good.
The Ingredients
- Carrots – I used baby carrots here because they’re very easy to prepare. You could use ordinary carrots – just peel and cut them into batons.
- Raw beetroot – don’t use prepared beetroot, get a bunch of raw. You don’t need to peel them (thank goodness, that’s a messy task). Just top and tail and chop into chunks.
- Olive oil – use the best one you can. My rule is that if olive oil is going in a salad dressing, it needs to be a decent one.
- Runny honey – any type of runny honey will do. You could even use hot honey for an incredible kick!
- Lemon juice – use fresh or bottled.
- Lentils – I used puy lentils, but I haven’t specified a type in the recipe because you could also use green, brown or beluga. Use whichever ones you prefer. I get the ones that are ready to heat in a pouch. You could also use dried and precook them yourself, or if you have any leftover lentils from another meal, use those.
- Watercress – I like using watercress in this recipe because it adds just a hint of spice. You could also use rocket.
- Goats cheese – you want a crumbly goats cheese for this recipe rather than a soft one. To make this dish vegan, simply skip the cheese.
Making the Salad
Although this carrot, watercress and beetroot salad takes an hour to make, it is very hands off. Here are my tips:
- If you have to nip out (pick the kids up from football, to the shops, walk the dog) and you have a reliable oven with the timer, put the veg in the oven and go. Set the oven so it goes off after 45 minutes and you can prepare the rest of the recipe when you get home. You can have the carrot and beetroot cold if needed.
- When you’ve made the recipe a couple of times, get creative with the dressing. I mentioned hot honey above – you could also use a teaspoon of French mustard, or a drizzle of pickle juice, or some good cider vinegar. It’s a fun one to play with. Add more honey if it gets too tart.
- You could also adjust the vegetables you use. Try sweet potato or parsnips in place of the carrots.
Carrot, Watercress and Beetroot Salad
Ingredients
- 500 g baby carrots
- 6 raw beetroot
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 1 tbsp runny honey
- 2 tbsps lemon juice
- 250 g ready to eat lentils
- 100 g watercress
- 75 g goats cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.
- Trim the ends of the carrots and place in a large baking dish. Cut the top and tail off each beetroot and slice them into wedges (no need to peel). Add these to the dish along with half of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, then bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until soft.
- To make the dressing, mix the remaining olive oil with the honey and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
- Towards the end of the cooking time, heat your lentils – either on the hob or in the microwave. Place in a large bowl and mix with the watercress and cooked carrots and beetroot.
- To serve, share out the salad between bowls and top with a few blobs of goats cheese and a drizzle of dressing. Enjoy!
More delicious salad recipes to try:
- Chicken Nacho Salad
- Warm Roasted Chickpea Salad
- Quinoa and Lentil Salad
- Steak and Green Bean Salad
- Warm Beef and Lentil Salad
- Sweetcorn and Black Bean Salad
- Pomegranate, Feta and Chickpea Salad
- Avocado, Bacon and Dolcelatte Salad
- Quinoa, Feta and Roasted Pepper Salad
- Asparagus and Green Bean Caesar Salad
Stunning! Love a good beetroot salad and the flavors were spot on with this one!
I made this salad with dinner last night and it was incredible! The perfect flavors and so simple!
Such a delicious combination of ingredients here! Love the beets paired with so many veggies and creamy cheese. YUM!
This salad looks so fancy plated. It’s great for a dinner party to impress your guest. Thanks!
This is a lovely salad, fresh but earthy and easy to make. Will be making this on repeat!
Don’t know what I love more…beetroot or a good salad.
Yum
https://theeighthours.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/garlic-oil/
Fabulous! Pretty and healthy! I love lentils in salads!
Oh good lord!!! That looks so fantastic!!
I wanna be your house guest!
You’re welcome any time 😉
This looks really lovely. Beetroot and goat’s cheese is such a lovely combination.
This looks fantastic!!
A lovely post to ‘shake of winter and get us into the mood for spring! ‘I’m going to make this at the weekend, but as I don’t like goats cheese, will try it with sheep’s cheese (fromage de brebis) Plus I am in the right place for ‘ready to eat lentils’ we have aisles full of them here and they are a very popular thing for people to bring for lunch at work – much more common than eating a sandwich (I have a lentil dish in the pipeline)
Ooh yes it’d be lovely with sheep’s cheese! I hope you enjoy it and please do let me know if you like it 🙂
Your salad looks really good. I will definitely have to try it. Good luck with the bikini! 🙂
Thank you!
Wonderful salad!
Yum!! I love beets, carrots, and lentils. Although I have searched high and low across Texas and I have never been able to find canned lentils… I always keep some dried ones in the pantry though. Great post thanks for sharing 🙂
sounds lovely!
This looks amazing! Thanks for the recipe.
No problem, enjoy it 🙂
Yum! I love roasted beets with goat cheese. I’ve never heard of ready to eat lentils so I’ll be looking for them at the store. As soon as I’m off this fast, this could be my first meal!!!
Normal lentils are great, and so cheap, but when I’m in a hurry I always use ready to eat lentils. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
I can’t wait!!!!
Such pretty pictures! I love beets. This looks delicious!
Thank you! Me too, I could eat them every day (don’t know why I don’t!)