Crunchy, bright and sweet, the healthy Raw Beet Salad with Apples and Carrots is a delicious way to eat beets! Just 5 ingredients not counting salt.
Raw Beet Salad with Apples and Carrots
This shredded raw beet salad is one of those recipes that sounds too simple to be good, yet it adds up to something totally delicious. In fact, when I was prepping it for myself, my daughter tried it and LOVED it. Raw beets are less sweet and earthy than they are when boiled or roasted. Eating them raw with sweet apples and carrots tossed with lemon juice is a fantastic, healthy side dish. The perfect beet recipe for anyone who doesn’t care for their earthy, rooty flavor. It’s dairy-free, vegan and loaded with nutrients.
Can beets be eaten raw in salad?
The most common way to prepare beets is probably roasting them, but if you’ve never tried them raw, you’re missing out! Beets can be eaten raw in a salad if they are peeled and then shredded or grated. You can pulse them in a food processor, use a mandolin or grate them by hand. Warning – it’s messy, so do it near the sink. Golden beets will make less of a mess
Raw Beet Salad Ingredients
- Beets: Peel and shred one cup of beets.
- Carrots: Peel and shred one cup of carrots.
- Apple: Cut one red apple, like Honeycrisp or Pink Lady, into matchsticks.
- Dressing: Lemon juice, olive oil, salt
How to Make Raw Beet Salad
I buy pre-shredded carrots and julienne the beets and apple with my mandolin fitted with a 1/8 inch julienne blade. If you dont have a mandolin you can shred it with a box grater or use a food processor. Once your ingredients are prepped, throw everything in a bowl and mix.
Storage
This raw beet and carrot salad will last up to 4-5 days in the refrigerator. It’s great as leftovers for quick lunches.
Variations:
- Beets: Use red and yellow beets for more color
- Veggies: Stir in shredded jicama.
- Citrus: Add orange with the lemon.
- Spices: Mix in some freshly grated ginger.
- Protein: Add some chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds.
- Herbs: Sprinkle on fresh herbs, such as mint, dill, parsley, or tarragon.
- Cheese: If you want to add cheese, top it with goat cheese
Benefits of eating raw beets
Beets are loaded with vitamins and minerals. They’re also a good source of several key nutrients, including folate, manganese, and copper. They can support the health of your brain, heart, and digestive system, be a great addition to a balanced diet, help alleviate inflammation, and some studies even show they may slow the growth of cancer cells.
More Salad Recipes You’ll Love:
- Baby Greens with Goat Cheese, Beets, and Candied Pecans
- Broccoli Salad
- Spiralized Apple Cabbage Slaw
- Sea Scallops, Arugula, and Beet Salad
- Green Bean Salad
More Raw Salad and Slaw Recipes
Your comments are helpful! If you’ve tried this healthy Raw Beet Salad recipe or any other on Skinnytaste, don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below. And if you took a photo of it, share it with me on Instagram so I can reshare it on my Stories!
Raw Beet Salad with Apples and Carrots
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup peeled and shredded beets, from 1 large or 2 small
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 large red apple, cored and cut into matchsticks
- 1 large lemon, juice of
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients together and toss in a bowl and refrigerate. Eat chilled.
I haven’t made it yet. How long can you keep the salad? Eat same day or over a few days?
easily 3 days
A good basic recipe to start with. Wish I had used a milder flavored oil like avacado oil, the olive oil flavor didn’t go well with the sweetness of the veggies in my opinion. Also added fresh grated ginger and walnuts to this.
Everything turns a brilliant red if using red beets…so good, especially with addition of about 1-2 teaspoons of super finely chopped ginger. Just different and delightful!
How much is the serving size? 3/4 cup? It doesn’t specify.
Great salad 👍🏻
Great crunch. Fresh and crispy. Tastes light
Great crunch. Tastes fresh. Excellent.
HIGHLY recommend adding shredded ginger. You can thank me later
YUM
Hiii!
Curious – would a Macintosh apple do??
I think Macs might be too soft for this recipe.
The first time I made it I brought it to a small gathering and it was a big hit. I will make it again.
loved this! spiralized the veggies and julienned the apples. served over arugula salad and some cod fish on the side. A HIT
It was a hit! Even my grandchildren loved it!
Perfect!
Easy, delicious, and healthy! I used fresh squeezed lime juice instead of lemon because that was what I had, and it was so yummy! Thanks for a keeper rrecipe that will go into the rotation!
This is so yummy… a variation of a few salads I already make! I chopped my beet and carrot in the mini chopper, so the texture was off, so I learned my lesson from that. I will make it as written next time! I didn’t add the olive oil – I like it with straight juice (from lemon). Orange is also an option – super tasty! Will be adding this to the rotation!
So I made this again last night, and did add the olive oil (so much better!!), used Meyer Lemons, and cut everything in julienne strips, then cut them in half again, so they were short. The last time I made this salad, the two textures made it harder to eat. Needed a spoon for the grated and a fork for the julienne. So, cutting them all julienne and then cutting them in half again, we could eat it all with a spoon. Eating it for lunch today!
Absolutely delicious- refreshing, simple, sweet and tangy! We love it!
Delicious and fresh, I added some seeds and nuts for extra crunch together with fresh chopped coriander which gave it a nice asian slant.
Made it for Easter 2023. It was such a hit I’m making again for Easter 2024.
So good!!
Me too! Easter last year and again for tomorrow! I
Love this recipe. Summer in Australia now, so on high rotation and each time I make it to share I’m asked for the recipe. The last couple of times, I’ve used a lemongrass and ginger infused olive oil. Wow!
Thanks for this one
Love this recipe. Summer in Australia now, so on high rotation and each time I make it to share I’m asked for the recipe. The last couple of times, I’ve used a lemongrass and ginger infused olive oil. Wow!
Thamks for this one
This is a new favourite! So delicious.
So delicious and refreshing. I used my food processor and it made this super easy – highly recommend!
I made this salad just the way it said. It was awesome. I use organic everything in it. Crisp, crunchy, fresh. Love the lemon/oil dressing. I did add a little salt. MMMM good. I later used goat cheese on top and that was it!! The salad is yummy all on its own. I actually make it once a week now. It last about 3 days for me. Never want it to end
So simple, soooo delicious, so flavorful and incredibly refreshing during a heat-wave! Used high-quality olive oil. Suggest trying without the salt first, the lemon gives it enough zip. This will become a regular for me. Didn’t feel like making matchsticks so used the mandolin for all ingredients but varied the setting.
Oh my dear goodness. This is phenomenal! I subbed half of the olive oil for tahini. I think I could eat this every day for the rest of my life. Most salads like this have all kinds of sugar. This is terrific. Thank you so much!
Thanks Sue!
Made this for dinner and was amazed. I love canned and cooked beets but had somehow never really tried raw. This is a keeper and it’s going into the regular rotation. Crisp, fresh, and delicious; we fought over the leftovers.
I was wondering if we could use canned beets also. I plan to try it with canned.
Allergic to beets. Any ideas what to sub in?
Taste very good, added crushed almonds
It was a super hit with my friends and family. I added crushed ginger for extra zing.
Fabulous! I added Mariani dried cherries and goat cheese for serving. I ended up making more servings because I had 3 golden beets I needed to use up; so I’ll have leftovers for lunches this week! Yummm!
I loved this salad. Crisp, fresh, nutritious. I ate the whole thing in 2 days. I am making it again 2 days later. I added some goat cheese, but not necessary was delish the way it was.
I love this salad. I make it weekly or every time I run out. That is usually abut 3-4 days bc I make extra. I serve it with goat cheese. It is so fresh, crisp and tasty. I chop by apples. Easier to eat for me.
Did not expect to love this so much! Had all the ingredients on hand, so gave it a go. YUM!!! Actually used roasted beets, as that is what I had. Would be interested to try with raw beets. Can’t say I have ever had raw beets! I buy them roasted at Costco to put in salads. I added mint, pickled raisins & goat cheese. I can’t wait to have again for lunch today. So good!
We LOVE beets at our house. What lean protein would you pair this with? Do you have a specific recipe in mind on this website?
Delish!!! This will definitely be my new favorite salad! So easy to make & so good for you! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
GREAT!
Does this make enough for 4 people as a side dish or should I increase it? Thanks!
It does as a side dish.
Delicious recipe! And leftovers taste even better. I added watercress on top of the salad to add some color and the mix was out of this world plus it looked beautiful.
I do not like beets. But, I really liked this salad!!! I used my salad shooter for the apples, carrots and beets. I added two of the options: parsley and feta. It was amazing. Thank you Skinnytaste!. Ken loves beets, but mostly pickled beets. But he like it too. He said he’d add raisins. And I will add walnuts tomorrow. Finally, something healthy that I like and it’s so good for me. I think I’ll add it to our Christmas meal because it’s so pretty!!!
Yum. I made this and added chopped Kale, some pumpkin seeds, some crispy fried turkey bacon bits. This is a keeper . I’ll be making this all the time . I love ……..<3
Any suggestions to use in place of citrus products. Am allergic to citrus, even citric acid as get hives.
Use vinegar.
If I can do any type of oil right now any suggestions on a substitute?
Can canned beets be used?
IMO, no. Crisp, raw beets are needed for this. It would not be the same with canned or cooked.
This is excellent! I tripled it for a pot luck, and I know every bit will be gone.
It is so nice to make something healthy people love!
I wasn’t expecting much but this is delicious. I ended up adding some
Dungeness crab to the top for protein at lunch but the rest I’m just going to serve as a side salad with dinner. I bet some toasted walnuts would be great on this too.
Wonderful recipe. I also added shredded raw onion to the bowl & topped the salad with feta cheese. Also, a very small amount of honey to the dressing. Wow this is an awesome salad. (I shred beets & slice onion thin to fry them like hash browns & top with feta & walnuts all dressed with a vinaigrette. We love this but this raw beet salad is stellar!) Thank you!
I’ve never used a mandolin to cut up apples before. Do you core the apple first?
I think it’s easier and safer for the fingers if you hold it on either end of the core; shred one side, rotate 90-degrees, shred the next side, etc.
I just made this and it is so refreshing and delicious! Love it!
Wow – so yummy and fresh in the middle of winter! I love making something so fresh and bright from my winter storage crops!
Do you think you can add nuts of any kind for protein? Maybe pecans or walnuts?
yes see the post its mentioned above
YUM!
So delicious, simple and refreshing. Nothing better than a crunchy salad and I love beets, so it was an easy sell for me. Thanks!
Excellent recipe delicious thank you.
We love beets, can’t wait to try!
So you mean buy raw beets like the ones with the greens on them? It’s winter in New Jersey & I don’t believe I’ve seen them in the stores in a very long time….& there are certainly no farmers markets open. Would this work with jarred whole beets? It sounds delicious, but the raw part I’m not so sure about. Love the thought of the 3 ingredients together though. Thank you Gina for all of your great recipes that I live on!! Absolutely love the cheese & spinach meatloaf!!❤️
Raw beets, with are without the stem. Not jarred here. I buy them in wild by nature.
I love and south Jersey and we have a Verchios Produce Market that always has beets.
Silly question but are the beets raw? I’ve never heard of eating raw beets before.
yes, amazing
What does this mean “1 large lemon juice of” in the ingredients list?
I assuming juice of one large lemon
correct
Squeeze the juice from one large lemon.