orzo with beets & greens

I love eating beets. Being Ukrainian, I don’t really think I have a choice in the matter, but up until recently, I was terrified of cooking with beets. The hard, burly vegetables that stain your hands red were kind of intimidating to me, and unfortunately that fear kept me from cooking with them for a long time.

Check out my recipe for beet hummus to learn about my full beet-cooking journey.

a most delicious side dish

This beet salad is like a fun and delicious twist on a pasta salad. Made with orzo, sautéed spinach, and caramelized red onion, this dish is bursting with flavor. Honestly, you can make this as a side dish or it can even feature as its own meal.

When making this dish, there are a couple ways you can handle the beets. You can either peel them raw and boil them or you can roast them in the oven. I absolutely hate cutting raw beets (it’s like cutting sweet potatoes or squash), so I prefer roasting them. You can simply wrap the beet(s) in foil with the skin still on and roast at 400 degrees. When the beets are finished roasting, you can then peel and chop them much easier now that they’re cooked. Roasting beets also gives them a sweeter, caramelized flavor that’s simply to die for.

a most delicious ingredient list

While the beets are the stars of this dish, there are a few additional ingredients that can sing just as loudly. Here’s what you’ll need:

Orzo This delicious rice-shaped pasta will serve as the base of the salad

Beets You’ll need a couple beets unless you happen to have one giant beet. Boil if you must, but again, I recommend roasting

Spinach Don’t skimp on the spinach. It’ll shrink by a lot once wilted

Red onion Caramelizing red onion slices adds a little extra sweetness to the dish

Garlic Amplify the flavor with freshly crushed garlic

Extra-virgin olive oil All the dressing you’ll need for this salad

Feta This cheese adds a little tanginess to the dish

This salad is just as delicious hot as it is cold. Enjoy however you’d like!

⟶ the recipe

orzo with beets & greens

ingredients

1 cup orzo

2 medium or 3 small beets

3 cups spinach leaves

½ red onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

Salt and pepper

Prep time

1 hour

Cook time

30 minutes

Total time

1 hour 30 minutes

4 servings

instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Scrub beets clean and wrap loosely in foil. Place beets on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for about one hour or until they’re soft and you can easily stick a fork into the center of each. Once roasted, set beets aside to cool.

Meanwhile, heat a bit of olive oil on medium heat in a large skillet, and add onions and garlic. Caramelize the onions by cooking and stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. Resist the urge to turn up the heat, and if the onions begin sizzling, turn the heat down slightly and scrape up any browned bits that have stuck to the pan.

While onions are cooking, bring a medium pot with salted water to a boil. Add the orzo and cook until al dente, 5 to 7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Once beets are cool enough to handle, peel them and dice them into small chunks. Add spinach to the skillet with onions and garlic, and cover, stirring occasionally. Once spinach has wilted (about 5 minutes), remove skillet from heat. Stir together orzo, beets, onions, and greens in a large bowl. Add in olive oil, feta, and a dash each of salt and pepper. Serve either hot or cold.

⟶ recipe notes

This recipe was adapted from Food 52. The original recipe calls for cooking the beets in a pot on the stove, which, granted, is much quicker than roasting. I personally love the flavor of roasted beets, and I find them wayyy easier to cut into once cooked, plus it’s easy for me to throw a few beets in the oven during the day. If you’re able to do that, I recommend roasting, but if you’re in a time pinch go with the stoptop method

⟶ modifications

If you pick up beets with the greens still attached, you can separate those and wilt them instead of (or along with) the spinach. No need to toss the lovely beet greens!

⟶ make it ahead

I almost always roast my beets ahead of time. They take a while to cool, so I’ll pop them in the night before or during the day, and I’ll have them peeled and ready to go by the time I’m making this dish. It cuts down on cook time by so much!