Greek Beetroot Salad (Patzarosalata)

Close up of a Greek beet salad made with yellow and purple beetroot.

Say hello to the beetroot salad I’ve been making on repeat since the spring, and which I’m pretty sure will never be knocked off of it’s pedestal of my favourite beetroot salad: this Mediterranean Greek Rainbow Beetroot Salad (Patzarosalata) made with Greek yogurt, date molasses, and plenty of fresh herbs!

Sure you can make it with just regular beetroot and save yourself the extra pan, but I think it’s such a striking dish to bring to the table when you’re entertaining I think unless you grow your own and only grow one variety, it is worth the extra effort to get beautiful golden as well as blushing purple nuggets of earthy goodness tossed in a tangy-date sweetened dressing, swirled with some Greek-style yogurt and drowned in fresh herbs.

Grey plate of Greek beetroot salad with yogurt and herbs.

Not only do I like this salad because it looks amazing and tastes even better, but it yields fantastic leftovers too. Perhaps with the exception of a tub (it is always recycled takeaway tubs with me) of my Hummus, Tomato & Sumac Salad for scooping with crackers before dinner, this beetroot salad is my favourite thing to have as a leftover to serve on the side of all of my summer meals in my fridge this year.

Grey bowl of Greek beetroot and yogurt salad with fresh herbs scattered on top.

I’ve adapted this salad from Marianna Leivaditaki’s brilliant book Aegean (ad), which I’ve already made so many dishes from in the past year. You’ll recognise this Greek Potato Gratin – and I can’t wait to make more dishes from it this summer. As far as what I’ve done to adapt this salad, honestly as well as cutting it down a bit (I love the leftovers, but I am the only one in the house who likes beetroot, and when I do serve it up to guests it is usually part of a much larger spread – actually last time alongside that potato gratin, this Greek salad and a grilled lamb chop recipe I’m still sitting on) I’ve made it a little easier, and made the yogurt a lot more flexible. But trust me, it is still bloody delicious.

About the yogurt: obviously as the original recipe comes from a Greek cookbook it calls for strained Greek yogurt, but the yogurt I think most of us (certainly I) keep in our fridges is a bit looser. So, here I’ve called for Greek-style which tends to be a bit looser than traditional Greek yogurt (I buy Yeo Valley brand) but you can use any thick, but not strained thick yogurt here – you’re after adding creaminess and tang without adding too much extra liquid.

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Grey plate of Greek beetroot salad with yogurt and herbs.

Greek-style Rainbow Beetroot Salad

  • Author: Rachel Phipps
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes (plus cooling time)
  • Yield: Serves 2-4 1x
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: Greek
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Description

This easy Greek-style Rainbow Beetroot Salad is the perfect way to serve cooked beetroot as part of a Mediterranean-style spread – it also yields delicious leftovers!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 mixed medium beetroot
  • sea salt
  • 1 tbsp date molasses
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 2 spoonfuls Greek-style yogurt
  • small handful fresh mint
  • small handful fresh dill

Instructions

  1. Halve the beetroot and cook in a pan of boiling salted water until fork tender, this usually takes 30 minutes. If you’re using different colours of beetroot, keep the traditional purple beets in a different pan from the other beetroot (or the rest if you’re scaling this recipe up) as they will dye everything else purple!
  2. Meanwhile, to make the dressing whisk together the date molasses, olive oil, vinegar, the garlic clove – finely grated –  and another good pinch of salt.
  3. Once the cooked beetroot are just cool enough to touch carefully peel off the skins – again, for purple beets wear gloves to stop you staining your fingers! Slice into just bigger than bite-sized wedges.
  4. Keeping the purple beetroot in a separate bowl, divide the dressing between the beetroot and toss. Leave to cool completely in the dressing.
  5. Add a spoonful of yogurt to each portion of beetroot, just folding in so swirls of plain yogurt remain visible.
  6. Spoon the different dressed beets onto a serving dish and scatter generously with fresh herbs before serving. 

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