Golden Beet Panzanella is sunshine in a salad. Fresh golden beets, orange segments, and a bread cubes to soak up a tangy dressing! A great seasonal salad to celebrate winter citrus and root vegetables!
The golden beets have begun to sprout in my garden! Last week’s rain really gave them a boost and now that we are finally getting some sunshine they are quite pleased.
My good friend Aarika at JustBeetIt.com asked me to share some of my beet recipes with her. If you haven’t been to her website and need some amazing beet recipe ideas – hop on over and visit – you’ll enjoy it and you can read her entire interview with me.
Beets are one of my favorite garden crops. Finicky at times. Sometimes they just don’t want to germinate, but I love growing them. Part of the allure of growing beets is growing the golden ones. They are harder to find at my grocery store and when I can find them – they are naked. And by that I mean they are missing their nutritious leaves. So for me, organic beet greens are a premium and I’ll work in the garden for that.
What is Panzanella?
Panzanella is one of my favorite Italian salads. It’s basic ingredients include seasonal vegetables + bread cubes that soak up a tangy vinaigrette.
Who doesn’t love a salad with bread cubes that sop up all the juicy goodness from the dressing?
How to make Golden Beet Panzanella Salad
This golden beet salad recipe was inspired by the sunshine yesterday – golden sunny beets, lemony sumac vinaigrette, zesty orange segments and parsley for a superfood boost. Plus sunflower seeds and pistachios.
If my beets came with greens attached, I would have chopped them and added them to the salad too!
Step 1: Roast Beets for 40 minutes.
Need techniques for roasting beets? Beets take about an hour to roast depending on their size. See this beet recipe for instructions on how to roast beets. Once they are cool enough to handle, you can peel them.
Step 2: While the beets are cooking, prepare the Sumac Vinaigrette.
What is sumac? Sumac is a bright red spice ground from sumac bush berries. It has a bright + tart, almost lemony flavor.
Step 3: Prepare toasted bread cubes + all other herbs, spices and nuts.
Step 4: Build the salad on a fancy platter + enjoy!
A golden beet panzanella, aka bread salad, with mint, pistachios and sumac.
- 4 slices crusty multigrain bread toasted and cubed into 1" pieces (about 2 cups)
- 4 medium golden beets roasted, peeled and diced
- 4 oranges peel and white pith removed, cut into segments
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup pistachios crushed
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped mint optional
- 1 tablespoon sumac half to mix with the salad, half to top the salad
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon finely minced shallot
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon sumac
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
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Combine all the dressing ingredients into a container and blend well. This can be made ahead of time to allow flavors to develop.
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Preheat oven to 400F. Wrap beets in foil and roast for about 1 hour until tender. Peel and dice.
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Toast the bread slices, cut into cubes and set aside.
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Prepare all other ingredients and set aside.
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Combine the beets, orange segments, sunflower seeds, herbs and spices in a large bowl.
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Toss with half of the dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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If eating immediately, add the cubed bread and more dressing. Toss until the bread cubes are coated with dressing.
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Sprinkle the pistachios on top along with additional sumac, salt and pepper to taste.
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If making this ahead of time, toss with the bread cubes right before serving.
You may not need to use all of the dressing.
Optional: Top with some crumbled feta cheese.
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