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This Salmon Salad with roasted beets is the perfect healthy recipe for a fresh dinner or lunch. This recipe also fits within the Blue Zone diet, which means it has healthy fats, no processed ingredients, and is loaded with healthy protein and veggies. You’ll love this recipe with the earthy roasted beets, fresh salmon, and the crunch from pistachios and pomegranate seeds.
Why You’ll Love This Salmon Salad
- Healthy: This Salmon Salad has easy, wholesome ingredients. The salmon is a lean source of protein, the veggies are fresh and rich in vitamins, and the feta + pomegranate seeds add flavor.
- Versatile: Like any bowl or salad, you can make this salad your own by swapping out the grains, adding in your veggies, or switching the salmon with your favorite fish or other lean protein.
- Quick: Prep this recipe in only 15 minutes and have it ready to eat in an hour flat.
Ingredients
Beets – For this recipe, I used golden beets. Beets add an earthiness to this recipe and are so delicious. They also are packed with antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. I love beets because they add such a good flavor to any recipe.
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Salmon – Salmon is a superfood that has so many health benefits. It’s a great source of omega-3’s which are essential for a healthy heart, it is also a great source of protein and necessary vitamins. Salmon is an easy fish to add to your diet through salads, on its own, in sushi, whatever your preference!
Pistachios – Pistachios add a crunch to this salad and are packed with healthy fats and antioxidants. I love eating pistachios or throwing them at salads or bowls for a good crunch.
How to Make Salmon Salad
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Prepare and roast the beets: Wash the beets thoroughly, place each beet on a piece of foil, drizzle each beet with olive oil and season each with big pinches of salt and pepper. Wrap each beet individually in foil. Place the foil-wrapped beets on the baking sheet. Roast for 35-50 minutes or until fork tender. Unwrap the beets and allow them to cool.
- While the beets are roasting, cook the couscous according to package directions and set aside.
- After the beets have roasted, unwrap them and set them aside on a plate to cool. Leave the oven at 400F. Next, add the salmon filet to the parchment-lined baking sheet and season the salmon with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder and drizzle the 1 tbsp olive oil over top.
- Bake the salmon for 12-15 minutes or until the salmon is cooked through. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Make the dressing: Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and set aside.
- Assemble the salad:
- When the beets have cooled enough to handle with your hands, peel the beets with your fingers or a vegetable peeler.
- Slice peeled beets into about six wedges per beet and add to a large bowl.
- Roughly use a fork to put off bite-sized pieces of the cooked salmon and add to the bowl.
- Finally add the cooked couscous, arugula, pistachios, fresh chopped dill, crumbled goat cheese, and pomegranate seeds to the bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing over top, toss to combine, and serve.
Tips and Tricks
- Fresh & In Season: To make this Salmon Salad extra flavorful, stick to in-season and local vegetables.
- Salmon: Use wild-caught salmon if possible for the best flavor.
- Meal Prep: You can prep the ingredients for this salad and store in the fridge to assemble this salad as an easy lunch throughout the week.
Substitutions
- Couscous: If couscous isn’t for you, try another grain of choice. Quinoa or Farro are both great options. You can also use any kind of rice or omit the grains altogether.
- Fish: If you can’t find salmon, you can substitute it with trout. This salad is also a great base to use with chicken or tuna if you prefer.
- Golden Beets: If you can’t find golden beets, you can substitute them with regular beets. Red beets tend to have a more earthy and slightly bitter flavor, while golden beets are generally sweeter and milder.
- Nuts: Use your favorite nut to top this salad or eliminate the nuts for a crunch like sunflower seeds.
Best served with
How to Store Leftovers
Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days. If I’m making this for meal prep, I like to keep the dressing, and fresh ingredients separately so I can easily reheat the beets, couscous, and salmon, then assemble.
Common Questions
Salmon fillets (skin-on or skinless) work well. You can also use canned salmon, but the texture will be different and you won’t need to cook it.
Yes, you can cook the salmon and prepare the beets in advance. Assemble the bowls just before serving.
The Blue Zones diet is a dietary and lifestyle approach inspired by the eating habits and lifestyles of people in five regions of the world known for having some of the longest-living people. It generally consists of minimal meat, lots of veggies, no processed foods, and healthy fats.
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Watch the Video
Ingredients
For the beets
- 6 golden beets, (about 5 cups of cooked beet wedges)
- olive oil, salt and pepper
For the trout
- 400-450 g salmon, steelhead or rainbow trout
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
For the salad
- ½ cup dry pearl couscous, cooked
- 4 cups arugula or watercress
- ⅓ cup pistachios
- ¼ cup fresh chopped dill
- ½ cup crumbled goat cheese
- ⅓ cup pomegranate seeds
For the dressing
- 6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp balsamic or red wine vinegar
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 5 tbsp fresh squeezed orange juice (about 1 – 1 1/2 large navel orange)
Instructions
Start Cooking- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Prepare and roast the beets: Wash the beets thoroughly, place each beet on a piece of foil, drizzle each beet with a bit of olive oil and season each with big pinches of salt and pepper. Wrap each beet individually in foil. Place the foil-wrapped beets on the baking sheet. Roast for 35-50 minutes or until fork tender. Unwrap the beets and allow them to cool.
- While the beets are roasting, cook the couscous according to package directions and set aside.
- After the beets have roasted, unwrap the beets and set aside on a plate to cool. Leave the oven at 400F. Next, add the trout filet to the parchment lined baking sheet and season the trout with 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder and drizzle the 1 tbsp olive oil over top.
- Bake the trout for 12-15 minutes or until the trout is cooked through. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Make the dressing: Whisk together all of the dressing ingredients together and set aside.
- Assemble the salad: When the beets have cooled enough to handle with your hands, peel the beets with your fingers or a vegetable peeler. Slice peeled beets into about 6 wedges per beet and add to a large bowl.Roughly use a fork to put off bite-sized pieces of the cooked trout and add to the bowl.
- Finally add the cooked couscous, arugula, pistachios, fresh chopped dill, crumbled goat cheese, pomegranate seeds to the bowl as well.
- Drizzle the dressing over top, toss to combine and serve.
Notes
- This salad is so versatile!
- If couscous isn’t for you, try another grain of choice.
- If you can’t find trout, you can substitute with salmon.
- If you can’t find golden beets, you can substitute with regular beets.
- Try our other popular Blue Zone recipes like Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe or Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe
28 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
Loved this so much! Very filling and tasty way to get my veggies and protein in!
love this for you so much my love
Salmon and beets are a match made in heaven!
http://www.chefmimiblog.com
I’m curious about the instructions for the beets vs. the video. Are you supposed to re-roast the beets alongside the salmon after they have been sufficiently steamed?
The video can sometimes confuse people because it won’t always match up to the recipe perfectly (depending on how it was filmed). Please just follow the written recipe, and you’ll be great!
I made this recipe for a little get together with friends and everyone absolutely loved it! I used quinoa instead of the couscous and pomegranate molasses instead of the maple syrup in the dressing. It was a big hit! I love how healthy and versatile it is and I’ll definitely be making it again. TY!
Thank you so much, Celine! This makes me so happy!
This was easily the best salad I’ve ever made—fresh, nourishing, and absolutely packed with flavor. I love that it wasn’t your typical salad—this felt elevated, creative, and genuinely exciting to eat. Every ingredient worked together beautifully, and the dressing was so simple yet so good—we made it with ingredients we already had on hand! I really appreciate how Maria makes heart-healthy recipes feel indulgent and delicious. I’m already planning which of her recipes to try next!
This makes me so happy!! Thank you so much!!!
This salad! The flavor combo! The dressing! Made for my weekly food service, sure to be a hit!!!
thank you so much Lindsey!!!!
Love love love it! So filling and the textures are perfect. I made it for a Greek dinner party and everyone loved it!
thank you so much, becca! you are so sweet!
So so yummy and filling and healthy. You can mix and match many things with this base! Onto the next recipe 🙂
thank you so much, Sophie!! you are the best!!
So so yummy and filling and healthy. You can mix and match many things with this base! Onto the next recipe 🙂
This was SO good! I made some slight modifications like not adding beets for personal taste, and it was still amazing. The dressing is delicious and the flavour combination of all the ingredients is perfect.
thank you so much for the love, Alexia!