Beet and Kale Salad with Apples and Creamy Tangy Dressing

This kale salad will make people swear you have a fancy personal chef. It’s that good.

Beet and kale salads can be pretty trendy, I’ve seen them on various restaurant menus. But I wanted to use delicious apples on mine as well as make a delicious and perhaps unexpected homemade salad dressing.

Pairing Apples And Beets

I turned to one of my all-time favorite books, The Flavor Bible to find out what ingredient could tie together the apples and beets I wanted to use. If you don’t have this, you need to get it pronto, especially if you’re someone who likes creating your own things in the kitchen. What it is is a book, a big book, organized alphabetically by ingredient. For each ingredient it lists a whole bunch of things that go with it. The ideas I can come up with when I consult these lists. Wow.

In this case, I had a look at what beets go with and then had a look at what apples go with. One of their commonalities was horseradish. Yes, really. Well. Horseradish, it was to be!

Creamy Horseradish Dressing

I made up a creamy dressing with a bit of spicy horseradish in the mix. Make sure to buy the jars of horseradish found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, not on the shelf. They typically have much stronger and better flavor. It’s subtle but it really does bring everything together just as I’d hoped.

The horseradish gets mixed together with mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, and sugar for a creamy and tangy salad dressing that I think you’ll really love. You won’t need all of it for the salads, so store the extra in an airtight container in the fridge for your next salad too!

Making Beet And Kale Salad

Put together your salad with baby kale or a dark salad mix, sliced apples and beets (I usually use canned beets for this), and shaved Parmesan. Then drizzle your homemade salad dressing on top and enjoy.

I know you’re going to love this salad and I hope you’re inspired by The Flavor Bible and that you find delight in refrigerated horseradish too!

Beet and Kale Salad with Apples and Creamy Tangy Dressing

Contributor: Christine Pittman

This kale salad will make people swear you have a fancy personal chef. It’s that good.

• Author: Christine Pittman
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Side Dish
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American

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Ingredients

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• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 3 Tbsp. cider vinegar
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tsp. prepared horseradish
• Salt
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 8 cups baby kale or dark salad green mix
• 1 RubyFrost apple, cored and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can sliced beets, drained and cut in half (or 3 fresh beets, peeled and simmered until tender and then sliced ¼ inch)
• 1 oz. Parmesan cheese or 2 oz. creamy goat cheese

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Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in the water, vinegar, sugar, horseradish and salt. And the mayonnaise and stir until the sugar has dissolved, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Divide the kale or salad greens among 4 plates. Top with the apple slices and beets.
3. Use a potato peeler to shave Manchego or Parmesan cheese over each salad or dollop each with some of the goat cheese.
4. Drizzle each salad with 2 tablespoons of the dressing. You will not use up all the dressing. Store the remainder in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

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Notes

This recipe was developed for the New York Apple Growers and has appeared on my blog COOKtheSTORY as well.

Disclosure: I was compensated by the New York Apple Growers Association to develop and photograph this recipe and to share it on my personal blog COOKtheSTORY, but not to share, years later, on TheCookful. I did that just because I like the recipe so much. All opinions are my own.

This post originally appeared in December 2016 and was revised and republished in February 2023.