A warm, rich and incredibly tasty beetroot and halloumi salad! This is a surprising and delicious vegetarian meal which comes together quickly and easily, and is packed with protein and nutrition.
This recipe was first published in 2015, and has been updated in February 2022 with new photos.
When I first bought a spiralizer, I initially made several plates of curly fries, a few cute garnishes here and there, and only then hunkered down and tried to make something that would actually be healthy and justify the effort of spiralizing things.
This was one of those recipes that really clicked into place and made me think YES, spiralizing vegetables can be pretty cool actually! This warm salad is full of surprises. It’s fresh and a little luxurious (best combo ever), works well with a variety of other Mediterranean type dishes, and it has fried halloumi bites which means everyone will naturally flock to it.
Halloumi cheese helps, of course. Halloumi always helps!
Making Beetroot Noodles
I was actually a little intimidated spiralizing beetroot. I was convinced everything would end up turning pink. I put a paper towel down to minimize the damage, crossed my fingers, and went for it! And I am pleased to report that no damage was done, not to the OG tabletop spiralizer of 2015 or the handheld of 2022 (pictured). They cleaned off with no trace of pink left behind.
Why beetroot noodles are a great idea
I think beetroot is one of the best vegetables to spiralize into noodles! They’re far from my favorite vegetable to be honest, but this brings out the best in them.
One – they really hold their shape and don’t fall apart, go watery, or do any other silly things that soft vegetables do. Two – where big chunks of earthy beetroot can feel a bit “much”, with noodles, you can dilute that effect by coating the noodles with a sauce.
The Basil Mint Sauce
I made a basil-mint chimichurri style sauce for this, and it was ideal. On its own, it’s a little harsh, so licking the spatula wasn’t the best idea. But it needs a lot of strength to stand up in a bowl full of earthy beets and uber-salty halloumi. Once mixed in, it adds a great, subtle flavor, and a richer texture.
Pan Fried Halloumi Bites
And the final piece of this perfect trio – crispy halloumi bites! Pan fried until they’re golden, these add protein into our dish in the tastiest possible way.
This is an optional addition, but a dollop of hummus on top adds a little extra protein, and a whole other texture to the plate, and is rather brilliant. It was not in my original iteration of the recipe, but when the new photos were taken, I thought it deserved to be there. Adding a dollop of hummus is never not good.
Alternatives to Halloumi
If you don’t have access to fresh halloumi, you could try this with farmers cheese or paneer. Any cheese that can be grilled or fried without melting will be an easy swap. Otherwise, try pan frying some feta, grilling some goat’s cheese, or changing directions entirely and adding some burrata for creamy vibes.
Serving Suggestions
With the fresh beetroot, green herbs and cheese, this is full of nutrients, but high in fats and calories, so a little will go a long way! About one quarter of this recipe makes a great little lunch; feel free to add some hummus, cherry tomatoes, or leaves.
You could also add it to a big plate of sharing dishes or mezze style feast.
To serve warm or cold?
I consider this a warm salad and love to eat it hot, just after being cooked. But it also works well after the beetoot cools down to room temperature. You want to eat it while the halloumi is warm, but the beetroot doesn’t need to be.
If you want to make this ahead or eat it fully cold, I just wouldn’t recommend using halloumi. I’d swap in cubed feta.
Love Halloumi? Try…
Halloumi & Beetroot Noodle Salad
Ingredients
- 4 red beetroots
- 225 g package of halloumi, cubed
For the sauce
- 1 bunch basil, around 25g
- A few sprigs mint, around 5g
- 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
- ½ green chili, deseeded and roughly chopped
- 4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 205C / 400F.
- Make your sauce by blending all ingredients in a mini food processor, or with a hand blender in a small bowl or jug.
- Spiralize your beetroot. Place them on a baking tray and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- When the oven is heated, place your tray of spiralized beetroot, uncovered, on the top shelf. Bake for 5-10 minutes. It depends on your preference for how hard or soft you want them to be, as well as your oven. Mine were in for almost the full 10 minutes and came out fairly soft, no crunch.
- Allow your beets to cool down a little in a bowl while you pan fry the halloumi.
- Heat olive oil in a large frying pan . Add the halloumi cubes and cook until golden, turning frequently so they cook as evenly as possible on each side.
- Toss the beet noodles into the sauce. Add salt and black pepper, to taste. (Since we're using such a salty cheese, I didn't add any salt but I did go to town with the black pepper.)
- Finally, add the halloumi, and toss until distributed.
- Serve, topped with hummus if desired.
My sources:
- Loosely inspired by Playful Cooking’s Soba Noodle with Chimichurri and Paneer which I tried last year.
- Beet cooking method was taken from this handy video by Inspiralized.com.
- The sauce is an adaptation of this one from Eating Well.
- I use the Spiralz brand spiralizer which I bought from Amazon.co.uk. This is the same model as the Paderno in the US and Canada.
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