Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans

Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans is perfect for winter months. Packed with nutrients and vitamins, it uses seasonal beets and is also budget friendly.

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Beets are quite popular in Russian cuisine; besides this Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans there are a few different Russian salads and soups using beets.

Up until a few years ago I never cooked with beets. They scared me. I think it’s the idea of boiling them for a long time that really intimidated me.

Then I found out that they could be cooked in a microwave and my life changed. That was while I still lived in my tiny condo.

Now I don’t have a microwave, but I discovered a different method of cooking beets. I wash and scrub them, then wrap each beet in foil, place in a roasting pan and bake in the oven until beets are soft and the jewel coloured juice is seeping through the aluminum blanket.

And yet I still don’t like cooking with beets even though I like eating them. It seems like a waste of oven baking time and energy to only cook 2-3 beets in the oven, but if I cook more I rarely can use them all as hubby doesn’t really like them.

So, on occasion I buy Love Beets at Costco (not sponsored link) – cooked and vacuum packed beets in small packages. One small pouch contains about 250g or 3-4 small beets which is perfect for me.

More beet recipes

• Cold Beet Soup
• Instant Pot Borscht
• Chocolate Ravioli with Ricotta-Beet Filling
• Cinnamon Beet Pancakes

And don’t forget to check out my post containing 27 Unbeatable Beet Recipes – it has everything from breakfast to lunch to drinks  to dinner to desserts!

How to make Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans

This Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans is actually really easy to make and it has all (well, almost) all the ingredients listed in its name already.

All you need to do is:

• grate cooked beets
• add chopped prunes
• add chopped pecans
• add pressed garlic
• add mayo
• season to taste

Ingredients and variations for Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans

This Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans is one of the most traditional Russian salads but it has some unusual ingredients. I know in some family recipes prunes aren’t used, but they were common in mine.

Sweet and slightly tangy prunes, crunchy and buttery nuts, earthy beets are combined and bound together with garlicky mayo. It may seem like an odd combination – prunes and garlic – but prunes go amazingly well in savoury dishes.

• Prunes
  • Prunes can definitely be omitted if sweet and savoury isn’t your thing. However, I urge you to try them!
  • Alternatively, you could use raisins but prunes have an extra tangy dimension that goes perfectly with the salad.
• Pecans
  • Pecans are my favourite nut. I love their buttery taste in this Russian Beet Salad.
  • You can use walnuts instead.
  • You can omit any nuts also, but they do add a nice crunch and texture.
• Mayo
  • Russian salads are famous for their use of mayo. It adds a very nice savoury note to the salad.
  • Feel free to use yogurt or sour cream but you might need to add more seasonings to taste

More recipes with prunes

• Chicken with Prunes
• No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie
• Vegan Chocolate-Prune Cake
• Roast Chicken Stuffed with Dried Fruit (this recipe is in my cookbook)

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Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans

Russian Beet Salad with Prunes and Pecans is perfect for winter months. Packed with nutrients and vitamins, it uses seasonal beets and is also budget friendly | Imagelicious

Course Appetizer, Salad

Cuisine Russian

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Calories 274kcal

Author Julia

Ingredients

• 4 small cooked and peeled beets (about 250 g)
• 4 large pitted prunes (about 40 g)
• 1/2 cup pecans (about 60 g, chopped)*
• 2 tablespoons mayo (regular or vegan)**
• 1 clove garlic (pressed)
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Grate beets using the large side of a grater.
• Chop prunes into 1/4" pieces (about the size of small raisins).
• In a bowl combine grated beets, chopped pecans, chopped prunes, pressed garlic and mayo.
• Mix well.
• Season to taste with salt and serve.
• Salad will last in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Notes

* I love using Pecans in my cooking and baking, they are crunchy and buttery and have sweet and mild taste. But they aren't actually popular in Russia. At least they weren't when I lived there. Walnuts were the traditional nut used in many dishes. So, feel free to use traditional walnuts in this recipe.

 

** I wrote about my guilty ingredient - mayo - almost a year ago. If you'd like to make this salad a little bit more healthy, then you can use Greek yogurt in place of mayo, but to be honest, two tablespoons aren't that indulgent and they taste so very good in this salad. You can also make this recipe vegan by using Vegan Mayo.

Nutrition

Calories: 274kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 28g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 5mg | Sodium: 90mg | Potassium: 101mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 0.6mg

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