Eating your fruits and veggies couldn’t be simpler or tastier than this winter salad with grapefruit, beets, and tangy goat cheese.

winter salad with grapefruit, beets, and goat cheese on a white table — Doesn’t it have all the best colors?

Trying to get those winter fruits into your diet?

Listen, I’m pretty good about eating my veggies, but I struggle with the fruit. Because let’s face it, if I’m looking for something to satisfy my craving for sweets, it’s definitely going to be chocolate or another sugary dessert. So if I ever get a chance to mix fruit into my salad, I consider myself winning.

But we all know that your typical fruity salad add-ins like strawberries and grapes aren’t always in season, so you’ve got to get a little creative. Some of my favorite winter fruits to incorporate into our meals are:

pears
oranges
grapefruit
figs

Ingredients for this super simple winter salad:

spring mix salad
canned beets
grapefruit
goat cheese, crumbled
walnuts or pecans, chopped
honey
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

A few notes:

I know, I know. Beets? If you’re anything like our boys, you may describe them as tasting like dirt. But I promise that when they’re mixed in with other things they really add some earthy flavor (not dirt flavor, honest). I didn’t think I liked them either until I had them in a salad with a lemon vinaigrette, and those little multicolored roasted beets blew my mind! If you can find them roasted, go for it. I would steer clear of pickled beets, though; for this salad you probably don’t want that pickled flavor marinating the rest of your salad.

For the dressing, you’re going to want to get all that yummy juice out from your grapefruit. As I’ve played with this recipe, I figured out that half a grapefruit is perfect for one serving. But this dressing also keeps in the fridge really well, so juice that whole thing and make enough dressing to get at least two salads out of it. Work smarter, not harder, am I right?

Making your winter salad:

Throw some of that spring mix in a bowl. Half your grapefruit, and cut out the sections. Then squeeze all the juice out of it by hand into a small jar. Set aside.

Chop the beets however you like. They usually come sliced in a can, but I like them a bit smaller, so I usually cut them in half at least. Add the beets and grapefruit sections to the salad mix.

Sprinkle goat cheese crumbles and walnuts or pecans on top. I usually just grab whatever we have in the pantry.

To the jar with your grapefruit juice, add an equal amount of honey – probably a tablespoon or two of each. Then add balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, until your jar looks like this:

jar with dressing ingredients on a white table — Grapefruit juice and honey (combined) should make up 1/3, balsamic vinegar should make up another 1/3, and the last 1/3 is olive oil.

Now shake that jar! (I won’t say “like a Polaroid picture” in case that reference is currently outdated and I risk losing all my street cred.) But after you shake it, it should look more like this:

shaken salad dressing in a jar on a white table — Boom – you just made a killer dressing!

Protein ideas to go alongside your winter salad with grapefruit:

I don’t usually like meat in this salad, but if I were to add one, it would probably be prosciutto. It’s light and salty but not too heavy for this winter salad.

Instead of meat, I usually opt for another side to go with my salad. Cottage cheese, yogurt, crackers and hummus, half of a ham and egg sandwich are some of my faves. If I just need something hot to warm me up and I’m not thinking about protein, I’ll go for tomato soup or whatever leftovers we may have from dinner the night before.

You really can’t go wrong with this salad – it’s the perfect single lunch portion. But you can easily adapt it to make a dinner salad for the whole family that goes with your main dish. There’s really nothing better than an in-season, healthy dish that you literally just toss together!

closeup of winter salad with grapefruit, beets, and goat cheese

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Winter Salad with Grapefruit

Eating your fruits and veggies couldn’t be simpler or tastier than this winter salad with grapefruit, beets, and tangy goat cheese.

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 0

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Servings 1

Ingredients

spring mix salad
canned beets
grapefruit
goat cheese crumbled
walnuts or pecans chopped
honey
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Put a single serving of spring mix in a bowl. Cut the grapefruit in half and remove sections, adding them to the salad mix. Reserve the hand-squeezed juice from the grapefruit in a small jar. Set aside.
Add beets, goat cheese, and nuts to salad.
To the jar of grapefruit juice, add an equal amount of honey – about a tablespoon or two of each. Then add an equal amount of balsamic vinegar to the jar. Lastly, add enough olive oil to make up the last third of the dressing. Shake well and pour desired amount over salad.

Notes

Before shaking your dressing, you should be able to eyeball the measurements. One-third is grapefruit juice and honey (combined), one-third is balsamic vinegar, and one-third is olive oil.

Keyword light lunch, salad, winter salad with grapefruit

Think you can get the family to try this winter salad with grapefruit? Even the beets? Let me know how it goes in the comments!

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