Looking for a beautiful salad to add to your table? This Brussels Sprouts Salad with Air Fryer Roasted Beets is not only eye catching, but is also so easy to make and create and doesn’t require using your oven. That can be especially important if you are making this during the holidays and don’t have any oven space to spare.
Why Beets on Greens
Having toppings on a bed of greens is one of the best ways to jazz it up and make it a “real meal” because who want’s to eat only greens, not a lot of people. For this variation I added air fryer roasted beets because it’s quick, easy, and my air fryer is my BFF.
An air fryer works great but you could also make this recipe using the oven or eat the pickled beets raw if you desired. The jar I had was hanging out in the pantry for a bit so I got creative with using it. I do plan to take this to holiday gatherings because the beet color just screams holiday time to me.
What You Need
There are two parts of this recipe, the salad portion including dressing and the air fried beets. Luckily you can start the beets up while you’re making everything else and it will come together quickly.
Kale: Gives the recipe a dark green element to add dimension to the dish. Kale also is a nutrient powerhouse giving another healthy element to this meal.
Beets: One of my favorite vegetables since childhood and very underrated. I used pickled beets because it’s what I had but you could also use fresh beets and adjust the cooking time. These are also full of nutrients and fiber.
Hemp Hearts: Add another nutrient rich element of omega-3s! These are small but mighty and you won’t even notice them there but they will be giving you hidden benefits.
You may also need a few tools for this recipe.
Food Processor: This isn’t 100% needed however I find it way quicker using this because my knife skills are lackluster. If you also struggle with knife skills, this is something you will need.
Air Fryer: An oven can be used but using an air fryer speeds up the process , doesn’t heat your whole house up, and doesn’t take up oven space for busy cooking days.
Variations
Can I use another dark leafy green instead of kale
- Yes! You can use any dark leafy green. I only tested this recipe with kale and choosing another green will change the taste a slightly. As long as you like the taste of the leafy green you are choosing it should work.
Can I use flax seeds or chia seeds instead of hemp hearts?
- Flax, chia and hemp hearts are all great plant-based sources of omega-3s but for this recipe I would leave the hemp hearts as is. Flax may work but chia will expand with the wetness of the dressing so not those.
Vegan Brussels Sprouts Salad with Air Fryer Roasted Beets
Ingredients
Dressing
Instructions
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Drain the pickled beets into a colander. Place 1 even layer of the beet slices into the air fryer basket and cook for 10-12 minutes at 400F. While the beets are cooking, get started on your green salad.
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Add the raw Brussels Sprouts to a food processor, and pulse until small pieces form. to make it easier you can cut them in half and then pulse them. If you have great knife skills you could also slice them thinly. Place the Brussels into a large bowl or serving plate.
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Trim the kale leaves down the stem to remove the hard stalky part. You won't have to cut the whole leaf likely only the bottom 1/4 of the leaves. Then roll the kale leaf up and cut to form kale ribbons. Add them to the Brussels.
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Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl or mason jar and pour over the greens. Then top the salad with roasted the beets and enjoy!
Note
The hard stalky part of kale is edible but it is not as visually appealing and can be hard to chew. Use these pieces in smoothies instead.
