Russian Beet Salad
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I made this Russian beet salad for our Easter dinner. It’s quite good and loaded with healthy ingredients. I got the recipe from my sisters’ mama-in-law. It’s so simple to throw together.
You can easily adjust the size of the salad because it has equal parts of all the main ingredients. It’s made with shredded raw potato that is fried till golden brown and crunchy. It’s especially fast and easy to make if you use a food processor with a grater attachment.
Ingredients for Russian Beet Salad:
1/3 medium red cabbage, thinly sliced (1 cup)
1 medium beet, grated (1 cup)
3 medium carrots, grated (1 cup)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 medium potato, peeled and grated (1 cup)
1/4 cup onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 to 3/4 cup mayo
Salt and Pepper to taste if needed
How to Make Russian Beet Salad:
1.Heat some olive oil until a piece of raw potato sizzles in it. Grate the potatoes and add about 1/4 cup bunches at a time. Fry them until golden brown and crunchy. When potatoes finished frying, place them on paper towel and let them cool before adding them in the mixing bowl.
2. Mince 1 clove of garlic and mix it with 1/2 cup of mayo for the dressing.
3. Place all of the ingredients separately in a large salad bowl until ready to serve.
3. Before serving, mix all of the ingredients together (add more mayo, salt and pepper to taste if needed).
It’s easy and delicious! It’s also best fresh so don’t make more than you intend to eat.
Russian Beet Salad
Ingredients
Instructions
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Heat some olive oil until a piece of raw potato sizzles in it. Grate the potatoes and add about 1/4 cup bunches at a time. Fry them until golden brown and crunchy. When potatoes finished frying, place them on paper towel and let them cool before adding them in the mixing bowl.
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Mince 1 clove of garlic and mix it with 1/2 cup of mayo for the dressing.
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Place all of the ingredients separately in a large salad bowl until ready to serve.
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Before serving, mix all of the ingredients together (add more mayo, salt and pepper to taste if needed). Enjoy!
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
i am a cook in a recovery home and my cooking and baking every ones loves so this wiil be first time to make egg salads and I am going to do this today hope everyone like my egg salad again they call me chief Mike and I am enjoy cooking for the guys in this recovery home in Fresno , California thank you
and happy Thanks giving to evry one please reply back to me want to make something new to cook
That’s just awesome, Michael1 Thank you for sharing that with me.
A new twist on beets! Sounds delicious, need to try it.
The only downside to reading your recipes- incredible amount of ads. It’s almost like flipping through a magazine- ads, ads, ads. I know that’s how you make a living, but just an honest opinion- advertisement overload.
Hi Anastasiya, Thank you for your feedback! It is important to us. Yes, you are correct, that is how we are able to continue providing the recipes free to readers. We will be re-evaluating all of the ad placements and seeing where we can scale back for the best reader experience and site speed which is very important to us!
I agree about the ads 🙁 15 on this recipe alone – I can’t load the recipes on my phone in safari because the ads take all the bandwidth and the actual recipe images won’t load (and I have 5G internet so OUCH). I had to download a different browser that blocks ads to use your website on my phone, because I do love and use your recipes a lot!
Thank you for sharing your concerns and feedback, Liza.
The only way we can continue providing free recipes is by having ads on our site so we are not able to remove those at this time. We find that most people would rather see the ads than pay to see the recipes. I appreciate your feedback and I hope you love every recipe you try.
Can I use pickled beets?
Hi Kelly, I haven’t tested that so I’m not sure. This salad is really intended for raw beets but it may be worth an experiment!
Do you cook the beets or grate them raw?
Grate them raw – it’s surprisingly delicious!!
I use potato sticks instead of frying the potato myself.
Hey I was wondering how many hours ahead I can prepare this salad and still be good? Like I mean prepare without mixing with mayo.
Hi Lily, you could even make it a day ahead, just don’t mix the ingredients and keep the potato portion separate and at room temperature (so it doesn’t soften from refrigerator moisture) and refrigerate the remaining prepped ingredients. Add dressing before serving.
Every single person I’ve made this for begs for the recipe! Needless to say, it doesn’t last long. I made it for the first time for a girl’s night and we literally all just stood around the bowl with forks, just digging in! So good!
Elisabeth, thank you for such a great review, I’m so glad to hear that 😬!
if I fry the potatoes on Friday and mix the saled on Saturday. how should I keep my potatoes over night so they will stay crunchy?
Great question! You definitely want to keep them separate overnight. I would refrigerate the remaining ingredients for the salad but it would probably be ok to drain the potatoes on paper towels, cool completely to room temp then store in tupperware at room temperature overnight.
we make this salad often but instead of potatoes we add doktorskaya kolbasa.. ill try it your way also
Let me know what you think of it after giving it a try 😀.
do you cook carrot or beets?
I add them raw. It’s surprising I know, but so good! 🙂
Has anyone tried to substitute an ingredient with French’s Fried Onions?
Yes! It works really well, you just have to add it just before mixing and serving so they don’t get too soft. 🙂
Hey Natasha, I made this salad for a family get together and a lot of the lady’s want the recipe.but they can only read Russian. Can give me a Russian version? I would do it myself but i don’t know how to write in Russian. Thank you, Natalya
There is an easy option for translating. Have you tried right clicking on the content and selecting translate? Google Chrome has this option. You can also copy the text and use Google translate. I hope that’s helpful.
Looks delish! Never tried fried potatoes in a salad. Pretty interesting!
It’s soooo good! I hope you love it!
Made this & it tasted fabulous.
Thank you for the great review Debbie :).
I have made this salad for Christmas party. To be honest with you guys. I really like it. But this salad gets even tastier, if you put in fridge for one day (salad was mixed with a dressings)… Delicious. Thank you. Please put more more recipes 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you so much Zarina for sharing your great review! It’s rare when a salad improves with time (most have to be eaten right away) but this one does have that quality.
Just dropping by to greet you a Merry Christmas
Thank you so much and Merry Christmas to you as well! 🙂
That looks delicious! I’m learning to like beets, I think I may have to try this!
Thanks so much Ashley! I hope you love the salad 🙂
Hi Natasha, do you think this recipe will work with sweet potatoes?
To be honest, I’ve never tried raw sweet potato so I’m not sure if it will work.
I assumed Tasha meant to replace the white potato with sweet potato and fry it. I think that is a great idea, though it would make it even sweeter. Perhaps add a little salt to counteract that.
Love the updated recipe! Great photos! I’ve made this salad twice before and it’s delicious!
Thank you Inna :). it desperately needed an update. It’s a favorite and I didn’t think it got the attention it deserved. New pictures (and slightly clearer instructions) can make all the difference!
Oh the colors! love this salad! and love the updated pictures!
Thanks Marina 🙂 It was long, long overdue 😉
Hi Natasha,
I love your site and I use it to cook for my Russian husband and in-laws… they are impressed that an American girl can cook Russian food 😉 (that will be our secret!)
I was wondering if you have a good recipe for Vinegrette? My husband loves that salad best (probably because he is allergic to eggs and had a hard time finding mayo free salad growing up!)
An egg allergy is tough with regard to Russian food since it’s in so many dishes, but yes and I’m just reading your next comment and saw you found it :).
Natasha, hi! I would like to make this salad but I wanted to know if I can substitute cooked beets for raw? Is it going to make the salad taste different? Thanks.
I think it would make it taste different, but not necessarily worse just as long as the beets aren’t too wet. You should try with raw beets though; it’s so much easier! 🙂
Thank you Natasha for replying. I guess I will go to the store and buy raw beets (it’s just that I buy lots of beets at fall at the farmers market nd cook them and freez so I always have ready beets for borsch or shuba or any other salad). I defiantly want the salad to taste it’s best for b-day party so will make it the way you suggest. Thanks again!
That’s so smart! I’ll have to do that next year when my mom has a ton of organic homegrown beets that are at the peak of ripeness. Beats do get old as they sit. Thanks for the idea!
🙂 Thanks again Natasha!
Natasha, my in laws love beets so much that any salad that has them will be their favorite. I wanted to make this one for our thanksgiving lunch/dinner, but you say in the recipe description its the best when its fresh. Unfortunately I wont have time to make it on Thursday, because we will be at church and right after church is our lunch/dinner. So what if I prepare all the ingredients and just mix it right before serving will that work out for me? I will be using fried onions instead of potatoes. Thanks!
You can definitely prep it ahead of time and just mix and serve when you’re ready. I’ve prepped all the ingredients the night before and it works great!
Thanks! I will let you know who we liked it!
My family also makes this salad for almost every gathering. We use crushed Pringles (chips) instead of the Frenchs fried onions, and we dice everything rather than grate it (we use boiled beets or canned). Its always a hit.
I also like your version :). My mom has beets growing in her yard, so I might be trying that recipe soon.
yum, this is my favorite beet salad…when I saw your Red Cabbage Wreath Salad, I thought it was the same as this one, with different things added and substitute. thats why I said I use hashbrowns and not crunchy noodles and green onion instead of regular onion.
I guess how ever you make it, its still crunchy and delish
I’ve never heard of this salad but tried it today and loved it. Thanks for the recipe!
Awesome 😀 I’m glad that you love it.
That’s the one I’ve been researching! I was thinking to get a mini one, but as my family is growing, I might as well just spend the extra few bucks and get a bigger one 🙂 I’ve been watching demo videos and can’t wait to buy one and use it! So exciting lol
Natasha, what kind of food processor do you use? Can you recommend a good one that has a grater attachment to make these kind of salads a breeze to make 🙂 Esp when u got little kids and could use some time saving appliances …
My food processor is a little small. I’d recommend the larger size cuisinart food processor. I have a mini cuisinart and it’s awesome and has the grater attachment, but I think I need a bigger one. This is the one I’m dreaming of: Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor
Hi again,
I make beet salad once or twice a month but mine is closer to the traditional version. You can buy it in any Russian store in Brooklyn. I use canned beets that I cut up & organic whole beets from Trader Joe’s, 1 green onion, 2 eggs, and dollop of Vegenaise. Sometimes I make it without the onions or Vegenaise. Your recipe was completely new to me.Have a good day.
best,
Marina
NY
I love this recipe…thanks Natasha! It’s so simple yet so delicious. I love the crunch of the uncooked beets especially the fried onions. I’ve made this recipe a few times and everybody always loves it!
You are welcome Sarah. This salad is unusual, but simple and delicious, just like you said it. 🙂
do you not have to cook the beets before you grate it?
Surprisingly no you don’t. Just grate them raw. It’s good- trust me 🙂
Instead of the potatoes/onions I add chow mein noodles…they’re crunchy and add a nice flavor. But with those especially don’t make more than what you’ll eat. I’m making this for tomorrow so thought I’d post on the different ingredient 🙂
That sounds nice. I think the added crunch would be very nice! Thanks Nella!
We make this salad all the time. But we substitute the onions for green onions.
My husband loves green onions on everything. Thanks for the suggestion, I will try that next time.