This Russian potato beetroot salad “Vinegret” with beetroot and pickled cucumbers is a staple of Russian-Ukrainian cuisine. Vinegret is a very beautiful, refreshing and lively Russian salad. The ingredients are available regionally in Germany, which makes this salad particularly tasty and rich in vitamins thanks to the freshness of the ingredients. The good thing about this salad with its simple ingredients is that it can also be eaten as a full vegan meal that is easy, delicious and healthy.
The main ingredient and responsible for the pretty pink color is of course the beetroot in this salad. Vinegret Russian Potato Beetroot Salad is simple and easy to prepare, but it does take some time. The beets, potatoes and carrots all need to be cooked before you can enjoy a delicious, low-calorie and healthy salad.
How to Make Vinegret Russian Potato Beetroot Salad
Main ingredients you need:
- Beets, if you can get fresh beets, go for it. They are crisp and strong in colour. But you can also use pre-cooked beets from vacuum packaging or cans.
- Potatoes, carrots and a small white or red onion.
- Pickled cucumbers and make sure: they really should be “pickled cucumbers” and not pickled cucumbers ect. In any case, pickled cucumbers are available in every Russian supermarket. We need the gherkins in the salad for the spicy taste and crunchy texture.
- vegetable oil, salt and pepper. We use some of the cucumber water so that we can do without vinegar.
- Optionally, you can also toss peas, beans, and even sauerkraut into this salad. As always, you are free to add or change ingredients.
If using fresh beets, cook them whole (unpeeled) for about an hour, or I like to bake them in the oven until tender. You can check if they are soft by pricking them lightly with a knife or fork. On the other hand, if you use canned beets, drain off the liquid and drain the beets well.
Cook the vegetables separately from the beets, otherwise you will turn everything pink. You could cook potatoes and carrots together until tender, but I prefer the method of dicing the carrots first and then balancing them for 3 to 5 minutes. Please make sure not to overcook the vegetables so that they retain their shape when cut.
You also have to dice the onion and the pickled gherkins. It is nice when the cubes of all vegetables are about the same size.
Garnish the salad with chopped herbs such as parsley, dill, chives and spring onions. You should keep the Russian Vinegret salad in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
A few more tips:
Store the vinegret salad in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. I would not recommend freezing this salad.
And to keep the diced beetroot from coloring the other veggies too much, add 2 tablespoons sunflower or olive oil as directed in the recipe. To do this, put the oil in a bowl and carefully mix the diced vegetables without the beets.
If you like our Russian “Vinegret” potato beetroot salad, you may also be enthusiastic about these recipes:
- Spicy beetroot and carrot curry
- Beetroot Herb Tabbouleh
- vegan Hasselback beetroot with coriander pesto
- Zucchini and carrot fritters quick and crispy
- Potato salad with coriander pesto
- Soba noodle salad with peanut dressing
- more salad recipes…
Russian potato beetroot salad “Vinegret”
Equipment
Ingredients
- 400 G Beetroot
- 300 G Pickles is available in the Russenstore
- 300 G carrots
- 2 potatoes big and boiling
- 1 Red onion
- 50 ml cucumber water of course from the pickles
- 2 tbsp. sunflower oil
- kosher salt*
- Pepper*
- Herbs parsley, dill, chives….
Instructions
- Boil potatoes as jacket potatoes. Not too long, because they can still be crunchy. Let cool slightly, peel and dice.
- Peel and dice the carrots and blanch in boiling water. Rinse under cold water.
- Bake beets in a preheated oven (220 °C) for about 40 minutes. Then peel and also dice.
- Drain the cucumbers, reserving the cucumber water. dice cucumbers.
- Peel and dice the onion.
- Place the diced vegetables in a bowl. Add the oil and 50 ml of the cucumber water. salt and pepper. Mix well and leave in the fridge for 2 hours.
- In the meantime, you can wash, shake dry and finely chop your favorite herbs. Add the chopped herbs to the salad and serve.
