Swedish beetroot salad
15 min · 4 g protein · 67 cals / serving
The shocking-pink beetroot salad that sits beside the meatballs and the ham on every julbord: sweet-sour pickled beetroot and crisp apple in a thick, tangy dressing with a sharp kick of mustard. Kvarg does most of the work a bowl of mayonnaise usually does, and a spoon of light mayo keeps the round, familiar taste.
Ingredients
- 14 oz pickled beetroot, drained, pickled beetroot (inlagda rödbetor), drained, in 5 mm (1/4-inch) dice
- 1 apple, tart, unpeeled, in 5 mm (1/4-inch) dice
- 2 tbsp finely chopped onion, yellow onion
Dressing
- 1 cup quark
- 1 tbsp light mayonnaise, 30% fat
- 1 tsp French mustard, Dijon-style
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- a pinch salt
- a few grinds black pepper
Steps
- Put the beetroot, apple and onion in a bowl. Save 1–2 tablespoons of the beetroot liquid from the jar.
- Whisk the kvarg, mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper until smooth, then whisk in 1 tablespoon of the beetroot liquid.
- Fold the dressing through the beetroot until everything is evenly pink. Taste: add the second spoon of beet liquid for more tang and colour, or a pinch more sugar if your beets are sharp.
- Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight, so the colour deepens and the flavours settle. Stir before serving.
Good to know
Can I make it a day ahead?
Yes, and it tastes better for it. It keeps for 3 days in the fridge; stir it before serving, because a little liquid gathers at the bottom.
I only have fresh beetroot.
Boil 400 g of beetroot until tender, peel and dice it, then toss it with 2 tablespoons of ättika-based pickling liquid (1 part 12 % ättika, 2 parts sugar, 3 parts water) and let it stand an hour before draining. Fresh beets alone taste flat in this salad.
Creamier, like the shop-bought kind?
Swap a quarter of the kvarg for more mayonnaise (or crème fraiche). It gets richer, at about 50 instead of 70; the colour and the tang stay the same.
Per
- Calories
- 64
- Protein
- (24%)
- 4 g
- Fat
- (10%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (67%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 9 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 148 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 534 kcal goes into the pot and 831 g of ingredients comes out as about 830 g of food: 64 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.