Beetrood salad with bryndza is often found in Ukrainian restaurants in the west of the country, specifically the Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv oblasts. It is a light and refreshing salad that can completely change how one thinks of beets.
Beetroot salad with bryndza cheese is a simple yet delicious Eastern European dish. This is a popular recipe in Western Ukraine where I live, so I had to recreate it for the blog. While beetroots are notoriously ‘earthy’, this salad is actually light and refreshing, due to the tangy dressing and cheese.
Bryndza cheese is well known in Romania, Slovakia, Western Ukraine, and Southern Poland, but can be found all over Europe or at import markets in America. It is salty and unpasteurized, similar to Greek feta. It is arguably the most popular cheese used in Carpathian recipes, and elevates many of the regional dishes.
Eastern European Beetroot Salad Ingredients
This salad is extremely easy to make because there’s not much to do. Okay, the beets need to be boiled but that’s easy. The best part of this salad in my personal opinion is actually the marinated onion. Plus, if you boil a lot of beets at once, you can use the extra’s to make the best borsch ever!
Ingredients
- 5 medium Beets – peeled and boiled
- 1 Red Onion – thinly sliced
- 60 ml Olive Oil – this is about 4 tablespoons, and as it isn’t being cooked try to find a decent quality oil for this recipe.
- 60 ml Lemon Juice – this is about 4 tablespoons, freshly squeezed is best but you can also use store-bought lemon juice if you want
- 3 cloves Garlic – minced
- 200 grams Bryndza Cheese – feel free to put more or less, this isn’t a static ingredient measurement
- Parsley – for garnish and to taste
How To Make A Classic Beetroot Salad With Bryndza
If you bought already boiled beets, perfect. If not, then simply peel them and boil them for 1 hour.
In a bowl add the thinly sliced red onion, minced garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and give everything a good toss.
Place a bag of water on top of the marinating onions to put pressure down. Let the onions and garlic marinate for at minimum 20 minutes, but you can do it for as long as you want. I usually boil the beets and then start marinating the onions, so when the beets are done the onions will be too!
Remove the beets and let them cool (this is why using already boiled beets is perfect for this recipe). Then cube them and add to the bowl along with the chopped parsley. Mix everything together.
Crumble over the bryndza cheese and give the salad a little shake. Don’t toss too much as you don’t want the beet juice dying the cheeze all red. The white color really pops in this recipe. Garnish with some more chopped parsley and enjoy!
Note: I don’t actually add any salt to this recipe as bryndza is a very salty cheese. I find adding extra salt isn’t necessary but feel free to add some to this recipe if you want. Also there are less salty versions of bryndza so if you are using one of them then add some extra salt as well.
Beetroot Salad With Bryndza
Equipment
- 1 Pot to boil beets
- 1 Mixing Bowl to make the salad
Ingredients
- 5 medium Beets peeled and boiled
- 1 Red Onion thinly sliced
- 60 ml Olive Oil this is about 4 tablespoons and as it isn't being cooked try to find a decent quality oil for this recipe.
- 60 ml Lemon Juice this is about 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed is best but you can also use store-bought lemon juice if you want
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 200 grams Bryndza Cheese feel free to put more or less this isn't a static ingredient measurement
- Parsley for garnish and to taste
Instructions
- If you are using raw beets begin by peeling them and boiling them whole for about an hour. Then remove and let cool.
- In a bowl add your thinly sliced red onion, minced garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. Let marinate for at minimum 20 minutes, but can be longer if you want (I marinate usually as long as it takes the beets to boil and cool).
- Add a weight to the bowl to press down on the onions marinating. I used a bag filled with water but a heavy plate can also work.
- Cube the beets and chop some parsley and mix everything together. Crumble over the bryndza cheese and serve. It's important to not mix much after you add the cheese so the beet juice doesn't dye the white cheese pink.
I love brynza and in this beetroot salad it reminds me of the way my grandma would make it back in Romania. Cool to know it’s also popular in Ukraine!
Love beers. Cheese was hard to find so I used feta but the dish was delicious