Russian Vinaigrette Salad – Healthy, Delicious and Festive

Vinaigrette is a classic festive salad in Russian Cuisine which quickly gains popularity in United States. Why lie? Vinegret is healthy, delicious and vibrant looking. It’s a staple at any Russian gathering or party, especially for New Years Eve celebration. It is also crunchy and perfect comfort food in the winter and refreshing vegetable salad in the summer.

Vinegret (or Russian vinaigrette) is very easy to make and requires only 5 basic ingredients.

Please save this photo-pin below (Pinterest-friendly pin). If you’re not making this salad right now, it will be easy to find later.

I can not wait for you to try this and let me know what you think?

Beets – 1 Large

Potatoes –  2 Large

Carrots – 2 Large

Pickles – 4 Large

Sauerkraut – 1 cup, drained

Dressing: Olive oil or Avocado oil – 2 Tbs

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional and highly recommended – Raw white or Red onion, finely chopped

Also you can use green onions or chopped dill for decoration.

1. In a medium pot, boil unpeeled beets for 1 hour or until it can easily be pierced with a knife. Or use canned beets which don’t require any cooking or ready cooked beets.

2. In a separate pot, boil potatoes and carrots about 30 minutes or until a knife goes smoothly through the potatoes.

  As a quicker alternative to boil vegetables, I use Instant Pot pressure cooker to steam vegetables. I add beets and cook it for 12 minutes on normal high pressure. Quick release. Then I add potatoes and carrots and cook together with beets on high pressure for additional 10 minutes. Quick release. The beets, potatoes and carrots should be fork soft and ready to cool and dice.

3. Drain the vegetables and Let them cool to room temp

4. Peel the skins from the potatoes, beets and carrots, than dice pickles, beets, potatoes, carrots into a small cubes. You can use a food chopper if you have any to make the process faster. Otherwise it doesn’t take long to dice cooked vegetables.  Also you can shred the beets on the food shredder instead of dicing it.

5. Combine all the chopped ingredients. Add sauerkraut, oil, salt and pepper to taste and mix all together well. Enjoy immediately and refrigerate.

Recipe notes:

2. As a quicker alternative to boil vegetables, I use Instant Pot pressure cooker to steam vegetables. I add beets and cook it for 12 minutes on normal high pressure. Quick release. Then I add potatoes and carrots and cook together with beets on high pressure for additional 10 minutes. Quick release. The beets, potatoes and carrots should be fork soft and ready to cool and dice.

3. Try to add mayo to your finished salad – tastes very smooth and delicious.

4. Optional – some people add canned drained peas or beans to the Russian vinaigrette salad. I’m not a fan of either peas or beans in my salad, so I skip these. Feel free to skip or give them a try if you like peas.

I hope you enjoy and give the Russian vinaigrette salad a try. If you decide to make it from my recipe, please snap a picture and hashtag it #TheBigAppleMama I’d love to see your creation on Facebook or Instagram