Salmon Salad with Beets, Goat Cheese, and Pickled Onions

A yellow plate piled high with arugula, beets, pickled red onions, salmon, and sunflower seeds

This PCOS-friendly salad is delicious, but it’s also packed with nutrients that support women with PCOS.

Ingredients

Pickled Onions
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup water
1 cup white vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt

Roasted Beets
1 lb beets, peeled and cubed
1.5 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Salmon
1 lb salmon filet
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Remaining salad ingredients
10 c arugula or salad greens of choice
5 oz. goat cheese
2.5 tbsp sunflower seeds
10 tbsp dressing of choice (see notes)

Instructions

  1. Thinly slice your red onion and place in a large glass jar.

  2. In a small sauce pan, bring remaining pickled red onion ingredients to a boil over high heat. Stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Once dissolved, pour over red onions and set aside.

  3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  4. Peel and cube beets. Toss with 1.5 tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper to salt.

  5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread beets over the sheet. Roast for 35 - 45 minutes or until beets are easily pierced with a fork. Every 10 - 15 minutes while roasting, toss the beets around on the pan to roast evenly.

  6. In a baking dish, add the salmon and coat with 1/2 tbsp olive oil. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top. Roast for 20 - 30 minutes, depending on thickness. I like to cook until the internal temperature reaches 130, but the USDA recommends an internal temperature of 145 for the safe cooking temperature.

  7. Once the salmon and beets are roast, assemble your salads. Each salad will contain: 2 c greens, 1 oz. goat cheese, 0.5 tbsp sunflower seeds, 2 tbsp dressing, 1/5 of your beets, 1/5 of your salmon, and a small handful of pickled onion slices.

Serves 5

Notes

Substitutions
No sunflower seeds, walnuts or pumpkin seeds would be a great substitution here.

Dairy-free
Slice some avocado on top of your salads to replace the goat cheese.

Salad Dressing Options
The best salad dressing options are olive oil or avocado oil-based with no added sugar. Primal Kitchen has a lot of great options! That said, I used Trader Joe’s French Vinaigrette with Shallots, a great sugar-free salad dressing option that is a mix of canola and olive oil. If you’d like to lower the total calories of this salad, Bolthouse has some great lower calorie options, like this Avocado Green Goddess dressing.

Nutrition
Calories: 582
Total Fat: 42.3g
Total Carbohydrates: 19g
Protein: 28g
Fiber: 4.2g
Vitamin D: 1.4%
Calcium: 17.4%
Iron: 12.2%
Potassium: 34.7%
Vitamin C: 26.9%