This tasty couscous beetroot and feta salad is the perfect recipe to make with leftover couscous and cooked beetroot. It makes a great light meal that's perfect for picnics and packed lunches.

I love leftovers. If possible I try to always make enough so there's something for the next day. Sometimes I'll just eat the leftovers exactly as they are. For example curries and soups are brilliant just reheated. Do check out my Cook Once Eat Twice page for more inspiration.
A tasty meal from leftovers!
Other times I'll use the leftovers of a few different meals to put together something new. That is exactly what I did with this salad. I had leftover couscous, leftover cooked beetroot and even leftover feta from another meal.
That meant that this salad was quickly and easily thrown together in less than 5 minutes. Even so, it was no less tasty for that. Beetroot and feta is a brilliant combination and with the light lemon dressing it's perfect as a lunchtime meal.
It's healthy but still filling so you won't be feeling hungry an hour later.
This beetroot and feta salad is perfect all year round!
Some salads are very summery but this beetroot and feta salad recipe is perfect all year round. It's the kind of salad that is very easy to take to work as a packed lunch or to put in a picnic.
It's also easy to adapt to suit the ingredients you have to hand. Do check out my suggestions further down this post.
An easy recipe to scale up
The quantities in this recipe are just for one person but it's very easy to scale up. Don't feel you have to use exactly the same quantities. As I said earlier, this salad was first developed in order to use up leftovers.
It was also a recipe for me to enjoy some of the foods my husband is not keen on! Beetroot is just one of them so I often have leftovers.
How could you adapt this recipe?
Ultimately you could swap almost any of the ingredients in this salad but still have a brilliant recipe. The couscous could be substituted for another leftover carb such as pasta, rice or bulgur wheat.
The beetroot could be replaced by roasted butternut squash or sweet potato. The feta could be replaced by another cheese. I often use Cheshire cheese in salads like this as its crumbliness works really well. It's also good for those who like milder cheeses.
The sunflower seeds could be replaced by pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds.
If you don't have any lemons or lemon juice then vinegar is absolutely fine.
Ok, if you make all these substitutions you won't really have the same salad but it will still be totally scrumptious as well as being a healthy filling meal.
How long does this salad keep for?
If you want you can make a big batch of this salad and store it in the fridge for a few days. It'll keep for about three days although it's best eaten when freshly prepared.
The toasted sunflower seeds will lose their crunchiness and absorb the moisture from the salad and the beetroot juice will colour the rest of the salad ingredients so it won't look so good. However, that is definitely not a reason for me to stop eating it!
Recipe
Couscous Beetroot and Feta Salad
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoon cooked couscous
- 2 small cooked beetroot cubed
- 30 g feta
- 1 spring onion
- 8 basil leaves
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Toast the sunflower seeds in a dry pan. Keep shaking the pan so they don't burn. Take them out when they begin to turn golden.
- Put the couscous on a plate and pile all the ingredients on top. Season and top with a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin this couscous beetroot and feta salad for later!
More Filling Salad Recipes
I love filling substantial salads that are still healthy. In fact, I've even got a recipe collection just for main course salads! Here are just few of the recipes I recommend:
You might also like my beetroot and goats cheese salad.
Keep in touch
Do let me know if you try this beetroot salad recipe and if you made any changes. I love to get feedback from readers.
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Places I'm sharing this couscous beetroot and feta salad
Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by me, Corina, here at Searching for Spice.
Andy Bishop
What a beautiful salad. Thank you for sharing the recipe, Corina. Any replacements for beetroot?
Corina Blum
I'm so pleased you like it. I think this would be delicious with roasted sweet potato instead of beetroot! Let me know if you try it.
Eb Gargano | Easy Peasy Foodie
WOW! This looks so delicious. Exactly the sot of thing I would love to eat for my lunch. Really love the beetroot / feta combo. Make my mouth water just thinking about it! Eb x
Corina Blum
Thanks Eb! This is a very typical lunch for me. x
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food
I have had a lifelong struggle with beetroot. My earliest memories of it emerged from a can, but later in life I remember a spectacularly awful borscht. I'm all about earthy flavor, but to me, most preparations of beetroot far exceed that moniker: MUD is far more appropriate, IMO. But, I finally made it myself a few years back, and it was not awful. I'm anxious to try your salad because you have a lot of powerful, tangy flavors happening here that will no doubt perfectly offset the beetroot. And it's gorgeous, so I can't wait to try it!
Corina Blum
I'm so pleased you like the sound of it Michelle, especially given your past experience of it! Funnily enough I hated beetroot when I was younger but then I lived in Poland for a couple of years and discovered just how much I loved borscht. That then meant I was happy to try beetroot again in other ways!
Jacqui Bellefontaine
I love the combination of feta and beetroot. This salad would also work well with freekeh which is my new found grain that I really like
Corina Blum
I've heard such a lot about freekeh but I haven't actually tried it yet. I'm sure I'd love it as I do like different grains.
Mandy
This looks really lovely - beetroot and feta go really well together don't they and with the cous cous too it looks like a lovely filling salad.
Corina Blum
Thanks Mandy! Beetroot and feta are brilliant together and great for lunches at home.
Karen
What a FABULOUS looking salad! I LOVE beetroot and feta as a combination and that looks amazing!
Juliana
Great combination of ingredients Corina, like the beets and the feta cheese. Beautiful and perfect as a meal with couscous.
Have a great week ahead 🙂
[email protected]
Just my kind of salad, gorgeous. Can I come to yours for lunch! x
vianneyrodriguez
Yummy!! healthy and packed with flavor!! thanks for stopping by my blog!
Mari
Yum! I love all of those ingredients and it looks spectacular too with all that colour!
Karen
Sounds like a healthy as well as a pretty salad.
Janice
What a lovely salad, so many different textures and full of flavour. I love sunflower seeds in salad, they add such a nice crunchy finish.
Katerina
This is an extra healthy extra tasty salad. The addition of couscous makes it filling as well. Have a great weekend!
gillbla
Sounds like maternity leave is suiting you rather well! Thanks very much for taking part in FFF