Perfect Make-Ahead Cold Appetizers With Avocado & Beet

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This appetizer looks like it belongs on the table of a fine dining restaurant. Sliced paper-thin and fanned out on the plate, with a light soy-sesame dressing drizzled on top — it’s one of those dishes that earns genuine reactions when people see it. The best part? It takes about 20 minutes, costs almost nothing, and can be prepared entirely ahead of time. The beet keeps for days in the fridge. The avocado is sliced at serving time. Done.

Why You Should Try This

The taste is fresh and packed with flavour. It’s a beautiful presentation dish — elegant without effort. For vegetarians and anyone who can’t eat salmon sashimi, this is the showstopper appetizer that replaces it. The paper-thin slices create the visual of sashimi without the fish, and the beet and avocado together provide a combination of earthy depth and creamy richness that works surprisingly well.

It’s also one of the most make-ahead-friendly dishes you’ll find. Cooked beet keeps in the fridge for up to a week. Prep the beet on Sunday, and this appetizer can be on the table in 5 minutes on any night of the week.

Ingredients Deep-Dive

Ingredients

Beets — Colour, Nutrition, Flavour

It took me a while to fully appreciate beets. The earthy, slightly sweet flavour is distinctive and takes some getting used to. Now I love them — the colour they bring to a plate is unmatched, and the nutritional profile is genuinely impressive. Beets are excellent for blood pressure regulation and athletic performance. I add them to recovery smoothies after hard workouts. For this appetizer, use large red beets — they produce the most dramatic colour and hold their shape well after cooking.

Nutritionally, beets are low in calories, high in folate, and rich in dietary nitrates that improve blood flow. They’re one of those ingredients where eating them feels like an act of care for your body.

Avocado — Good Fat, Creamy Texture

Avocado brings monounsaturated fat — the kind that actively helps lower LDL cholesterol. It’s satiating without being heavy, and its mild, buttery flavour is the perfect counterpoint to the earthy beet. Select avocados that are just ripe — they should yield slightly to gentle pressure but not feel mushy. Overripe avocados won’t hold their shape when sliced thin. An interesting fact: the avocado was first domesticated in Puebla, Mexico — the city where I currently live.

The Soy Sauce Dressing

Simple and versatile. Soy sauce provides the salt and umami backbone; sesame oil adds a toasted nuttiness; white vinegar brings brightness; olive oil adds body; sugar balances. Together they produce a dressing that tastes specifically right with this dish — neither heavy nor watery, and it soaks into the thinly sliced beet and avocado beautifully. Use Kikkoman soy sauce as the benchmark — it’s consistently balanced and available everywhere.

The dressing recipe comes in two sizes: a small serving for 2–4 people, and a larger ±1 cup batch for parties. Both are included in the recipe card below.

Pro Tips for Perfect Results

Pro Tip 1: How to Cook the Beets

Peel the beet with a vegetable peeler, cut off the ends, and halve. Place in a pot, cover with water, and boil for 10 minutes. Then drain and let the beets cool inside the covered pot — this way the residual steam keeps the beet moist rather than drying it out. You want it fully cooked but still juicy and firm enough to slice paper-thin. A good stainless saucepan with a tight lid makes this step easy. Refrigerate the cooked beet covered until needed — it keeps for up to a week.

Pro Tip 2: How to Slice Paper-Thin

Place the beet or avocado flat-side down on the cutting board. Use a long, sharp knife and slice as thin as you possibly can, keeping the slices in order as you cut. When you lift the knife, the slices will try to stick to the blade — use a finger to guide them back down onto the cutting board. Once the whole vegetable is sliced, gently squeeze the sides to fan the slices out into a cascading shape. From here you can arrange them in a long line, a wave, or roll sections into a rose. Wash the knife and board between the beet and avocado so beet colour doesn’t transfer.

Serving Ideas

This appetizer is extraordinarily versatile at the table. It works beautifully alongside our Fresh Beet Pasta for a beet-themed dinner that looks deliberately styled. For BBQ parties, pair it with our Fall-Off-the-Bone Ribs — the fresh, cold appetizer contrasts wonderfully against warm, smoky meat. Place on a bed of lettuce or micro-greens to elevate the presentation further.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far ahead can I prepare this?

The beet can be cooked and refrigerated up to a week in advance. The dressing can be made 3–4 days ahead. Slice the avocado only when you know serving time is close — avocado browns quickly once cut. To preserve sliced avocado for a few hours, squeeze lime juice over it immediately after slicing and keep covered in the fridge. Don’t slice the avocado the night before; it won’t look as fresh.

How do I keep the avocado from browning?

Squeeze fresh lime juice over every cut surface immediately. This slows oxidation significantly. Keep the sliced avocado covered with plastic wrap pressed directly against the surface — minimising air contact is the key. Even with lime juice, sliced avocado is best used within 2–3 hours of cutting.

Can I serve this as a main dish?

As an appetizer it serves 4–6 people generously. As a light main for 2, it works beautifully alongside a bowl of soup or a slice of crusty bread. Add a soft-boiled egg on top and it becomes a more substantial vegetarian plate.

What if I can’t slice the vegetables thin enough?

A mandoline slicer will produce perfectly uniform paper-thin slices with minimal effort. Set it to 1–2mm thickness. Exercise caution with the finger guard — mandolines are notoriously sharp. If you’re slicing by hand, a thin-bladed knife (a Japanese-style gyuto or slicing knife) works much better than a thick chef’s knife for this task.

Is this keto-friendly?

Avocado is keto-friendly. Beet contains more natural sugar, so strict keto followers may want to limit the portion. For the dressing, omit the sugar and use a low-sodium soy sauce or tamari. The resulting dish is still flavourful and satisfying. Sesame oil and olive oil remain in the dressing and keep the fat content high, which is appropriate for keto.

Can I add other vegetables to the sashimi plate?

Yes. Thinly sliced cucumber, radish, or yellow beet all work beautifully alongside red beet and avocado. Cucumber adds crunch and freshness; radish adds a peppery bite; yellow beet provides a softer flavour than red while maintaining the visual contrast. A plate with all four becomes a genuine centrepiece.

Delicious Make-ahead Beet and Avocado Sashimi Appetizer

Print Recipe Pin RecipePrep Time:10 minsCook Time:10 mins

Ingredients

• 2 large beets
• 2 ripe avocado

Small Serving Soy Sauce Dressing

• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp white sugar

± 1 Cup Serving Soy Sauce Dressing

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• ¼ cup white vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup white sugar

Instructions

To Cook the Beet

• Using a vegetable peeler, take out the skin of the beet and cut the ends off. Split it in half.
• Place the beets inside a pot and fill it up with water until the beets are covered. Place the lid on top. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain and let the beets cool inside the pot with the lid on.

Arranging the Salad

• Use a paper towel to dry the beets, and place the beet flat side down on the cutting board. With a very sharp and thin knife, carefully slice the beet. When you lift the knife, the thinly sliced beet will try to stick to the knife. Use a finger to stop the sheet from falling out and place it back in the beet in the same arrangement. Slice the following slice and try to keep it has thin as possible. Repeat until the whole beet is thinly sliced.
• Using the same methodology, slice the avocados. Remember to wash the board and knife so the beet colour doesn't stick to the avocado.
• Fan out beet and avocado slices so that they form a long line with the slices overlapping each other. I usually remove the small slices from the ends because they are difficult to shape. Starting from one end, curl avocado slices toward the center, until I get a wave.
• Use a piece of leaf or anything decorative to place it on the plate. Then place the beet and avocado sashimi on top.

Dressing

• Combine all the ingredients together and place it in a cup. When you're about to add it to the salad, give it a good shake or stir and drizzle it on top of the avocado and beet.

Notes

• to keep the avocado from browning, squeeze the juice of the lime on top of the avocado to preserve it from browning. Still, cut the avocado when you know serving time is almost there. Try not to cut it the day before like the beets. They don’t preserve the same.
• Keto Diet: for the soy sauce take out the sugar for keto friendly dressing