This Russian herring dish is sometimes referred to as “Herring under the Winter Coat Salad.” It is a requirement for every Russian holiday, but you must enjoy herring and beets. This salad is a favorite among Russians, but my American husband doesn’t like it. For this salad, I used a clear bowl so that you could see all of the ingredients.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 55 mins |
| Servings: | 20 |
| Yield: | 10 cups |
Ingredients
- 3 whole russet potatoes
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 2 beets, washed with tops and bottoms removed
- ½ yellow onion, chopped
- 1 (12 ounce) jar herring fillets, packed in oil
- 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
- salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook potatoes, carrots, and beets in boiling water until cooked but still firm, 15 to 20 minutes for potatoes, 25 to 30 minutes for carrots, and 40 minutes for beets. Allow each to cool to the touch before further handling. Remove and discard skins from potatoes and beets. Shred potatoes, carrots, and beets, keeping them separate.
- Arrange about half the onions and half the herring fillets in a layer in the bottom of a bowl. Cover the layer with about half of grated potatoes, then a layer of about half the carrots, and finally about half the beets. Spread about 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise over salad; season with salt and pepper. Repeat layers in the same order to finish building salad. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour. Serve cold.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 120 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 8 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 3 g |
| Saturated Fat | 1 g |
| Sodium | 175 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
If you’re not from Ukraine or Russia (like my husband is), this salad sounds really gross (like to me, from NJ!), but he LOVES it. He and his friends go crazy for this wacky herring, beet, mayonnaise salad! Definitely give it a try, the recipe is perfect! It makes a big mess but it’s worth it 🙂
I followed this recipe to the letter, and it was absolutely delicious! My daughter’s mother-in-law usually comes for Thanksgiving and brings this, but of course they can’t come this year. I’m so addicted to it I figured I’d try it. I really don’t know if it tastes the same as the mother-in-laws recipe, but it turned out pretty darn well and my son-in-law was even impressed! I think the only difference was that I used herring in a cream sauce, because that’s the only thing available in this area of Maine, not surprisingly. But it was great!
This is amazing! I have made this recipe many times. Most recently I had a big jar of pickles herring with onion on hand so I used that and didn’t have to add any extra onion. I rinsed the herring and onion well before using. I sliced the beets, carrots and potato thinly instead of grating them because you can then cut the salad into squares and serve on a bed of greens for a fantastic presentation. I have also started to use tzatziki instead of mayo or sour cream because it goes so well with the beets and herring.
I forgot to cut the herring in to bites sizes… But my husband being Russian loved it.. I think I would do it a little different next time.
Per others’ suggestions, I spread a mixture of 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 mayo between each layer (which came to about a cup of each). I bought herring filets packaged in oil with onion so the onions were already soft and mild. I chopped the filets to match the onion size and spread together for the first layer. I also sprinkled garlic powder, salt and pepper on each veggie layer. It was a hit with my Russian family.
This “Russian Beet Salad with Herring” totally rocks! I love it! Please serve it to me for my birthday!!! 😉 Thank you Evgeniya for sharing your recipe.
Excellent holiday salad. My American husband loves it. I do layers in slightly different order: potatoes, herring, onions, carrots, beets then repeat. My American neighbor thinks it goes well with wine, beer or any kind of liquor, so I make a small dish just for her around the holidays.
This is very similar to the way my made it. Yummy Shuna
great!! Didn’t change anything.
I’m not Russian myself, but my wife’s family is from Ukraine and I just fell in love with this salad. I make it almost on a weekly basis and it’s great for those who love fish, and if you don’t, you can make it with chopped chicken breasts or thighs instead of the herring.
It is strange that this recipe has onions in it. I am from the Baltic States where people eat a lot of this “salad” and we never use onion. Instead of pure mayonnaise we use a mix of mayonnaise and sour cream, not so fat and the taste is much better and the salad juicier. Besides- when layering is done we put crushed boiled eggs on top (they should look like grated). Fresh chopped dill can be added, too.
I did not care for this.
This “Russian Beet Salad with Herring” was one of the most delicious and beautiful salads that I have ever had. I wish that I could give it 10 stars! I made mine with BUBBIES herring, which I understand is a high-end brand. I used only the onion that was packed with the herring (although I chopped it finely) since I don’t especially like raw onion in salad. I also garnished my salad with hard-boiled eggs and herbs as per Sasha’s photo. I can hardly wait to make this again! Thank you Evgeniya for sharing your recipe.
Good for using summer trout (which isn’t my favorite) and making something tasty!
russian food the best was so good
NICE! I love Shuba!
Original name of this salad is “pod shuboi”-Herring under the Winter Coat. Use to love it back in russia! Where can i find herring fillets in oil? PLS help!!!! Can’t wait to make this salad!!
To remove excess salt herring, it must be cleaned and put it on 30 minutes in the milk. And to remove the bitterness of the onion, chop it and place it in the boiling water. Even sometimes add a thin layer of sweet-sour apple. It’s not for everybody.
My favorite Russian Salad!
My darling and I ran into a 2.50$ pack of smoked herring in the store, sniffed it and were transfixed. We had some leftovers of potato salad (with onion, lemon and vinegar) from the previous day, so I invested 1$ in a can of beets and microwaved the remaining baby carrots that were counting days on the bottom of our fridge. As the herrings were hellishly salty, I soaked them in water for 20-30 min and only used three pieces. I had some sour cream, so I added it to one of the potato layers. I also boiled two eggs and added them on top, with a thin layer of mayo, a pinch of dried parsley and two (leftover) lemon slices for decoration. I haven’t added any more salt nor pepper, except for what was already in the potato salad and herrings. It was DIVINE. I will make this many times in the future. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
My Grandmother makes a similar salad like this, she says it’s Slovenian, but I’m thinking she borrowed it from Russia. I’ve got a great recipe for Borscht Moskovsky that I made to go along with this.