This easy Raw Carrot Salad is crisp, refreshing, and bursting with flavor from lemon and fresh herbs. It's made with simple ingredients and takes only 10 minutes to make.
In fact, we love this carrot salad so much that we served it at our wedding! It paired well with our Lentil Nicoise Salad and Seared Mushroom and Creamy Garlic Pasta (recipe in our cookbook). This salad is great for entertaining because it's inexpensive and easy to scale up for a crowd.
Why you'll love this recipe
- Healthy: Not only is this raw carrot salad crunchy and refreshing, but it's also good for you! Carrots are high in fiber, low in calories, and a source of vitamin A (from beta carotene) and B vitamins.
- Make ahead friendly: You can easily prepare the dressing and salad in advance. And, leftovers taste great too. The flavors of this salad get even better as it sits.
- Versatile: This raw carrot salad pairs with just about anything! It's perfect for potlucks and entertaining. Serve this carrot salad with grain salads, lentil salads, seared halloumi cheese, burgers or sandwiches.
- Inexpensive: Carrots are a widely available, budget-friendly vegetable. So, this carrot salad is a delicious and nutritious way to feed yourself...or a crowd!
Ingredients (and substitutes)
This raw carrot salad takes just 10 ingredients. Here's what you need:
- Shredded Carrots: Pre-shredded carrots are sold in the refrigerated salad section of the grocery store. They are sometimes labelled as "matchstick carrots". Or, you can shred your own carrots using a food processor, box grater, julienne peeler, or mandoline.
- Parsley: Use flat-leaf (Italian) parsley for the best flavor. But, you could substitute curly parsley if needed.
- Dill: Fresh dill really elevates the flavors of this carrot salad. If you have extra dill to use up, make our Vegan Smashed Chickpea Sandwiches — so yummy!
- Olive Oil and Grapeseed Oil: Olive oil provides good flavor, but it solidifies in the fridge. So, this recipe mixes it with grapeseed oil to prevent this from happening. You could substitute the grapeseed oil with another neutral vegetable oil, such as sunflower or canola oil. Just make sure it doesn't solidify when cold.
Find the recipe card below for the complete recipe, including all ingredients and instructions.
Check out these other carrot recipes: Spring Roll Salad, Sesame Soba Noodle Salad, Thai Green Curry Fried Rice, and Morning Glory Breakfast Muffins.
How to make (step-by-step photos)
This raw carrot salad is so easy to make! All it takes are two simple steps:
Find the recipe card below for the complete recipe, including all ingredients and instructions.
Tips
- Pre-shredded carrots save time: When we make this carrot salad recipe, we usually buy packages of shredded carrots from the store. It keeps prep time down to mere minutes!
- Best way to shred carrots at home: If you prefer to shred your own carrots at home, then we recommend using a food processor for speed. Or, if you have more time...a julienne peeler makes for pretty carrot strands and is safer to use than a mandoline.
- Serve the salad cold if you can: This salad is most refreshing when served cold. You can prepare the dressing in advance and store it in the fridge. Carrots are typically refrigerated too. So it's pretty easy to serve this salad cold...whether you make it in advance or right before serving.
- Add protein to make it a meal: The recipe as written is better suited as a side dish. But, you could easily add a protein of your choice to make it more filling.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, this recipe can be made in advance. To retain the brightest colour in the carrots, combine with the dressing just before serving. Over time, the dressing's acidity (from the lemon juice) will dull the color of the carrots. But, the salad will still taste just as great, so leftovers keep well too!
For raw applications, we recommend peeling carrots since the outer skin tends to be tougher. That said, for this recipe, you'll save the most time by buying pre-shredded carrots—which come peeled and ready to use.
This raw carrot salad makes for the perfect side dish—especially for potlucks and barbecues. It pairs well with Roasted Veggie Sandwiches, BBQ Pulled Mushroom Sandwiches, Chipotle Black Bean Burgers, and Oven Baked Falafel.
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review below!
📖 Recipe
Raw Carrot Salad
Ingredients
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons honey (see note 1)
- ¾ teaspoons fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne (optional)
- 2 (10 oz / 283g) packages shredded carrots (see note 2)
- ¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill
Instructions
- Mix dressing: In a large bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, grapeseed oil, dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper, and cayenne (if using).
- Combine: Add carrots, then toss until well coated in dressing. Add parsley and dill. Toss again to combine. Taste and season with more salt, if needed. Serve immediately or refrigerate to keep cold.
Notes
- Honey: If you're vegan and don't consume honey, you could substitute maple syrup instead.
- Shredded carrots: You can usually find bags of pre-shredded carrots in the refrigerated salad section of the grocery store. Alternatively, you could shred carrots yourself using a food processor, box grater, julienne peeler, or mandoline. If shredding your own carrots, start with 24 oz (680g) of whole carrots to account for loss after peeling/trimming.
- Yield: Recipe makes about 6 cups.
- Make ahead / Storage tips: The dressing can be made and refrigerated up to 2 days in advance. Then simply combine before serving. Store extra salad in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The acidity in the dressing will dull the color of the carrots slightly, but the salad will still be delicious!
Stella D says
Made this for book club and the ladies all loved it! So fresh and healthy. Will be making again. Thanks
bri says
Hi Stella! So glad the book club ladies loved this salad. Thanks for sharing!