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This crunchy grated carrot salad is the perfect snack or side dish to use up any extra carrots or boost the amount of fiber you eat in a day. The carrots and healthy fats give you a nice afternoon burst of energy. The lemon and orange also brighten it up because we could all use a little extra sunshine in our lives.
The beta carotene found in carrots makes them orange and is great for eye health. They are naturally sweet yet low in natural sugar. The nutrients in carrots may help protect the body from several kinds of cancer.
Carrot Salad Tips
I created this salad for my Plant-Based Cleanse as a nourishing snack recipe. It’s not really main event material yet it works perfectly as a snack.
- If you decide to buy whole carrots, you can grate them yourself. This adds more carrot flavor to the dish (store-bought shredded carrots save time, but you’ll lose out on some of the flavor).
- Up the protein in this salad by adding chickpeas or extra sunflower seeds.
- Toast the sunflower seeds for a richer flavor
- Top with fresh fruit if you want more of a classic French carrot salad.
QUick Tip
Make multiple servings of this Carrot Salad and store in small snack-size containers to grab and go all week when you’re feeling hungry in between meals.
More Healthy Carrot Recipes
If you love this grated carrot salad, use the rest of the bag in your fridge or pull some more from the garden to use in these recipes:
Don’t forget to rate + review this recipe once you’ve made it. I can’t wait to read how yours turned out!
Crunchy Carrot Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- ¼ cup cilantro stems removed and chopped
- ¼ cup raw sunflower seeds
- dash ground black pepper
- dash sea salt
Dressing
- 2 tbsp orange juiced
- 2 tbsp lemon juiced
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Whisk together orange juice, lemon juice and olive oil. Set aside.
- Combine carrot strips, cilantro and sunflower seeds on a plate.
- Drizzle dressing over salad. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
- You can use whole carrots and grate them for stronger flavor.
- Swap out the sunflower seeds with hemp hearts (still nut-free) or sliced almonds.
- Does cilantro taste like soap to you? If so, use parsley instead.
- Feel free to use the carrots of your choice. When I created this salad for my Plant-Based Cleanse, I used rainbow carrots because they’re fun!
Nutrition
Carrot Salad FAQs
Carrots contain beta carotene, fiber, potassium and antioxidants. Talk about nutrient-loaded!
The carrot salad you knew as a child is probably a French Carrot salad. It often includes fruit and is used as a side dish. Feel free to add fresh apples or raisins to my version!
While this salad is at its best eaten right away, you can refrigerate it for a few days and have as a quick snack.
Tasty! Very easy and quick.
Salad Challenge: Day 8. Simple, clean flavours and very tasty.
Couldnt have the salad as a whole meal because I didnt think it would fill me up so I added spinach, sugar snap peas, cucumbers, olives and it was a good hearty meal after a workout. Feeling full but light at the same time! Dressing wasnt as good but So i changed it to the pasta salad dressing and it was bomb!
Wow, way to make it your own. Great ideas on adding in more veggies and dressing you already made!
Not my favorite.
I Loved The Bright Beautiful Color. I Like Carrots Whole, Sliced, Shredded And Diced 🙂 The Orange And Lemon Dressing Was Simple Yet Delicious. I Topped My Salad With Thinly Sliced Almonds And Raisins. I Will Make This Salad Again.
I didn’t like this one, the cilantro tasted odd in the dressing and the raw carrot tasted odd
Not crazy about this one. I served this as a side dish alongside Trader Joe’s Thai Sweet Chili Veggie Burgers. I love that it’s colorful and easy to make, but my family was not impressed.
So fresh and crunchy indeed! The simplicity of this salad allowed the bright fresh flavours to shine. A quick and easy side salad for any day of the week!
Salad was good and orange in dressing nice. We thought was missing something and added strawberries about 1/2 way thru. Good not in top 3 but good
Crunchy Carrot Salad was so simple and delicious! Perfect side for everything! The dressing was bright and flavorful.
I like that this salad was super simple to make and had a great crunchy texture. It is a little bland on flavor, so I added some extra veggies and spices to give it more flavor.
This salad was called simple with 3 ingredients, but it is definitely missing something. Swapped parsley for cilantro. The dressing was light and zippy.
i enjoyed this. its a good substitution for cole slaw
Enjoyed how simple this was and overall refreshing. We shared this with a friend who enjoyed it as well.
I love carrots but this isn’t a dish I would make again. The dressing was just too acidic for my liking.
Unfortunately was not a fan of this one. Don’t like cilantro so it was really just carrots and sunflower seeds. The dressing was good and refreshing. Think this would be better as a “coleslaw” type dish or added to a sandwich or something.
Substituted butternut squash instead of using carrots due to allergy. Very simple salad to make and dressing is good. Just didn’t seem to have the appeal as yesterday’s salad with so much variety in it.
Adding it to a sandwich or wrap even is a great idea!
This salad was just ok. Hubby didn’t care for it at all. Said too many carrots. Just ok for me.