This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Table of Contents
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.
I was pleasantly surprised with the flavors in this carrot salad. Thought it would be plain but I enjoyed it very much.
Never thought the combo of cilantro and carrots would taste so good.
not bad I added some mustard to dressing
Quick and easy. An otherwise bland salad was transformed with this dressing. I made exactly as the recipe calls, but would like to experiment by adding different toppings next time. Was a bit cold and rainy here, so I made this to go with a vegetable barley soup.
Pairing this salad with soup is a perfect idea!
good and crunchy! family loved it. the dressing has a tang . dry toast the sunflower seeds if raw and want more flavor.
Great salad. Nice flavors. Simple to make. I used it as a side dish to vegan Broccoli soup, from the 10 day soup challenge.
Way to totally RAWK it!
This was okay but not my favorite. I used hemp seeds and added left over quinoa. Next time I will add some roasted chickpeas and that may make all the difference.
Pretty good salad. Much easier to make than the pasta salad. I think I would like it even more with raisins as someone else did.
Loved it! Simple and delicious
A delicious little salad. However I feel like it should only be a side or served as a topping to something else -Tacos maybe. Or just roast the carrots and add everything after. Still I very much enjoyed drinking the dressing in the bottom of my bowl. Yum!
Yum, tacos! Gotta love drinking the dressing from the bottom of the bowl!
I liked the citrus flavor the dressing added. This would be a good side dish salad. For one of my servings I added raisins, cause I love raisins and carrots. This was especially nice because I used my own grown carrots.
Tried this recipe on the 10 day salad challenge. I am not a big fan of raw carrots but this was pretty good. I used a vegetable peeler to peel straps of carrot which was a lot of work. Grating them probably would have been easier and faster.
The salad was very simple with delicious flavors. However, I feel like I was missing something.
My boyfriend definitely didn’t enjoy this salad as much as the rest.
I always love eating variations of carrot salad. I got into it after a friend suggest I try it last year. I love peeling the carrots and eating them as salad. The suggestion to try hemp seeds was a cool new idea!
I love the blend of cilantro and carrot