Unless they’re folded into a dessert like this paleo carrot cake, I prefer carrots to be savory instead of dotted with raisins and creamy, sweet sauces.
Infused with tangy lemon juice, garlic and a bit of cilantro, this carrot salad recipe has a light, fresh flavor that my kids love. It’s makes a super quick side dish on busy weeknights and stores well in the fridge. I often double the recipe while I’ve got my grater and supplies already out, then serve it for lunch again the next day to simplify things.
Savory Carrot Salad Recipe
Equipment
- cheese grater
- serving bowl
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups frehs carrots (grated)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove (finely minced)
- 2 tbsp cilantro (minced)
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar (how to make apple cider vinegar)
Instructions
- Grate carrots with a cheese grater.
- Place the grated carrots into serving bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients and toss until well mixed.
Nutrition
Want more veggie side dish ideas?
Here are a few I love:
1. Coleslaw – If you’re not a fan of soggy, super-sweet slaw that is drowning in sauce, check out this crisp, fresh version. It’s sweet (but not too sweet), creamy and light with a little bit of tang. My kids love it!
2. Kale Chips – Sometime between the moment I first yelled “WHERE IS THE BABY??” while holding my firstborn and the time my third-child said “I’m not your wuggage” as I carried him to bed, I basically forgot all about kale chips. Until recently, that is, and now I can’t get enough.
3. Creamed Spinach – When it comes to helping kids fall in love with veggies, butter and cheese go a long way.
Deena Barselah
thanks! So simple and looks so good. Do you think it would work with parsley as well? Happen to be out of cilantro at the moment.
Tiffani Beckman
I’m sure you could healthy this recipe up a little – but doesn’t it look promising? Carrot Bread Pudding
Allrecipes.com
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup peeled and shredded potatoes
2 cup sugar
1 cup raisins
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
In a large mixing bowl, combine carrots, potatoes, 1 cup sugar, raisins, flour, baking soda, and spices. Transfer mixture to a ½ gallon canning jar. Secure wax paper over the top and place the filled jar in a large pot with 2 to 3 inches of water. Cover the pot and bring the water to a simmer. Steam the cake for 2 hours. Serve warm with butter sauce.
Butter sauce: In a medium-size pot, combine butter, cream, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla. Heat until the mixture is liquid. Spoon the mixture over the warm carrot pudding to serve.
Kristine Winniford
This looks great! I bet it would be great lacto-fermented too. Kind of a change up on the gingered carrots. I’ll have to try it soon!
Heather
I hadn’t thought of that! Great idea, Kristine!
Mommypotamus
Deena Barselah – Yes, I think it would! But if you like it you should definitely try it again with the cilantro sometime!
Mommypotamus
Oh man, Tiffani Beckman, that sounds amazing. Heavy whipping cream . . .. mmmmmmm!
Liz Steinklauber Ford
mmmm looks yummy!
Joy Taylor
that looks yummy~
Dianthe White Hall
my kids love carrots – i wonder if they sell grated organic carrots?? #lazymom
Christine Atkins
They totally do, I buy them all the time!
Laura Metzger
Yum!
Sarah Trease
Hmmm… I think grating carrots could be a great kids job! Wrap their hand up in a kitchen towel and get big chunky carrots. You would have to the end parts, but they could probably manage 80% . Good family fun!
Andrea Taliadoros-Hichri
So making this 2moro!!! Lol! Ax
Coreen
Oh YUM! We had this with dinner tonight. I will be making it again. Even hard-to-please DH liked it. 🙂 Thank you!
Heather
Yay, Coreen! So glad it was a hit!
zeffie
This salad is so good! We just made it for a bridal shower, my whole family loves it, Jack loves it, and we are going to modify it for fermentation. So delicious!
Heather
Woohoo! So glad it was a hit, Zeffie1
jill
just made this for a memorial day bbq – it is delicious! thanks for the recipe!
Heather
So glad you liked it, Jill!
Melinda
My 8 year old just made this. He substituted dill for cilantro and used the lemon juice. So good!!!! Great recipe thanks!!!
Heather
Yay! I bet dill would taste great!
Liz
We’ve made this several time and really enjoy it! Thanks for this recipe!
Heather
Thank you for coming back to let me know, LIz! We have some in the fridge right now 🙂
Micah
Yum! We had this with lunch today and 4 out of my 5 littles ate every bite, a couple had seconds. Of course, the carob mint “Lara bars” I made may have encouraged my pickiest eaters to eat and enjoy the carrot salad. 😉 I, for one, loved it and will certainly make it often. Very easy to put together; I used my food processor to shred the carrots since I needed it anyway for the Lara bars.
Love to cook
This is a great recipe! Thanks for posting it! I made it a while ago and came back to make it again! When I made this recipe before I first threw my carrots in the food processor, then took them out and made the recipe as stated. Super yum! Super quick! :o)
Mommypotamus
Yay, so glad you liked it! I’ve done the same thing 🙂
Jessica
Hi, I’m making this tonight for a party but just ran out of olive oil. Do you think it’ll be good with coconut oil instead?
Heather
Hi Jessica! If you store it in the fridge after mixing it up the coconut oil will harden and become crunchy – at room temp it might work though. As for the flavor, I prefer olive oil in this one 🙂
Kathryn Grace
This looks as delicious as it does easy to make. I’m adding it to my Thanksgiving day menu, and I’ve featured it as Recipe of the Day on Cooking with Whole Grains & Whole Foods on Facebook.
Thank you for a vibrant, healthy, quick recipe sure to please.
Juliane Femenella
Has anyone ever tried using a food processor to grind up the carrots? Was it too mushy? It sure would make life easier as I’m making this for a large party. I guess I’ll try & report back. Wish me luck!
Heather
Unfortunately I think that would probably make the salad really mushy. If you haven’t started yet, I recommend grating instead.