French Carrot Salad is a humble little side dish that will absolutely steal the show. I fell in love with it in Paris 10 years ago, where the French serve it with just about everything. I don’t know why this isn’t a thing in America: crisp, sweet, freshly grated carrots tossed with a super easy but PUNCHY honey-dijon dressing. It’s crunchy, zippy, a little sweet, a little tangy, and solidifies the carrot’s status as My Favorite Vegetable.
My sister Nikki is in town right now because her kids are on spring break, it’s been so much fun! We went to Yosemite on Monday, and I remembered exactly how carsick my kids get…yikes. The gorgeous waterfalls and perfect weather made up for it though.
Nikki told me that she had to get her passport renewed last year, including a new photo. It happened to be a GREAT hair day. Her passport photo is basically a glam shot.
This was a vast improvement to her previous, bad-hair-day passport photo, the one Nikki’s 17-year-old-daugher Mia said made her look, and I quote, “like a 55-year-old meth-head.”
Nikki then said, “Yeah, I’ve got both photos taped to my bathroom mirror. It helps me remember every day why it’s important to do my hair.”
Ha! Oh man. This is SUCH a good idea. If you are the kind of person who struggles to get dressed, take Nikki’s advice and remind yourself how shockingly similar you look to a 55-year-old meth-head when you don’t do your hair. (🙋♀️ noted)
Carrots are the best veggie. Fight me.
I am that person at the salad bar who is absolutely DUMPING shredded carrots all over my iceberg, and then dousing the whole thing with inappropriate amounts of ranch.
(I avoid the beets though. You know the canned beets they always have at a salad bar? When my brother and I were kids my parents took us to Home Town Buffet, and we saw that they had sliced cranberry sauce at the salad bar. Just like Mom served every Thanksgiving! What a treat! We piled our plates with it, and were shocked upon first bite to discover canned beets. Noooo!)
Anyway. Back to the shredded carrots. Shredded carrots are sweet and orange and bright and happy, plus they are already cut up into tiny pieces that I don’t have to unhinge my jaw to consume. (Have you seen that Ally McBeal episode where she breaks up with a guy because he gets dressing all over his face while taking huge bites of salad? IT’S REAL, I would have broken up with that guy too 😂)
What I’m trying to say is, carrot salad was basically designed for me. Tiny pieces, sweet and crunchy, and I don’t even have to pretend to enjoy the tasteless bits of lettuce that are getting in the way of my great salad experience. It’s just all the goods (shredded carrots) in a zippy honey dijon dressing. I’m in LOVE.
My new favorite way to eat carrots
Carrots are like the superhero of vegetables. Need a side dish for dinner? Baby carrots. Need to convince myself that the hot dogs I’m throwing at my kids for lunch are healthy? Just add carrots. Starving but it’s not dinnertime? I’m eating Lemon Bars out of the pan with a fork…carrots.
When Eric and I went to France back in 2018, we were served a carrot salad like this at several different restaurants. It wasn’t even mentioned on the menu. It was almost like the parsley we put on our dishes—an afterthought to make it look pretty. But it was actually incredible, and I soon became obsessed.
I’m also a huge lemon fan, so the super light, fresh lemon vinaigrette took it over the top for me. Oh: and the dijon. Yes please. Maybe I should start serving my kids baby carrots with mustard instead of ranch! (yes, they are going to love this! …cue the howls of protest)
This recipe is super easy to throw together. The dressing takes about 4 minutes to make, and how long do you think it takes to shred a pound of carrots? About another 5 minutes, tops. So you’re lookin at a 9 minute side dish that even the picky ones will love. YES!
My friend Sarah helped me develop this recipe. She HATES raw carrots. Like, she won’t even eat them. (See this green bean recipe for a story about the time I tried to con her into eating cafeteria vegetables and she managed to transfer them ALL to my plate while I wasn’t looking. I ate every single bite.)
So I was a little nervous for Sarah to test this recipe. But she texted me after a couple days: “Well. I like carrots now.” THAT is the power of the French! They can make anything delicious! And they didn’t even add butter to this one. Most impressive.
Happy Easter!
I’m so grateful for this time of year when we get to reflect on new beginnings. Spring is springing all around us, and it makes me think of the new life I get to live each day because of our Savior, Jesus Christ!
I’m so grateful that he died for me, but more importantly, that he lives for me! Because of him, we can live again. Because of him, we have second chances. Watch this super inspiring video. It gets me every time!
Essential ingredients
Back to the carrots:
- Use fresh lemons for the juice, it’s so much more flavorful than the stuff in the squeeze bottle.
- I like using a high quality olive oil for this recipe. Amazing flavor! You could totally use light olive oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, whatever oil you enjoy using in making homemade dressings.
- Fresh parsley adds some nice herbal flavor and it makes the salad look pretty. If you don’t have it, make the salad anyway! Part of its charm is already having everything you need to make it in the fridge and pantry.
How to make carrot salad
This is a 5 ingredient recipe, folks. Seven, if you count salt and pepper, which I actually do, so okay 7 ingredients. Not bad for a simple weeknight side dish! Or an easy afternoon lunch! I’m serious, add some grilled chicken, or a few meatballs, this is a great lunch. Here’s everything you need:
First up, use your microplane grater to zest that lemon. Lemon zest adds the BEST punch of flavor. It’s more lemony than lemon juice. I live by this stuff. Get yourself a microplane, stat. Its grates the zest to be itty bitty tiny. Juice your lemon, then add in some dijon and honey:
And don’t forget a good bit of salt. Brings out the flavor of our gorgeous carrots!
Now let me tell you something about sad herbs. Only YOU think they are sad. Perk them up with a few spritzes of water, shear off all the leaves you can, and voila:
Perfectly usable parsley. Add it to the dressing:
When you add the olive oil, you must be whisking. This is called “emulsifying.” Everyone knows that oil and water don’t get along. Well, lemon juice is mostly water, so we are whisking as they meet each other to MAKE THEM BE FRIENDS. It actually works, unlike when I try this with my kids.
Next up, start peeling carrots. I asked Sarah if she had measured the 1 pound of carrots before or after she had peeled them, and she casually said, “I don’t peel my carrots.” I was like wow, that’s the Frenchest thing I’ve ever heard of. She said, “My friend served her mission in Mauritius, and her French companion saw her peeling carrots. She yelled, “Tu massacres les carottes!” and that’s just kind of stuck with me.”
Well, whether you are a carrot massacre-er or not is up to you. It doesn’t matter either way! If you want to go au natural, you will win the hearts of carrots and French people the world over, I’m sure (until you eat them, that is.) (The carrots, not the French people)
The one thing I recommend is not to chop off the tops of your carrots. It gives you the perfect hand-hold when you are greating carrots. We don’t want to peel our knuckles off, sheesh!
1 pound of (massacred) carrots is about 3 cups.
Add it to the dressing and stir. That’s IT. You can serve it right away. It gets even better as is marinates, so an hour later or the next day is great too.
SO GOOD. Ready for your Easter plate! You could make this today and have it on Easter!
What to serve this salad with
This salad is so light and fresh, it’s perfect to serve with something rich. I’d serve it literally any night of the week (or at brunch…can you imagine this with quiche??).
- Pan Seared Salmon with Cherry Tomatoes << a one skillet meal my kids LOVE
- Butternut Squash Lasagna << my new lasagna obsession, perfect main for this salad
- Pork Chops in Creamy Mushroom Sauce << this one has asparagus, and it’s one pan…add the carrot salad and you’re now at 3 veggies for dinner. WIN
- Beef Bourguignon << time consuming and totally worth it, also the only really French dinner here?? clearly I need to be making more French food!
Storing this salad
Unlike regular lettuce salad, carrot salad doesn’t get soggy in the fridge! It will stay delicious for 3-4 days in an airtight container. The side dish that keeps on giving!
Don’t try to freeze it, it’ll just turn into mush.
More carrots for you
Christmas Recipes
Slow Cooker Brown Butter Glazed Carrots
Christmas Recipes
Sautéed Carrots and Shallots with Thyme
Easter Recipes
Roasted Carrots with Dill
Side Dish Recipes (& Veggies)
Honey Lemon Glazed Carrots
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French Carrot Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots, peeled and grated (5-6 medium carrots)
For the dressing:
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, from 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed (1 large lemon)
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, (use less salt if all you have is table salt)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly cracked
- 1/4 cup olive oil, high quality
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, zest 1 large lemon with a microplane grater, until you have about 1 teaspoon zest.
- Use a citrus reamer to juice the lemon into the same bowl. You need 1/4 cup lemon juice, so if you have small lemons, use 2 lemons.
- Add 1 tablespoon dijon mustard.
- Add 1 tablespoon honey.
- Add 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Use 1/2 teaspoon salt if you are using table salt.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste. Freshly cracked it best, if you have a pepper grinder!
- Whisk everything together.
- While whisking, slowly add 1/4 cup high quality olive oil. Make sure you whisk the whole time so that the dressing emulsifies!
- Peel 1 pound of carrots. (Or don't, and just scrub them well.)
- Grate the carrots. Don't chop off the leaf end of the carrot, that way you can use it as a handle when grating the carrots.
- Chop 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, or your favorite herb. Add the grated carrots and parsley to the bowl with the vinaigrette. Toss it all together.
- Serve right away! You have to say "voila!" when you place it in front of your guests! ;)
- Storage: This salad keeps well in the fridge for up to 5 days!
- Make ahead: You can make this salad ahead of time exactly as written. If it's for a special event, I would make it 24 hours ahead (48 hours max), as the carrots do get soggy from the dressing eventually.
- Freezing: Nope.
