French Carrot Salad
This French carrot salad recipe is simple and fresh! You'll need carrots, olive oil, lemon, honey, cumin, parsley and chives. Chickpeas are optional but recommended.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 12, 2024
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I never knew I’d be so excited about a raw carrot salad. Then again, I’m not sure I’ve ever had French carrot salad before! Have you? Carrot salads are ubiquitous in France and we’ve been missing out.
I’m generally a fan of big, bold flavor, but French carrot salad (salade de carottes râpées) is a delicate balance of sweet raw carrot, tangy lemon juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard and herbs. This carrot salad is a lesson in restraint and tastes more complex than it is.
I discovered this carrot salad at French Market in Kansas City. The girls behind the counter always have French accents, so you know the restaurant is legit.
They offer a variety of pre-made salads and sandwiches, and I couldn’t resist the glowing orange carrot salad. Their version includes chickpeas, which offer some protein and bulk.
I was really surprised by how much I loved that fresh, crisp-tender, sweet-and-savory carrot salad, so here we are. French carrot salad is a lovely side dish to offer at picnics, in packed lunches, with sandwiches, and so on.
French Carrot Salad Preparation Tips
The carrots account for this recipe’s predominant flavor and texture. French Market’s carrot salad features tiny, short slivers of carrot that readily absorb dressing but are difficult to achieve at home. David Lebovitz suggests they’re using a discontinued rotary grater by the brand Moulinex, so I gave up on exactly matching their texture.
Here are your options:
- You can achieve a similar texture by using a julienne peeler (affiliate link) in short strokes like I did for these photos, but it’s tedious work.
- You can also run the carrots through your food processor with the grating attachment.
- Or, grate the carrots on the medium-to-large holes of your box grater.
- The smallest option on your spiralizer might work, too—please report back if you try!
Don’t stress about how you grate your carrots. I think you’ll enjoy this salad no matter what.
Watch How to Make French Carrot Salad
Carrot Salad Serving Suggestions
This carrot salad packs up beautifully for lunch, picnics and potlucks. Serve it with sandwiches, creamy dips or soups, or more fresh salads. Here are a few suggestions:
- Caprese Sandwich
- Favorite Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- The Best Hummus
- Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup
- Cream of Broccoli Soup
- Pesto Pasta Salad
Please let me know how you like this carrot salad in the comments. I love hearing from you! If you’re interested in another carrot salad option, you must try my Roasted & Raw Carrot Salad with Avocado.
French Carrot Salad
This French carrot salad recipe is simple and fresh! You’ll need carrots, olive oil, lemon, honey, cumin, parsley and chives. Chickpeas are optional but recommended. Recipe yields 4 servings.
Ingredients
Carrot salad
- 1 pound carrots, peeled
- 2 tablespoons finely snipped chives or chopped green onion
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- Optional: 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- To prepare the carrots: You can grate them on the large holes of a box grater, or use short strokes with a julienne peeler, or process them in a food processor fitted with a grating attachment. You’ll end up with about 3 cups grated carrots.
- Place the carrots in a medium serving bowl. Add the chives, parsley and optional chickpeas to the bowl.
- To make the dressing, whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl until completely blended.
- Pour the dressing over the carrot mixture and stir until the mixture is evenly coated in dressing. For best flavor, allow the salad to marinate for 20 minutes before serving. Toss again before serving. This salad keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for about 4 days.
Notes
Recipe inspired by French Market in Kansas City.
Make it vegan: Substitute maple syrup for the honey.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
this was fantastic! and just as good a few days later. the amount of dressing was exactly perfect for the amount of salad. the chickpeas were key and love the different textures. i used green onion and upped the cumin just a bit. thank you!
What a brilliant salad. So healthy and refreshing. Its so simple to make.
Great salad and the dressing was a perfect match. Thanks.
You’re welcome, Geri! Thank you for your review.
I was short one ingredient, honey. I substituted orange marmalade. The salad was absolutely delicious. I did my carrots with my Pampered Chef spiralizer and they were perfect. I’ll be making it again this weekend.
I think that is a great idea, Connie! Thank you for sharing.
M&S used to do a version of this with almond flakes and sultanas. A friend made some at a bbq on Saturday and I had to find a recipe. I have tried over the years to make but never got the dressing right. This works really well with the fruit and nut rather than chick peas – no chives as we have an allergy in the family. Taste and texture delicious. Thank you for my new favourite summer salad :)
Yes! A new favorite. Thank you for sharing, Candy!
Didn’t have chives or parsley, but it is just delicious. Nice to get a recipe from my old stomping grounds, Kansas City!
This French carrot salad is a huge hit in our carrot-loving family! I left out the chives/onion (not a fan) and it was still delicious. One reviewer says this salad complements fish cakes, so we’ll be having that for dinner soon. I’m working my way through the ’29 epic salads’ page.
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Steph. What a great idea to work through one of the round ups. Keep letting me know what you think!
Needed a quick side dish to some yummy crispy halibut and found this. The addition of the chick peas added a nice layer and counterpart to the carrots. The dressing was really delicious and emulsified so super creamy. Will do this again since everyone had seconds and thirds.
I adore this salad. I make it all the time and have had no desire to look at any other carrot salad recipes. Just noticed the comment about trying to make long strings and maybe that would be professional and French but have no idea how to do that and it tastes just fine put through the grating disc of the food processor
I made this recipe as I was on a quest to use up 5-lbs of carrots my husband bought at the wholesale club. It’s awesome! I loved the crunch of the chickpeas and deep flavor of the cumin. I’ve made it a couple times now and it keeps very well in the fridge. I admit I did add a bit more honey (1 T). Very light and tasty salad/slaw. Thank you.
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Nancy.
This tastes way better without cumin. I found out by accident when I didn’t have any. 5 stars without cumin, 3 stars with.
Lovely and refreshing salad! I left out the chick pease (husband is not a fan) and increased the cumin. Nice alternative to mayo based salad
I like to add a grated apple, some mint and raisins. especially the mint makes this super tasty!
Thanks for this recipe, I’ve made it more times than i care to count. It’s absolutely delicious.
I’m excited you liked it, Jeanette! Thank you for your review.
Hello and thanks for your recipes. I tried the French Carrot Salad. I followed the recipe exactly. Even went and bought expensive honey. While this recipe may be perfect in France (lol), in Canada it went directly from the table to the food recycle bin. Absolutely no one at the table liked it.
Hi Carol, I’m sorry you didn’t like this salad. I appreciate your feedback. Sounds like this one just wasn’t for you.
My green onions went bad and I was too lazy to even wash/chop the herbs I did have (cilantro), so I swapped in finely-chopped red onion and skipped herbs altogether but did have chickpeas ready. It’s perfect in its simplicity — would be a great clean-feeling alternative to coleslaw, IMO!
Awesome, Kate. Love the flavors and especially a new way to eat more carrots. I gave away my expensive Kuhn Rikon julienner due to arthritis in my hands and wrists. Bought an OXO julienner that’s soooo much easier to use. Fat comfy handle, very sharp teeth and blade, with a safety cover that flips on and off. On Amazon for a very reasonable price.
I also made your tahini sauce today — OMG so yummy — will leave a comment on that page later.
So happy I found your blog. You always enrich my life with your great work!
Thank you for sharing! I do like the OXO products I have. I appreciate your review!
Hi Kate, I’ve seen this recipe with currants added into it and it’s just delicious. Love your recipes as do our whole family xx Happy Easter
Deliciousness!! Made carrot salad as per your recipe. Loved it.
Will make it again tomorrow as a side to my Easter lunch of roast chicken +++
Thank you Pam
I’m glad you loved it! I like this for a holiday side dish.
I am going to try this today, very excited! It strikes me that this would make a good filling for wraps, spring rolls, and bahn mi, or to add crunch to a taco. Thank you to Corinne and Nathalie for the French-person insight!
I am eating this now! So simple and so good! I went with canola oil instead of olive, as per one of the commenters, and I used my julienne peeler to get the shreds. The taste is subtle, restrained, very mildly sweet – this will become a regular in our household. I think this is a dish even kids would like, as it is quite mild. Thanks Kate!
Look up Russian Carrot salad – it’s a raw carrot salad as well, but uses coriander not cumin. There is nothing from the onion family in it
This was a lovely salad. Super quick and easy!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Prisha! Thank you for your review.
This dressing is lovely! I skipped the chickpeas, and didn’t have chives or green onions and so went with some finely diced red onion. I also added in a handful each of golden raisins and pan-toasted pepitas.
Making this for the first time, wanted more green so I added sliced snow peas for a peas n carrot salad. Delicious!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Mary! Thank you for your review.
my mother made something similar, but with currants or raisins and orange juice added to the shredded carrots.
a variation to try if you dont like alliums.
Very cool! I’ve been making spiralized carrot salad for a few years. Spiralizing works GREAT for this. I generally just use olive oil, red wine vinegar, and salt. Occasionally I add sweet onion.
I’m going to try your version, the herb and dressing combo sounds excellent.
I remember disgusting carrot salad popular in the 1970s, loaded with sugar, mayo, raisins, pineapple. Just…too sweet and a bad combo of flavours. Salads have come a long way since then LOL.
Had lots of carrots to use from CSA box – soooo glad to have found this. Just delicious! I veganized by using maple syrup. YUM. Love your recipes.
I’ve just made this to go with our quiche this evening. I finely grated the carrots with my Magimix grater attachment. Have no spring onions or parsley but have added chopped fresh coriander. Have also added a small handful of walnut pieces. The dressing is perfectly balanced. Lovely!
Excellent! What a beautiful salad! Thank you Kate ☺️
It is perfectly balanced and not tasting of chives at all. I think it could be worth trying with hazelnut oil as it usually goes well with carrots.
Thank you for sharing, Ewa!
If I grate the carrots ahead of time (one day before I serve the salad), should I store the grated carrots/chives with the dressing already mixed in, or should I mix in the dressing a little before serving the next day. Will the carrots keep while in the fridge? I’d hate for my carrots to turn dark. I didn’t see any comment addressing making the salad ahead of time. Thanks. My French mother used to make carrot salad effortlessly all the time.
Hi Daniel, this recipe makes great leftovers. You can assemble and store for later.
Delicious! We put our salad (with the chickpeas) in a whole wheat wrap with fresh spinach…fun, easy supper. Thank you!
This salad is perfect. I have a thing for orange food, so carrots are at the top of my list! I make this every couple of weeks, sometimes just serving it over arugula for dinner after an indulgent day. Love your recipes, Kate!
Added two cloves of grated garlic, a dash of white wine vinegar, maple syrup Becuase I ran out of honey, and white pepper, dried parsley, and adobo. It was fabulous
Thank you for sharing how you made it, Aly!
Just made this! Used hot honey that I made yesterday, and subbed ground ginger for cumin because I was out. Also, used rainbow carrots from the farmers market, not that orange carrots aren’t pretty enough. Great recipe! Thanks!
Thank you for sharing how you made it, Sue! I appreciate your review.
Absolutely love this! We try to make it a few times every month. When we are out of onions we’ll double or triple the amount of parsley.
I’m glad you enjoy it, Danielle! Thank you for your review.
This was SOOO good! I followed the recipe with no substitutions and included the chickpeas, which really added so much to the dish. Cannot wait to try the leftovers tomorrow! A commenter mentioned putting toasted pepitas on top and I might try that next time (there will definitely be a next time!) Glad I found this recipe in lieu of the regular carrot-raisin salad I’ve made that has mayo dressing :^)
Like all of your interesting recipes, this one sparkled!
The cumin was a great touch.
Thank you Kate.
You’re welcome, David! thank you for your review.
Amazing! This recipe makes me happy on several levels: first of all, I’ve been trying to replicate the French staple since spending a semester of college there two decades ago. Second, it gave me a great reason to break out and break in my new shredder attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. And third, I just discovered The French Market in Kansas City is only three miles from my dear cousin’s house, where I always stay when traveling through. Your recipe site is always a go-to for me; I haven’t been let down yet! Thank you!
I got my carrot salad recipe from a Japanese chef friend. It is, quite simply grated young carrot, grated beetroot tossed, hand in hand with a very little little light garlic oil (not Olive, that overwhelms the delicacy). I do this in a plastic bag for convenience. Add a tiny squeeze of lemon and toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds and toss again just before putting in the serving dish. Fresh, sweet, crispy with a lovely toasty crunch from the seeds.
Perfect for summer or with a hot and spicy main dish.
I’ve subscribed and look forward to reading more.
PS: the three stars are no reflection on the recipe, just my dislike of Olive oil (why is it so popular suddenly? There ae much nicer, fresher oils) and although this recipe doesn’t use it, I hate fresh cilantro/coriander as well and it seems to be in every darned thing!
I made this last night – less than half the carrots with the same amount of dressing – perfect! I added currants and whole pistachios, left out the chickpeas and parsley as I didn’t have them, and used spring onions instead of chives.
I’m glad you were able to enjoy it, Yani! I appreciate your review.
Would packaged shredded carrots work? I have those on hand but not full size carrots.
Sure! I hope you love it, Cindy.
J’adore! Wow, this salad is scrumptious (c’est du ciel!). I’m embarrassed to admit how many times I bought the ingreds but didn’t get around to making it. I was out of cumin so had to omit that. I’m sure it would’ve given it a nice depth. Can’t wait til it’s done marinating for a bit so I can gobble it up!
I love all the recipes I ve tried here. My 4 year old gobbled this up and asked for more!
Hooray! That’s great to hear, Lou. Thank you for sharing.
Loved it!!
I made it as a Thanksgiving side instead of roasted carrots. I wanted to have a lighter side amidst heavy potatoe/stuffing dishes.
I didn’t use honey and instead added some cranberries to sweeten it up for the Thanksgiving theme. Also our sweet potatoe dish is very sweet so wanted different. I also bought the red and yellow organic carrots to add to the orange color to make it festive. I did use chickpeas too and that was great for vegetarians
Will be making this frequently as a weekly dish
Gene;
I’m the cook for my wife who has Parkinson’s. This recipe is a hit for both of us.
I usually go to your website first to look up new recipes, and have never been disappointed.
Thank you.
I love to hear that, Gene! Thank you for sharing.
Refreshing, delicious. It was a perfect side with a black bean burger. Once again you’ve provided a wonderful recipe that I will make over and over again!