French Carrot Salad (Vegan, Gluten-Free)

This simple and elegant French Carrot Salad is a café and bistro staple. Also known as "salade de carottes râpées", this classic French salad is made with freshly grated raw carrots, parsley, and a light lemony dijon vinaigrette. Vegan and gluten-free, this healthy vegetable salad can be served with crudités plates, entrees, and as a refreshing side dish to any meal.

A simple and delicious way to serve fresh, bright, and beautiful carrots! Perfect as a seasonal spring and summer side dish, you can pair it with just about any meal you have on the menu. Naturally sweet carrots with fresh herby parsley, tossed in a light, not overpowering, lemon and dijon vinaigrette. Once you try it, you'll realize why it's so popular all over France and why you can find it at just about every café, bistro, and market!

What Is A French Carrot Salad?

In French, salade de carottes râpées, or grated carrot salad can be found everywhere in France. You'll find it on cafe and bistro menus, sold prepackaged in markets, and can be bought by the pound in Charcuteries. Chic and elegant this raw vegetable salad isn't overly bold in flavor. It's a perfect balance of natural sweetness from the carrots, herbiness from the parsley, and a slight tangy spice from the vinaigrette.

Why You'll Love This 2-Ingredient Salad

Naturally vegan and gluten-free, it's a perfect recipe for serving raw carrots in a fresh and new way! It goes with everything so if you're stuck on what side dish to make for dinner, here comes the carrot salad to save the day! You can easily double, triple, or quadruple the recipe for quick and easy on-the-go meal prep for lunches, use it in bowls, and sandwiches, and add some beans or another protein for a full meal on its own! This recipe is 100%...

• Gluten-Free
• Vegan & Vegetarian
• Allergy-free (Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Nut-Free, Peanut-Free, Wheat-Free, Sesame-Free, Nightshade-Free, Fish-Free, Shellfish-Free, Coconut-Free, Grain-Free, Corn-Free)
• Grain-Free & Paleo
• Quick, Easy, Simple Ingredients
• Kid-Friendly
• Make-Ahead & Meal Prep Staple
• Perfect For Lunch, Dinner, or Appetizer

Ingredients In French Carrot Salad

• Raw Carrots: The star of the show, you must use fresh raw carrots. Peeled and grated with a food processor or with a little more muscle, a box grater, or a rotary grater (which can be hard to find).
• Flat-Leaf Parsley: Flat Italian parsley, not curly parsley. If you hate parsley, you can try this carrot salad with other fresh herbs like tarragon, chives, chervil, dill, or cilantro.

For The Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Choose a high-quality extra virgin olive oil. You want a full-bodied oil to lightly coat this raw salad.
• Fresh Lemon Juice: For fresh tangy vinaigrette flavor, freshly squeezed lemon juice is key.
• Dijon Mustard: The traditional mustard of France, smooth dijon gives the vinaigrette notes of white wine and subtle spice.
• Vegan Honey: A dollop of vegan honey for sweetness, you can also use normal honey, maple, or a pinch of granulated sugar. This is just to balance out the tang and spice!
• Salt + Pepper: A pinch of salt is a must, but you can also add a pinch of black or white pepper, and a dash of cumin if you'd like.

The Best Way To Grate The Carrots For French Salad

Traditionally in France, a metal Moulinex is used. It's an old-fashioned metal rotary grater. You can find plastic ones here, but you can also use a standard box grater. A box grated will yield a softer shred. If you want to maintain more of a crunchy carrot texture, I suggest using a grater attachment on a food processor or stand mixer. Either way is fine, it's more about texture preference. For softer carrots use a rotary or box grater. For a thicker, crunchy shred, use a food processor. (When all else fails, you can cheat and use store-bought shredded carrots).

How To Make French Carrot Salad

1. Peel and grate your carrots, chop your fresh parsley, and everything to a large mixing bowl.
2. Toss the raw ingredients together.

3. Make the vinaigrette by adding all the ingredients to a small bowl.
4. Whisk the mixture together until smooth and distributed.

5. Pour the vinaigrette over the carrots and parsley.
6. Toss the salad together, taste to adjust any seasonings, and serve at room temperature.

Recipe Tips And Suggestions

• Prevent A Soggy Salad: Do not overdress the salad! The vinaigrette is meant to just moisten the salad so it's glistening and lightly coated. It should not be swimming in dressing.
• The salad is meant to be a 1 to 4 ratio of parsley to carrots. You can adjust the amounts as needed.
• Hate Dijon? It probably hates you too, but you can also use honey mustard and skip the added honey/sweetener.
• Other Seasonings: Again, you can use just salt, or a pinch of pepper, cumin, or even cinnamon, nutmeg, or coriander would be lovely!
• Using Other Herbs: You can stick with just flat-leaf parsley, swap it with another herb like tarragon, chives, chervil, dill, or cilantro, or do a combination!
• Add More To Your Salad: You can add beans (chickpeas are great!), other veggies like beets, cabbage, leeks, dried fruits like raisins or cranberries, or toss in some nuts or seeds!

How Long Does Raw Carrot Salad Last?

You can store leftovers in a closed container in the fridge for up to 5 days. It will get soggier over time, but that doesn't mean it's bad, the carrots will just be much softer, especially if you used a box grater. If you want to make the salad in advance, you can grate the carrots and mix them together with the dry parsley. Whisk the vinaigrette together and keep it separate. When you're ready to serve, toss the two together!

How To Serve French Carrot Salad

First, this salad is best served at room temperature. Take the salad out 30 minutes before serving if it's been refrigerated. You can serve the salad as part of an appetizer plate, with other crudités, or as a side dish to grilled or roasted meats like fish or chicken, it's also fantastic as the base to a large lunch or salad bowl with an added protein on top or mixed in.

More Simple Salad Recipes:

• Shirazi Salad
• Old-Fashioned Cucumber Salad
• Fresh Spring Salad
• Summer Kale Salad
• Raw Balsamic Tahini Beet Salad
• Vegan Carrot Raisin Salad
• Italian Tomato Salad

Print

Simple, delicious, and it takes just minutes to make! This carrot salad is also fantastic on a veggie sandwich or in wraps too! It's the perfect filler, side dish, and palate cleanser for any meal!

So tell me:

+ What's your favorite way to eat raw carrots?

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