Carrot Slaw with Cranberries, Toasted Walnuts & Citrus Vinaigrette
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An autumn spin on the classic grated carrot salad, this carrot slaw is dotted with dried cranberries and toasted walnuts.
I’ve always loved the classic French grated carrot salad, and this carrot slaw is a delicious spin on it. With dried cranberries, toasted walnuts and scallions in a citrus vinaigrette, it’s crunchy, tart and sweet — perfect with a warm crusty baguette for lunch or as a healthy side to sandwiches or burgers.
What you’ll need to make carrot slaw with Citrus Vinaigrette
If you have carrots in your vegetable bin to use up, you can quickly shred them in your food processor. Otherwise, just buy the bagged pre-shredded carrots from the produce department — they work just as well.
Also, as you can see, I used walnut oil for the dressing. If you have some in your pantry already, great, but definitely don’t go out and buy it just for this recipe. It’s expensive and extra virgin olive oil works just as well.
How to make carrot slaw with Citrus Vinaigrette
To begin, toast the walnuts in the oven until fragrant to enhance their flavor.
Next, combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.
Toss to combine. If possible, let the salad sit for at least 15 minutes to give the carrots a chance to soak up the dressing.
That’s all there is to it — simple and satisfying. Enjoy!
You may also like
- French Grated Carrot Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
- Moroccan Carrot & Chickpea Salad
- Sweet & Tangy Citrus Slaw
Carrot Slaw with Cranberries, Toasted Walnuts & Citrus Vinaigrette
An autumn spin on the classic grated carrot salad, this carrot slaw is dotted with dried cranberries and toasted walnuts.
Ingredients
- ½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 1 pound shredded carrots, or 1⅓ pounds carrots, peeled and shredded
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or walnut oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice, from 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice, from 1 orange
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 3 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Set oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place walnuts on baking sheet and bake until toasted and fragrant, 7-10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl and toss well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Season to taste with salt, pepper, honey or more citrus. Toss in walnuts and serve.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (5 servings)
- Calories: 184
- Fat: 9 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 28 g
- Sugar: 20 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Sodium: 183 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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This recipe is just amazing. It’s light refreshing n has a nice balance between acidic and sweet. Will definitely be keeping this recipe.
Excellent!!
This was very light and tasty, perfect to bring to a summer barbeque.
Hi Jenn,
I plan to bring this salad to a large family gathering and I will use olive oil instead of the walnut oil as the hostess is allergic to nuts. Do you have a suggestion for a substitute for the walnuts or do you suggest I just omit the walnuts altogether? I haven’t yet tried this salad but never hesitate to bring any of your recipes to gatherings, whether I’ve tried them or not.They are always a huge success!
Hi Barb, You can just omit them — will still be delicious 🙂
This salad is beautiful and comes together very easily. I used multi-colored carrots and a blood orange olive oil from the Temecula Olive Oil Company. Simply smashing!
This carrot slaw was a winner! I prefer purple onion over green, so that is what I used. Everyone came back for seconds (or thirds.) It was also good leftover. Once I made this and burned the walnuts, so do watch them closely.
Very delicious, flavors work great together.
What a lovely refreshing salad. I reconstitute my cranberries with a little boiling water first though.
Made this with pomegranate seeds instead of dried cranberries. Wicked wonderful. Thank you.
Just made the carrot and walnut salad. This is probably the best carrot salad I have eaten in my life! Bright, fresh, delicious. The lemon zest and the green onions make it delicious.
My business before is planting scallions or onions , the taste for me is not enjoyable (scallions) what can i replace for the scallions….thanks
One shallot should do the trick.
Can I make this the night before for lunch the next day?
Hi Phyllis, If you’d like to make this salad a day ahead, I suggest using coarsely grated carrots (as shown in the photo); otherwise it will get a bit soggy.
Delicious!! My sister isn’t a huge fan of zest (I know, crazy right?) so I omitted it and didn’t have a fresh oranges on hand so I used orange juice. I also didn’t have walnut oil, so I used olive oil and it was still amazing. I’m dying to try it the “Jenn” way, because I know it will be even better and I love zest!
This salad turns out every time. I always get rave reviews when I make it. So easy to follow and make.
Will it work to dress the carrots several hours ahead as long as I don’t add the walnuts?
Hi Carol, It depends. Freshly grated carrots may get a little soggy but if you use the coarsely grated carrots sold in a bag from the supermarket, they hold up much better.
This recipe is easy and delicious! I made the salad without toasting the walnuts and it was just fine (I did use the walnut oil). Also, if using whole dried cranberries I would recommend a brief rough chop to get them distributed a bit better.
We really enjoyed this light and crispy salad at Thanksgiving this year. The citrus vinaigrette was wonderful!
Beautiful colors – easy to make – very tasty – my family loved it!
I made this to go with grilled pork chops and it was delicious – crunchy with a great citrus flavor. I did add more walnuts and cranberries than the recipe called for since we love those ingredients. The only change I would make is that I would shred my own carrots next time. The packaged carrots were just a little too thick and hard.
Delicious salad and very healthy. I served this with Tilapia and the picky kids even liked it. I love the addition of the videos on your website.
Hi Jenn,
Can I substitute fresh basil for the fresh parsley? Thanks!!
Sure, Jill, that should work well.
I make this salad all the time. It is delicious and super easy!!!
Without a doubt the best salad I’ve tasted thus far. Had to sub walnuts with toasted almonds but it was still fabulous. I doff my chef hat to you Jen 🙂
So simple and so good!
Made the Carrot Slaw as directed except used 2 scallions instead of 3. Very good. Served it with the Grilled Moroccan Chicken (recipe on this site) — also good. A great meal.
We made this slaw again for Father’s Day along with your recipe for Moroccan chicken – great complementary side dish! I typically have all the ingredients on hand, but found that my honey had crystallized and didn’t have the time to warm it up, so I substituted maple syrup for the honey. This slaw is so versatile, and the leftovers were still perfect for next day’s brown bag lunch for my husband.
made this on saturday with the moroccan chicken. very easy to put together, especially if you buy the pre-grated carrots. i enjoyed the citrus vinaigrette.
this was really good, served with Moroccan chicken will definitely make again..
Loved this salad. Used 1 tsp. of honey as our carrots are pretty sweet.
Just tried this salad and it is my new favorite salad. If you havent tried it, dont hesitate. Even the next day it is still great
This has become a staple in my house. Never get tired of it as a side dish
Love this salad. My kids even ate it.
My family loves this salad! My son has a nut allergy so I substitute roasted sunflower seeds for the walnuts and it is delicious!
Delicious! I plan on making it for this weekend.
Yum! wanted to try at Easter but I already had one carrot dish in mind..definitely should have tried this then for company b/c i tried it last night and it is delicious!
This carrot slaw is wonderful. My daughter is practically vegetable-phobic so imagine my surprise when she “stole” the leftovers from me to munch on while watching tv! This dish will definitely become a regular side around our house. Thanks for continuing to provide great new recipes to brighten up our dinnertable.
This was amazing! Nice and light and delicious. Thanks for another great recipe. (I used 2 tbsp of olive oil and it turned out great)
We made this a few days after your post – another winner,Jennifer! – especially since I had all the ingredients on hand! We have made other carrot salad recipes, but we enjoyed the touch of sweetness from the fresh OJ. This went perfectly with a mid-week meal of baked cod and couscous.
The Carrot Citrus Slaw was very good. I have to use different oil and no walnuts because of tree nut allergey in the family. I used some oliv oil and vegetable oil with the slaw and extra citru. Everyone who ate it loved it.
I love carrot salad too, and this is a great new way to make it. 🙂
this one will become my summer staple. Yummy !!!
Looks healthy and yummy!
Hey Jennifer.I am Tzila, Albert Shvilly’s sister.This is amazing salad.very easy to make and so tasty.Albert suggested to make it and I made it for family party yesterday.my guests enjoyed it so much!i wil make and make it again.Thank you.
The walnut oil would make it very rich tasting. But alas, I’ll have to use EVOO. Love this for a cool summer salad with some chicken on the grill.
Thanks.
Nice change, will serve this again. It will be great for spring or summer.
I made this over the weekend and the flavor was amazing. This will be a recipe I will use again for potlucks and family gatherings. Thanks!
This slaw recipe looks fabulous. It’s been added to my recipe book. I live in Maui and recently enjoyed a Lilikoi Slaw from a local raw store. It had julienne slices of apple, carrots and some other ingredients that were yummy.
I am already compiling Thanksgiving recipes on Pinterest and this is a keeper! Will prob make this over the summer as well. **This review is for the Le Creuset Oval French Oven**
This looks amazing. I am looking forward to trying it tomorrow!
I tried this last night for a family gathering. It was easy to make and tasted great. I expect to share this recipe with others who enjoy a different type of salad.