French Grated Carrot Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
This grated carrot salad with lemon dijon vinaigrette is standard fare in French bistros.
I first discovered this carrot salad when I was 20 years old and living in France, and it’s been part of my repertoire ever since. I don’t know why it’s not more popular in the States, but one bite of these parsley-specked carrots doused with lemon and olive oil and you’ll know why it’s standard fare in every French bistro, market and home kitchen.
To tempt you further, this carrot salad is a cinch to make, keeps well, and is good for you. The hardest thing about making it is getting out your food processor but once you hoist your machine onto the countertop, the rest is quick and easy. If you can, make it a few hours ahead of time to give the carrots a chance to soak up the dressing.
French Grated Carrot Salad with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
This grated carrot salad with lemon dijon vinaigrette is standard fare in French bistros.
Ingredients
- 1 pound carrots, peeled
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one lemon
- 1-1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1-2 teaspoons honey, to taste
- Heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2 finely sliced scallions (or 1tablespoon finely chopped shallots)
Instructions
- Grate the carrots in a food processor. Set aside.
- In a salad bowl, combine the dijon mustard, lemon juice, honey, vegetable oil, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add the carrots, fresh parsley and scallions (or shallots) and toss well. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Notes: Depending on the sweetness of the carrots, you may want to add more or less honey. Also, if you make this salad ahead of time, be sure to check the seasoning again before serving as the flavors tend to mellow.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: about 3/4 cup
- Calories: 150
- Fat: 11 g
- Saturated fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Sugar: 8 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Sodium: 253 mg
- Cholesterol: 0
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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Loved this salad – did not change a thing!. I made the night before and served at Sunday dinner for nephew and his family, including a 3 year old and a 6 year old. The 6 year old ate it without complaints – parents loved it and asked for the recipe. Served with boiled corn, chicken kabobs and broccoli – so nice color combo with red peppers on the kabobs. Easy to keep carrots on hand.
I love this salad and make it frequently. Easy and so tasty. Thank you.
Just delicious and light and fresh. HH loved it too! Will definitely make again. Thanks for the recipe!
Love this salad! I got so tired of the too sweet carrot salad with pineapple and raisins. I find this more to my taste with half the amount of Dijon mustard. Also, it’s good with fresh dill if you don’t have parsley.
Thank you so much for this! I had carrot salad at a french restaurant years ago and ever since have been trying to find a vinaigrette to use, with no luck. This one is perfect!
I usually use the pre-grated carrots and in this case it definitely helps to dress the salad a few hours before. I usually dump the dressing on in the morning and have the salad at work with lunch or for a snack. I often use all olive oil (3 Tbsp) instead of a mix of olive and vegetable oils.
If you grate the carrots small enough it is also really delicious spread on top of a piece of lightly toasted sourdough bread.
It is so funny how French cousin influenced a lot of cousins around the world. This is exactly the salad that I used to eat as a child with an addition of raisins. Since I don’t like raisins I added some craisins to it. Wonderful flavor!
Thank you for this recipe. I grated some carrots to make a carrot cake and had enough left for a carrot salad. I did a quick google search and found this recipe. Delicious, easy, ingredients always on hand.
My husband is Austrian so we often have carrot salad as part of a salad plate when we visit family there and he grew up with a mother who didn’t like vinegar so her salad dressings always included lemon juice. He loved it! I loved it!
My favorite! This is the recipe that made me love your blog. Everyone I’ve made it for loves it. I’m a lazy cook, so I use the grated bagged carrots from the store, which makes it even easier.
I made this tonight and will make again for sure! It was super simple to put together so is perfect for a weeknight vegetable side dish.
Made this and loved it!
Tasted it and decided to add some more lemon juice – and then just before serving, I added a tin of sweetcorn! It looked so pretty – sunny yellow and orange. And it tasted fabulous!
Will definitely be making this again!
This is a really great salad. I actually serve it on Thanksgiving. The acidity is a nice contrast to the traditional Thanksgiving flavors and it’s a great make ahead vegetable. Even picky kids and adults like it.
Also fits in well at an Easter brunch.
This salad was so refreshing and delicious! I remember carrot salads with raisins from when I was a kid- but this an entirely different taste. Definitely will make it again.
I made this to go with my lunches this week and I’m very happy with it!!! I used mostly organic ingredients and added a touch more dijon. I did made a few modifications including using old fashioned dijon, substituting garlic chili flax oil (Omega Nutrition) for the vegetable oil and I added a touch of smoked paprika. I will definitely be making this again!!!
Am I missing something, see vegetable oil and olive oil in this recipe but nowhere do I see any vinegar listed?
Hi Becki, no, you’re not missing anything – while vinaigrette often contains vinegar of some kind, sometimes it is made with something else acidic (in this case lemon juice). Hope that clarifies and you enjoy the salad if you make it!
Can you use grated carrots from the store? Or will the consistency be off? Love your website!
You can, Angela – it will just be a bit crunchier. Enjoy!
Delicious! And my kids loved it too!
I too searched for a good French carrot salad and I agree that this is the closest in taste to the real deal. I always get compliments when I make this. Easy to make so I always make extra for leftovers. I do add a small amount more of the mustard to give it a bit more punch. It is a great salad and it’s lively color livens up any plate. So glad I found this recipe!
was not expecting this to be so good!!!!
Delicious!! Now my favorite carrot salad recipe! I added extra lemon and used a shallot clove. Added way less salt. Used organic carrots, the big ones, not the “baby” carrots. Loved it!!!! Thanks!
Loved!!!
i made it. Don’t know what i did wrong but it was awful really nasty tasting i had to through it out
Confession: I strongly dislike raw carrots. BUT I love this salad. I made it for a crowd and so many people went back for seconds that we ran out. As suggested, I let is sit for several hours and the flavors truly did improve.The only change I made was swapped the scallions for chives simply because our chives were growing wild in our herb garden. Definitely recommend this recipe, particularly for parties, crowds, and make ahead dishes.
I forgot to mention that I served this with smoked paprika pork tenderloin and stewed green beans. Great meal!
I’ve tried this twice now, once with grocery store carrots (awful and mushy) and once with homegrown rainbow carrots (more carrot-y, less mushy). My palate must be too Americanized. It was sort of ok with the homegrown carrots and the addition of raisins, but my kids (who normally devour brussel sprouts and eat carrots any way they can have them) wouldn’t eat it. Not one I’ll make again.
This is so delicious!! I had to add a second tablespoon of lemon juice to balance the vinaigrette. My carrots were firm organic and the honey was organic, too- perhaps they were unusually sweet.
So easy, so pretty. Made as a side for French dip sandwiches.
Vinaigrette was way too strong. Followed the recipe exactly. The only things i could taste were the parsley, onions and vinaigrette… for a carrot salad, everything but the carrots. Really disappointed.
Perhaps the market’s carrots were not as fresh as they could have been and lost flavor and sweetness. Bummer.
I loved this recipe! It was fresh, easy and delicious – The trifecta 🙂
When I first saw this dish at a French restaurant I thought, what’s the big deal about a boring carrot salad? Oh my goodness I could not have been more wrong. This salad is delicious!!! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
I will try this recipe next time my CSA farmer has carrots, which should be soon, I think. Note: carrot leaves are a great substitute for parsley, so if you get fresh carrots from the market, no need to buy parsley… made a great tabouleh salad with fresh carrot leaves last year!
This was such a great recipe, and I will be making this more frequently from now on. I added some chopped walnuts for my own taste and thought it definitely enhanced it. I also used it as a “slaw” in a taco with corn tortillas and seared chicken breast. The salad is so flavorful you don’t need any condiments.
This salad is easy to make and super refreshing. Another great addition to my list of salads i can make when doing a potluck lunch with my friends.
It’s hard to find a good recipe for salads made with firmer vegetables that does not use mayo, but this one quickly became a favorite of my entire family and everyone else who has tasted it. Thanks!
I made this to have with your Grilled Chicken Kebabs and Basmati Rice Pilaf for a party of 7…I made 1.5 the amount and was enough for some leftovers. It all turned out great and this tastes so refreshing and I could grate the carrots about 6-7 hours before and then mix it together a couple hours before. I hand grated some of it as my food processor grater wasn’t working as well and it didn’t take too long. Thanks!
This is delicious! I used grapeseed oil instead of vegetable. Also added a bit of dill.
Can’t wait to see how it tastes with the pulled pork I made for dinner 🙂
Loved this, very delicious. I did a little twist second time l made it, used a little mayo. But either way it’s lovely. Thanks for a wonderful salad. It’s a keeper
Made this wonderful carrot salad for Sunday dinner. I used colored carrots (red, yellow, white and orange) and it made for a very pretty presentation! The dressing is superb. Served with grilled salmon and for dessert we had Jenn’s recipe for Warm Lemon Pudding Cake! Another Once Upon a Chef winner dinner!!
It was simple, easy and wonderful. What else can someone expect from carrots?
I had never being a carrot lover but I solidly believe that after trying this recipe I will eat them more often. My boys were so happy with this salad, that during lunch all what they were saying was how awesome it was ( and they are not even veggie lovers!)
I’m delighted to find this recipe! I, too, dont understand why this dish, along with many French cruditees (celeriac salad, string beet dijon salad, red radishes & butter, etc) are not available in U.S. I’m American & lived in France between the ages of 5 & 15, & cruditees were beloved standard fare in our lives. Because cruditees seemed so foreign to Americans when I returned to U.S. at 23 in 1973 (lived in Germany 8 yrs), i stopped making them. However, your recipe has become the one missing, colorful, refreshing, veggie dish that i will use to balance out the heavy side dishes planned for Christmas 2016 dinner! Do you have a good grated celeriac salad with mayo/Dijon/lemon dressing? MERCI!
So glad you like the salad and that it helps you to get your French “fix!” Unfortunately, I don’t have a proven celeriac salad recipe. I will keep you in mind, though, if I come across one. Happy holidays!
This was easy and delicious. My teenager who doesn’t particularly like carrots had seconds. Will definitely make again. I used 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and 1 Tablespoon of avocado oil. My carrots were fresh and local so I only used 1/2 tsp of honey. Thank you for this recipe. Will be trying others on your site soon!
No food processor here…do you think I can grate the carrots the day before to save time or will they dry out? I’ll dress the salad the day of. Thanks so much!
Sure Rebecca, that should work; just cover them tightly with plastic wrap so they don’t dry out. Enjoy!
Yummy salad. Our 9 and 10 year old grandsons had 3 servings. I am glad I found your blog.
Do you think that adding pineapple would be good? If yes, how much?
Sure Barbie, I think that would be nice. I’d go with about 1/2 cup (and would dice it into smaller chunks). I’d love to hear how it turns out with this addition!
Excellent with addition of pineapple, following your suggestion. Thank you ?
Glad you liked it Barbie!
I made this expecting a bland salad. How wrong I was – it was juicy, tasty and superb. I have added crushed coriander and that adds a different twist. I served a vegan meal with swiss chard salad and a bean salad. Great recipe! Dan. Guernsey. UK
We had fresh Trout and Salmon. Carrots were in the fridge and I found your recipe. Fabulous salad!
I’m serving Trout again, so, of course, I”m making this salad!
This salad was amazing. It tasted so good and it was super easy to make. This will be my new “go to” recipe for when company comes over. This is a healthy choice to add to our lunches as well. Very happy I came across your website. Thank you!
I love this salad!! Just made it for a lunch for a get together and everyone wanted the recipe from me!! My boyfriend who doesn’t like lettuce salads, loved it! Excited to try some more from your site!!
Hello, this recipe sounds perfect to round out the salads Im making for a Bento box lunch for a health fair in my community. Could you please tell me the size of the portion for your carrot salad. It states that it serves 4 but I would like to know the portion size. I was hoping to give only about 1/4 C or so. Thanks so much!
Laura, each serving is approximately 3/4 cup. Hope the health fair is a success!
I made beef stroganoff and this salad to go with it. I could easily have skipped the beef stroganoff and just eaten this delicious salad. Perfect blend of ingredients in the dressing that complemented the sweet carrots. My husband loved it also.
I know why this salad is in Jenn’s repertoire, it will also be in mine. There is not a word to sum up how simple and delicious this salad is. I made it for a birthday party along with some of Jenn’s other recipes and it was devoured.
Best I have made but would cut back on the salt by about 25% which is subjective of course. I live alone and go through five pounds of carrots each month and this will become a regular.
Wonderful recipe! The kids even loved it! Thank you so much for sharing it. The dressing was fabulous. This was my first time making dressing from scratch. We had a little bit of the carrots left over and extra dressing had settled to the bottom so I tossed some baby arugula and sunflower seeds with the leftovers and it was delicious as well!
It was delicious!
This was simple and fabulous! Trying to get more raw vegies in my diet…
I love this salad!! I needed to make a vegetable for dinner and only had carrots in fridge. I didn’t want boring old steamed carrots and roasted carrots were too heavy with what else we were serving. I googled carrot salad and found your recipe. I’m so glad I did! I happened to have all the ingredients on hand and it was the perfect light accompaniment with the heavier grilled steak and mashed potatoes we were serving. I will be making this again & again! Thank you!!
Hi Jennifer
Can I make the summer peach cobbler tomorrow and the French grated carrot salad with lemon Dijon.
I am having friends for supper Wednesday night to break the fast.
Thank you so much for all your help and your wonderful recipes.
Happy New Year.
Karen
Hi Karen, Yes, I think they would go nicely together. Hope everyone enjoys and Happy New Year to you too!
I loved this recipe. Just great. My reco for others would be to get the amount of pepper correct. I winged it (lack of measuring spoon) and the salad was meh. Added more pepper and it might be the best thing I’ve ever eaten (vegetable category).
Can this salad be made the night before
Hi Patty, It can, but the carrots will soften up quite a bit. You can always keep the dressing and carrots separate and toss the day of serving.
This is the first salad I have been able to entice my son to eat. He claims he hates carrots, but he inhales this salad. Go figure LOL 🙂
When I went on exchange in high school my host family made this salad all the time. This is the first time I’ve had it since returning (nearly 6 years later!) and it was just as I remembered. Delicious!
The carrot salad is phenomenal – and I don’t even like carrots! It’s a great accompaniment to your grilled Moroccan chicken. Living in Italy, I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil in lieu of half olive oil and half vegetable oil. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes!
Tried this salad and it was delicious! Light yet full of flavor. I paired it with a warm beet salad which made for a delicious meal! Thank you for this lovely crisp recipe. -E
Oh! Also I used Kalamata Olive oil from Greece which I discovered in France! Merci!
Had nothing to go with my steak and baked potatoes, just a few carrots in the fridge and was lucky to find a red onion and fresh parsley in the garden. This recipe is fantastically easy to make, tastes fresh and healthy and complement the steak very nicely. My three super critical food critics unanimously requested I make it again. Very happy!
I couldn’t wait to make this salad. It looked so delicious and the story behind it was very appealing. I followed the recipe exactly and was pretty disappointed. I thought that it was very bland and my husband didn’t like it at all. This is the only one of your recipes that I have tried and was disappointed.
Thank you! I have been looking for this recipe since I had dinner at mon ami gabi in 2010. I used shallots as mentioned in parentheses.( I also added a couple shakes of champagne vinegar since the server mentioned it is an ingredient. Don’t add it if you don’t want the vinegar taste).
What a surprisingly delicious salad, I’ve made it about ten times as it has become a firm favourite! It tastes different each time but always delicious, I think I’m becoming less rigid about the proportions. Thank you I look forward to trying out your other recipes, thank u so much!
I’ve had 2 chemo treatments in the last few weeks. NOTHING tasted good to me. I kept trying different things, hoping to find something that I could just – yum. This salad was it. SO delicious – and I love that it keeps for a few days (so important when you are cooking for one). I used only olive oil, and 2 TBS of that, as well as adding some lemon zest. It was just – amazing. Ty, ty, ty for posting this… I will make it again and again.
Hi Michelle, I am sorry you are going through chemo I pray for peace,healing and strength for you. I have a friend starting chemo in a couple of weeks I keep telling her how important eating nutritious is no matter how bad it taste don’t grab for junk you wont enjoy it anyway and it will do nothing good for your body so make it healthy. If you are on Pinterest check out Sandra Follin that’s me I have a Cooking Healthy Board and a Recipes Tried and True (worth making again and again) maybe there is something you would like.
Wishing you all the Best.
Thank you for your review.
Sandy
Tried, unsuccessfully, to find you on Pininterest. Can you post the link or URL. Thanks,
Ellie O
This is hands down my favorite recipe. A big bowl of this salad with fresh crusty bread…amazing. Also I tend to add more lemon juice.
Really enjoyed this salad last night… too often I find carrot salads a little overly sweet, and this had just the right amount of zing thanks to the lemon and dijon. I’ll admit I didn’t measure the dressing ingredients (we tend to prefer “unbalanced” dressings with a higher vinegar/citrus to oil ratio), and just adjusted to taste, but what a wonderful way to add a little punch to the carrot. And as I just purchased a mega bag of organic carrots at the request of the 3 year old, great way to make a decent dent in the bag. 🙂 This will grace our table again, for sure.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! It was delicious, I loved the dressing. I have made it before but never with honey and parsley. It’s so easy and tasty! Thanks!
Just tried this recipe and it was an absolute hit with my family . It tasted simply amazing ,Thanks for sharing it with us !!!
Came across this recipe when I was looking for a way to use up a bag of shredded carrots and I really enjoyed it – it was light, crunchy and refreshing. I added the zest of half a lemon for some additional flavor. It was even better after letting the flavors marinade for a day. Thanks!
I make this often and everyone loves this but being a garlic lover we do add at least a small glove or two squeezed and some finely chopped scallions on top.
This is a beautiful and healthy salad. I will also add golden raisins if I have them on hand for the texture.
Thanks for the recipe!
I served this at a recent dinner party. So simple to make, but surprisingly good!
Definitely add the zest from the lemon and an extra tsp. honey. Nice change from the basic green salad.
I made this with purple skinned carrots I had just harvested which were, alas, a touch bitter. With the dressing the salad was absolutely delicious – and sooo simple. Left the purple skin on and it looked great too. Fantastic.
I just made this for my family to go with chicken tacos, and we all enjoyed it. I subbed out lime juice and cilantro for the lemon and parsley, which complemented the meal well. Very refreshing and nice!
This makes about 4 cups salad, which isn’t that much to grate carrots by hand. I used only olive oil, and used 1-1/2 Tbsp lemon juice and 2 tsp. honey. Next time I’ll add a little more mustard for a bit more zing. This was very refreshing, and a recipe I’ll definitely make again!
Yum! I had this when I was in Paris – it’s so simple and tasty. You’ve given me a clue what to make as a side for just myself with my solitary carrot in the fridge.
How many cups is a pound of grated carrots?
Hi Charlene, Unfortunately, I have no idea…but will measure next time I make a carrot salad. Sorry I can’t be more helpful at this moment.
I tried making this salad and made it without the parsley. I also changed the fresh lemon juice to concentrated. It wasn’t too bad but, different.
This was a big hit at a fund raiser dinner…had many requests for the recipe because it is so healthy…also kept well for several days.
I thought this was too bland. I added the juice from the rest of the lemon and then it was delicious.
hey! myself…a teen who loves cooking!!! was trying to find smthing new to prepare for my mum and dad… its a great complement to my dish. thank you!!!!!!!!!!
This is a healthy salad. It’s great for a side dish or sometimes I eat it for lunch. Last week I tripled the recipe and brought it in for my daughter’s class. She had to make something from France and I thought of this simple classic salad.
This is absolutely delicious! So easy to make too. Thanks so much for the recipe!
Love carrots in a salad or that make the salad. Sounds lite and refreshing. Will make it soon.
Took this to a family BYOD (bring your own dish) and it was a hit!!!! Everyone loved it. A beautiful color to add to the assortment of dishes brought. I will always take this from now own
The perfect side dish to take along to a party!
i had so many carrots this past summer, so i searched for a new recipe and found this one. i tried it and found it to be so yummy. i did add more honey and dijon mustard. also i used only olive olive. and i added lemon zest. i live in japan and have made it for several pot luck meals. everyone loved it and asked for the recipe. it’s surprisingly delicious and easy; however my cheap food processor wouldn’t do the carrots, so i have always hand grated them which took ages, but was well worth it! thank you!!
Yummy! Thanks for sharing
I tried this tonight and loved it. Linked to it on FB and btw I was out of honey due to baklava making earlier in day so used Agave nectar. The dijon, parsley and sweet stuff were a nice savory change from the orange juice dressing I usually use that the kids hate… this one is a total keeper Thank You
Why is there two different kinds of oil? Can I just use the Olive oil?
I made this salad as stated, but added one more teaspoon of honey. I LOVE this salad!! Thank you so much for posting this recipe. The dressing makes it heavenly. It’s so simple, and so refreshing. I will be making this regularly now, for sure. Thank you!