Crunchy, fresh and delicious, classic French-style carrot salad transforms a few simple ingredients into a sophisticated side dish or starter.

We ate salad every day of Pesach. That’s a lot of salad.

We really like salad, but I think it’s good to have variety. So as well as a daily lettuce salad I made a few others from different vegetables – for instance potato salad, red cabbage salad, fennel salad – and this wonderful French-style classic carrot salad.

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Carottes râpées – French carrot salad

In France this simple salad is called carottes râpées or salade de carottes râpées. Sounds chic, right? It just means ‘grated carrots’! Although it’s pretty simple, there is slightly more to it than just carrots though. Expect a lemony dressing, and plenty of fresh parsley and garlic.

You’ll often find this classic carrot salad on menus in France, either as a side dish or served as a starter. It’s simple and delicious and seems never to go out of style.

Classic carrot salad – a simple favourite

I think this classic recipe is my favourite carrot salad (although Moroccan carrot salad would give it a run for its money). It’s light, fresh, crunchy and delicious, and only has a handful of basic ingredients. Items so simple that we even had all of them available on Pesach!

Ingredients in French-style carrot salad

To make this delicious carrot salad recipe yourself, all you need is:

Carrots – crunchy, delicious, and packed with B vitamins, Beta Carotene, fibre and antioxidants
Garlic – delicious!
Parsley – with punchy flavour and polyphenols for gut health
Fresh lemon juice – for tang and a boost of vitamin C
Olive oil – satisfying and delicious, and rich in monounsaturated fats known for their anti-inflammatory properties and benefits for heart health
Salt – to bring out all the wonderful flavours of this salad!

That’s it!

By hand or by machine?

Personally, I like to grate the carrots by hand, as I prefer the texture that it gives to the final salad. I like to use the coarse side of the grater to give big crunchy shreds of carrot.

However if you’re making a big batch or are just in a hurry, you can definitely use a food processor to grate your carrots. I find that the food processor gives chunkier and longer shreds of carrot, which you might prefer.

Prepare your garlic with care

Definitely not optional though is how you prepare the garlic. It needs to be cut into teeny tiny dice using a sharp knife – DO NOT be tempted to crush or mince it!

The garlic is added to the carrot salad raw, and the flavour will be totally overpowering if it is mashed to a puree rather than simply chopped. Chopping finely will give you subtle fragrant wafts of garlic. Don’t be tempted to use too much, either.

Making carrot salad – time well spent

It only takes a few minutes – 10-15 max. – to put this delicious salad together. I really enjoy the peeling, grating, chopping etc. It doesn’t take very long and it’s quite a meditative activity. Plus you know that when you’ve finished you’ll have a bowlful of delicious carottes râpées to eat!

One bite and you’ll know why this classic carrot salad is a French favourite!

Crunchy, fresh and delicious, classic French-style carrot salad transforms a few simple ingredients into a sophisticated side dish or starter.

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