This chopped carrot salad combines finely chopped carrots, pomegranate, pickled red onion, feta cheese, and dill with a simple olive oil and lemon vinaigrette. It's a well balanced dish that you can enjoy as a dip with pita chips or as a delicious side salad.
We used a food processor to create a finely chopped carrot texture that won't get soggy and creates an awesome base for pomegranate, red onion, and feta to shine. This is a salad that you can eat with a spoon!
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Why We Love This Recipe
- Spoon salad: We really love salads that you can eat with a spoon, since we just find them easier to eat, and the ingredients are more evenly incorporated into each bite. Since all of the ingredients are small in size, this is the ideal salad for eating with a spoon. You can also scoop it up with pita chips!
- Vibrant colors: Orange carrots, green dill, red pomegranate and pink red onions, this is a vibrant salad that tastes as fresh as it looks.
- Well balanced: This salad has a little bit of everything - sweetness and saltiness with pops of acid and brine, it's an amazing palate cleanser as a side dish or a dip.
Ingredients and Notes
Here's what you'll need to make this chopped carrot salad:
- Carrots: We peeled our carrots beforehand, but you don't necessarily have to if they're organic. Just make sure you wash them well.
- Pomegranate arils: We always like to get ours fresh from a pomegranate, but you can also buy them in pre-portioned packaged cups.
- Pickled red onion: You can use regular red onions if you're in a pinch, or try our quick pickled red onions.
- Feta: You can use other cheeses like goat or mozzarella as well, but we like the brine and funk of feta in this salad.
- Dill: You could also try parsley in this salad instead.
- Pita chips: These add a great crunch and a bit of saltiness to the finished salad. We used a local brand, but Stacy's pita chips would work well here.
Step-by-step Instructions
STEP 1: Slice red onion very thinly. Bring vinegar, water, salt and honey to a simmer then remove from heat. Place onions in a jar then pour the brine over. Use a spoon to pack down the onions to make sure they are all submerged in liquid. Let sit for at least 30 minutes, or preferably an hour or two.
STEP 2: Wash, peel, and chop carrots into evenly-sized pieces (about 1 ½" wide) and pulse 8-10 times in a food processor, until finely chopped. Chop dill, feta, and prep your pomegranate arils.
STEP 3: Whisk together all dressing ingredients.
STEP 4: Add chopped carrots, pomegranate, feta, chopped red onion, and dill into a large mixing bowl and pour dressing over everything. Toss to combine.
STEP 5: Break a few pita chips into pieces and sprinkle atop your salad.
Tips and FAQs
- Chop your carrots into evenly-sized pieces (about 1 ½") before putting them into a food processor to ensure that your finished pieces are evenly-sized. Don't pulse the carrots for too long – you still want them to have a nice crunchy texture. We pulsed about 8-10 times to get the perfect consistency.
- If you don't have time to pickle your red onions, feel free to use regular red onions in this salad.
- Make sure you add your pita chips after you've tossed your salad with the dressing to ensure they don't get soggy.
- Letting your red onions sit for a bit longer than 30 minutes will help intensify their pickled flavor.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Chopped Carrot Salad
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This chopped carrot salad combines finely chopped carrots, pomegranate, pickled red onion, feta cheese, and dill with a simple olive oil and lemon vinaigrette. It's a well balanced dish that you can enjoy as a dip with pita chips or as a delicious side salad.
Ingredients
Salad:
- 2 cups finely chopped carrots (5-6 carrots)
- ¾ cup pomegranate arils
- ½ cup chopped pickled red onion (recipe below)
- ½ cup feta cheese, cubed or crumbled
- ¼ cup dill, finely chopped
- Pita chips for topping
Vinaigrette:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons honey
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon sumac
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Pickled Red Onion:
- 1 medium red onion
- ¾ cup vinegar (white vinegar or apple cider vinegar)
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoon honey or another sugar
Instructions
Pickled Red Onion:
- Add vinegar, water, salt and honey to a small pot over medium heat. Heat until it comes to a gentle simmer. Slice the onion very thinly and place in a glass jar. Pour the brine into the jar. Use a spoon to pack the onions down in the jar so they are completely submerged in the liquid. Let sit for at least 30 minutes, or a few hours before using.
Salad:
- Slice carrots into 1 ½" pieces. Add to a food processor and pulse 8-10 times, until finely chopped. Don't pulse too much – you still want some crunch. If you don't have a food processor, you can finely chop the carrots by hand.
- Whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients.
- Add carrots, pomegranate, onion, feta and dill to a bowl and toss with vinaigrette. Serve with pita chips for dipping, or top with crumbled pita chips just before serving.
Notes
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Chop your carrots into evenly-sized pieces (about 1 ½") before putting them into a food processor to ensure that your finished pieces are evenly-sized. Don't pulse the carrots for too long – you still want them to have a nice crunchy texture. We pulsed about 8-10 times to get the perfect consistency.
If you don't have time to pickle your red onions, feel free to use regular red onions in this salad.
Make sure you add your pita chips after you've tossed your salad with the dressing to ensure they don't get soggy.
Nutritional info is an estimate and is calculated by a third-party website.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salads
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 252
- Sugar: 12.3 g
- Sodium: 389 mg
- Fat: 18.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 20.3 g
- Fiber: 4.1 g
- Protein: 4.7 g
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