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Home » Recipes » Salads

Carrot Sesame Salad

Published: May 17, 2021 by Lexi

28.4K shares
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This Carrot Sesame Salad is easy to make, full of flavor and the perfect way to use up excess carrots sitting in your fridge. It makes a great side dish for just about any protein, and it's easy to prep ahead of time.

overhead view of shaved rainbow carrot salad with miso sesame dressing on large black platter.
Jump to:
  • 🥗 Why We Love This Recipe
  • 🥕 Ingredients
  • 📋 Ingredient Notes
  • 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
  • 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
  • 🍽 Related Recipes
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Reviews

🥗 Why We Love This Recipe

  • Easy prep: After you're done toasting sesame seeds and julienning the carrots, the rest of the salad is just mixing ingredients together. It's super simple with a delicious result.
  • Use up those carrots: Tired of looking at those carrots sitting at the bottom of your fridge? This is a great way to transform your excess produce into a delicious salad.
  • Great at a BBQ: This salad is a perfect complement to grilled foods like burgers, because it's crunch, fresh, and slightly spicy. It works well as a palate cleanser.

🥕 Ingredients

Here are the key ingredients you'll need to make this carrot sesame salad:

overhead view of ingredients for carrot sesame salad on surface with text labels.

📋 Ingredient Notes

  • Carrots: if you want to add some color to this dish, you can opt for rainbow carrots. Totally optional, though – regular orange carrots are great!
  • Sesame seeds: if you have an allergy in the family, you can opt for sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or even peanuts. It won't be exactly the same, but either of those two options will do a good job of replacing the sesame seeds.
  • Tamari: if you're not worried about gluten, you can opt for regular soy sauce instead of tamari.
  • Basil: if you can find Thai basil, this is the perfect use for it! If not (we had trouble finding some), regular basil is just fine.
  • Miso: we use a milder white or brown miso in this dressing instead of red miso, which tends to be quite a bit stronger. If using red miso, you may want to use a bit less.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

PREP: Heat a small pan to medium, then add 1.5 tablespoon sesame seeds and toast for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat once they’re lightly browned and fragrant.

(1 & 2) Add all of the dressing ingredients to a small blender or food processor and blend for 15-20 seconds. If you don’t have a small food processor or blender, whisk the miso and tamari together until there are no lumps left and then add the rest of the dressing ingredients and whisk until mixed well.

before and after whisking together ingredients for miso sesame dressing.

(3) Wash and peel carrots. Julienne the carrots and put in a large bowl. We used 1.5lbs or 680g of carrots in this recipe. Add chopped ¼ cup chopped scallions, 2 tablespoon cilantro, and 2 tablespoon basil and toss well to combine.

(4) Pour dressing over carrots and toss to coat well.

before and after mixing together ingredients for carrot sesame salad.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let flavors meld together. Serve topped with a few more toasted sesame seeds and some red pepper flakes.

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

  • If you're short on time and don't want to julienne the carrots, you can also see if your food processor comes with a julienne disk. Alternatively, you can use a vegetable peeler to make carrot shavings. You can also buy pre-shredded carrots for a super quick option!
  • Be sure to keep a close on eye on the sesame seeds when you toast them, as they are notorious for burning quickly. You'll know they're done when your kitchen smells nutty and delicious.
  • Storage: this is a great salad to meal prep, and you can dress the salad and then store in an airtight container for 2-3 days. You don't have to worry about storing the dressing separately, just dress and store.
How do you julienne carrots?

Julienning is a way of cutting that results in long, thin strips. The best way to learn how is to watch this video as typing it out will make it sound more complicated than it actually is. You can also try out a specialized tool like this one from OXO.

What should you serve with carrot salad?

I love this carrot sesame salad alongside a grilled protein, like these grilled tofu kebabs with peanut sauce. It's also GREAT as a slaw for burgers (veggie or regular).

close up view of shaved rainbow carrot salad with miso sesame dressing on large black platter.

🍽 Related Recipes

  • Carrot Fritters
  • Carrot Cucumber Salad
  • Harissa Roasted Carrots with Toasted Hazelnuts and Pomegranate
  • Baked Spiced Sweet Potato Fries (Actually Crispy)

Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or by subscribing to our newsletter.

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📖 Recipe

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overhead view of shaved rainbow carrot salad with miso sesame dressing on large black platter.

Shaved Rainbow Carrot Sesame Salad


★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

  • Author: Lexi
  • Total Time: 25 minutes
  • Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
  • Diet: Vegan
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Description

This Carrot Sesame Salad is full of flavor and the perfect way to use up the bag of carrots sitting in your fridge. It makes a great side dish for just about any protein, and it's easy to prep ahead of time. 


Ingredients

Scale

Salad:

  • 1 ½ lbs (680g) carrots, peeled and ends trimmed
  • ¼ cup finely chopped scallions
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil 
  • 1 ½ tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

Dressing:

  • 3 tbsp rice vinegar 
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 ½ tbsp low sodium Tamari (you can also use soy sauce)
  • 1 tbsp mild white miso
  • 1 tsp sriracha
  • 1 tsp coconut sugar
  • 1 tsp finely minced fresh garlic
  • 1 tsp of fresh ginger, grated

Instructions

  1. Heat a small pan to medium, then add 1.5 tablespoon sesame seeds and toast for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat once they’re lightly browned and fragrant.
  2. Wash and peel carrots. Then julienne the carrots and put in a large bowl. We used 1.5lbs or 680g of carrots in this recipe. Add chopped ¼ cup chopped scallions, 2 tablespoon cilantro, and 2 tablespoon basil and toss well to coat.  
  3. Add all of the dressing ingredients to a small blender or food processor and blend for 15-20 seconds. If you don’t have a small food processor or blender, whisk the miso and tamari together until there are no lumps left and then add the rest of the dressing ingredients and whisk until mixed well. Pour over carrots and toss to coat well.
  4. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let flavors meld together. Serve topped with a few more toasted sesame seeds and some red pepper flakes.

Notes

Carrot prep: Julienning is a way of cutting that results in long, thin strips. The best way to learn how is to watch this video as typing it out will make it sound more complicated than it actually is. You can also try out a specialized tool like this one from OXO.

Carrots: if you want to add some color to this dish, you can opt for rainbow carrots. Totally optional, though – regular orange carrots are great! 

Sesame seeds: if you have an allergy in the family, you can opt for sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or even peanuts. 

Storage: this is a great salad to meal prep, and you can dress the salad and then store in an airtight container for 2-3 days. You don't have to worry about storing the dressing separately, just dress and store.

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 5 minutes
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: No cook
  • Cuisine: Asian-American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Bowl
  • Calories: 114
  • Sugar: 6.5 g
  • Sodium: 204 mg
  • Fat: 6.1 g
  • Carbohydrates: 13.9 g
  • Fiber: 3.7 g
  • Protein: 2.2 g

Keywords: shaved carrot salad

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram and hashtag it #crowdedkitchen

More Salad Recipes

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  • Pomegranate Couscous Salad
  • Pumpkin Salad
  • Fall Kale Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Reader Interactions

Comments

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    Recipe rating ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

  1. Meghan Tuttle

    July 05, 2022 at 5:44 pm

    I have made this salad three times so far and it's just so incredible. DO yourself a favor and make this ASAP!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  2. Tawni

    April 18, 2022 at 4:00 pm

    Excellent salad! Can you be more specific for serving size? How many grams in 1 bowl?

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lexi

      April 19, 2022 at 11:19 am

      Hi, the serving size is 1/6 of the recipe - hope that helps!

      Reply
  3. D'OnKaMiNoOr

    January 12, 2022 at 12:56 am

    Very nice salad. I love trying new recipies to give new falvours to basics. We really enjoyed the asian taste of those carrots. Will do it again. Thanks for sharing.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lexi

      January 12, 2022 at 9:23 am

      So glad you enjoyed, thank you for your comment! 🙂

      Reply
      • D'OnKaMiNoOr

        January 13, 2022 at 7:12 am

        Just read your presentation and as you said you liked travelling and cultures i thought it would be interesting for you to know that your recipes are being tryed in Mauritius ! Isn't that amazing ? I always find it so incredible myself being cooking dishes suggested by people liveing veeeeery far from me !

        Reply
        • Lexi

          January 15, 2022 at 11:09 am

          That is so cool - we love to hear that!! Thank you for sharing!

          Reply
  4. DENISE

    September 21, 2021 at 6:39 pm

    Hi!!
    They don't sell miso where i live. Can i leave it out or will it affect flavor? Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Lexi

      September 22, 2021 at 11:44 am

      Hi! Feel free to leave it out, but you may want to add a bit more salt since miso is pretty salty.

      Reply
  5. Beau

    September 11, 2021 at 11:03 am

    Excellent dish, I really enjoyed it.

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lexi

      September 12, 2021 at 4:11 pm

      So glad you enjoyed, thank you for your comment! 🙂

      Reply

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Lexi and Beth toasting with wine.

Hi, we're Lexi and Beth, a mother-daughter team from Michigan. The recipes you'll find here are a reflection of how we bring our family together around the dinner table despite various dietary differences.

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