This Indian carrot salad is fresh, light and flavorful and really easy to make. With crisp carrots and crunchy cashews, sweet raisins and a tangy lime dressing filled with warming spices. A real favour bomb of a salad full of wholesome ingredients.
This Indian style carrot salad is loaded with flavor and really brings out the best in the humble carrot! It is easy and fast to make and a real crowd pleaser at potlucks and gatherings. Combine this salad with some other Indian inspired dishes, like this amazing soft and fluffy Vegan Naan Bread, some flavor loaded curry roasted potatoes or this protein packed Indian chickpea salad.
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Ingredients
This easy carrot salad recipe just requires a few, simple ingredients listed below. For the full written recipe with the quantities, see the recipe card below.
- Grated carrots (about 8 large carrots) peel and grated fine or coarse, both works. Or use store-bought grated or matchstick carrots.
- Raisins, golden or regular. Sultanas also tastes great.
- Toasted cashews, roughly chopped for great crunch and flavor. Peanuts also works great.
- Cilantro, some fresh herbs gives this carrot salad a lot of flavor. If you don’t like cilantro, just leave it out or replace with chopped parsley.
Dressing
- Sunflower oil, or avocado oil. Use a neutral favoured oil for the best result.
- Lime, freshly squeezed lime juiced will add a lot of fresh flavor to this dressing.
- Ginger, peeled and grated
- Garlic, minced
- Yellow curry powder, use mild of spicy depending on your liking.
- Ground cumin, or toasted, whole cumin seeds.
- Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Indian carrot salad
Making this healthy carrot salad is easy and fast. Follow the step-by-step photos below. For the full written instructions see the recipe card at the bottom.
- Step 1: In a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients for the dressing, add salt to taste.
- Step 2: Add the grated carrots to a large salad bowl with the chopped cashews, cilantro and raisins.
- Step 3: Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- Step 4: Let the salad marinate for 30 minutes before serving to enhance all the flavors. Season with more salt if desired and to with some extra chopped cilantro and cashews if desired.
Substitutions and Variations
This Indian grated carrot salad is very flexible and easy to adjust to your taste or depending on what you have at home:
- Coconut – Add a little unsweetened shredded coconut for extra flavour and texture to this carrot salad.
- Carrots – The star of this salad. Use fresh and sweet carrots, peel and grate the carrots fine or coarse, both works. Or for a timesaving tip, use store-bought grated or matchstick carrots.
- Spicy – add some red pepper flakes or fresh chopped green chili for an extra kick of spice!
- Nuts – the cashews and a great crunch and flavor to this carrot salad. But they can also be replaced with peanuts or almonds. For an allergy friendly carrot salad recipe, skip nuts or replace with sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.
- Spices – Use a mild or spicy yellow curry blend, whatever is your favorit. For the cumin, the best flavor will come from lightly toasting whole cumin seeds in a pan. But ground cumin also works well and ads some extra cocoon to the dressing.
- Raisins – Instead of raisins, use chopped dates or dried cranberries. They can also be left out.
- Herbs – Cilantro ads a lot of flavor to this carrot curry salad. It can also be replaced with parsley.
- Onion, add some sliced red onion or chopped green onion for extra flavor.
Also check out this spiced Red Lentil Salad or this asian carrot cucumber salad on my website!
Storage
Store this carrot salad in an airtight container in the fridge. It keeps for up to 4 days. Stir the salad well before serving after storing, the dressing will sit to the bottom. Over time, the carrots will soften slightly and release some moisture, but still taste great!
This salad doesn’t stand up well to freezing, so I don’t recommend it.
Top Tip
Use fresh, crunchy carrots for the best texture and natural sweetness. If they have gone soft, they are better used in a cooked recipe like this Roasted carrots and potatoes side dish.
Grate the carrots fine or coarser, depending on how much bite you want in the salad. A time saving tip is to use store-bought grated carrots.
Let the salad sit for 30 minutes before serving, this way the flavors will blend and come together. Always taste before serving, add a little more salt and pepper if desired.
FAQ
Yes! This salad makes a great meal prop and even gets even better with time! Make a big batch and store in the fridge to serve as a fresh side throughout the week.
You can easily make it mild or spicy, to suit your taste. If you add chili and a spicy curry powder it will be a little spicy, otherwise it’s mild.
Yes, they can be left out, but they add a nice contrast of sweetness. Another option is to use chopped dates.
Salad Recipes
Carrot recipes
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This Indian carrot salad is fresh, light and flavorful and really easy to make. With crisp carrots and crunchy cashews, sweet raisins and a tangy lime dressing filled with warming spices. A real favour bomb of a salad full of wholesome ingredients.
- 4 cups carrots, peeled and grated (or matchsticks, about 8 large carrots)
- ⅓ cup raisins, golden or sultanas
- ⅓ cup toasted cashews, or peanuts, roughly chopped
- 2-4 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- ¼ cup sunflower oil, or avocado oil
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 teaspoons ginger, peeled and grated
- 1 teaspoon yellow curry powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin (or 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted)
- Salt to taste
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Add the grated carrots to a large salad bowl with the chopped cashews, cilantro and raisins.
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In a small bowl, stir together all the ingredients for the dressing, add salt to taste. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
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Let the salad marinate for 30 minutes before serving to enhance all the flavors. Season with more salt if desired and to with some extra chopped cilantro and cashews if desired.
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