A great side dish that takes minutes to prepare, our Moroccan carrot salad is full of flavor, has a beautiful presentation and it can be served with a casual supper or formal holiday meals.
Moroccan carrot salad is a Holiday treat on our families’ table, even though it is really easy to make and it took us too many tries to perfect! It’s a great North African dish that everyone enjoys. We love the blend of deliciously sweet cooked carrots in a savory (and sometimes spicy!) blend of cumin, sumac, sweet paprika, lemon, and bright cilantro (or parsley if you really dislike cilantro).
We love making our Moroccan carrot salad all year round since fresh carrots are easily found at any season. It makes a great Autumn dish for Rosh HaShanah's simanim, Thanksgiving, Passover and other family get-togethers.
How to Make Carrot Salad
Here are a few tips for a sumptuous Moroccan carrot salad:
- Prepare our Moroccan carrot salad a day or two before serving, it’s a great time saver and the spices deepen as the salad rests in the fridge.
- Cut the carrot into similar sizes pieces, so they can cook evenly
- Cook the carrots well until they are tender, but not mushy (they should still hold their shape).
- Season salad while the carrots are still hot, so they can absorb all the flavors and the spices.
- 3 teaspoons of sea salt may seem like a lot, but all doesn't get absorbed into the carrots. It is important to salt the water well, the same way you do when cooking pasta. It deepens the sweet carrot flavor. Please note that if you are cooking less than 12 large carrots, you must reduce the amount of salt you use.
- For us, ⅓ cup of lemon juice is the perfect amount for this Moroccan carrot salad. You can reduce the amount of lemon if you prefer.
- If you are not a fan of cilantro, you can substitute it with fresh parsley
- If you'd prefer a little heat, try finely dicing some jalapeno into the salad.
For a great Summer to Fall meal, try serving Moroccan carrot salad with our Sweet Basmati Rice with Carrots and Raisins, Onion and Mushroom Rice Pilaf, a fresh Avocado Cucumber Salad, and our Roasted Butternut Squash Galette. Delicious!
Other Carrot Recipes You May Enjoy
- Coconut Ginger Carrot Soup
- Carrot Raisin Rice
- Chili Roasted Carrots with Avocado-Cilantro Dressing
- Carrot and Parsnip Vegan Latkes
- Passover Coconut Ginger Carrot Rice
Did you like our The Best Moroccan Carrot Salad?
If you enjoyed this recipe, it would help us tremendously if you left us a star rating in the comments below or on the recipe card. Do you have any questions about the recipe? Do you need a swap for any of the ingredients? We are here to help, just leave us a question in the comments below.
Print
The Best Moroccan Carrot Salad
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
Description
A great side-dish that takes minutes to prepare, our Moroccan carrot salad has a beautiful presentation and it can be served with a casual supper or formal holiday meals.
Ingredients
- 12 large carrots, peeled and trimmed
- 3 tsp sea salt or 1 ½ teaspoon table salt (see note 1)
- ⅓ cup lemon juice (see note 2)
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp sweet paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp sumac (See note 5)
- 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Instructions
- Slice the carrots into ¾" rounds (cut them in half lengthwise as you get to the thicker part. The goal is to have all the carrots be approximately the same size, so they can cook evenly)
- Place carrots in a medium size pot, add water so it covers about 2" above the carrots and the salt. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat slightly so they can keep boiling. Cook for 45 minutes or until the carrots are tender, but not mushy (See note 3)
- Drain them well, transfer them to large bowl and immediately add the lemon juice, olive oil, paprika, cumin and sumac and toss well. Add the chopped cilantro or parsley, toss again and refrigerate until ready to serve (see note 4)
Notes
- 3 teaspoons of sea salt may seem like a lot, but all doesn't get absorbed into the carrots. It is important to salt the water well, the same way you do when cooking pasta. If you are using regular table salt, reduce the amount of salt in half. Please note that if you are cooking less than 12 large carrots, you must reduce the amount of salt as well.
- For us, ⅓ cup of lemon juice is the perfect amount for this Moroccan carrot salad. You can reduce the amount of lemon if you prefer the carrot salad less tangy.
- Carrots should be soft, but they should still hold their shape.
- The carrot salad tastes better when prepared a day or two ahead of time.
- You can find Sumac online or in Whole Foods. If you don't have it handy, just skip it. But we highly recommend you add it to your pantry.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Side dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Moroccan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ½ cup
- Calories: 71
- Sugar: 3.6
- Sodium: 631
- Fat: 5
- Saturated Fat: 0.7
- Unsaturated Fat: 4
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 7.4
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 0.7
- Cholesterol: 0
Consuelo @ Honey & Figs
What a lovely salad! I love how colorful and fresh it looks, and the spice combo sounds unbelievable amazing.
Hope you enjoy your weekend! xxxx
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you consuelo, we love spicing up salads and making them more interesting!
Chanie@BusyInBrooklyn
This looks great, and lovely pictures as usual!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you Channie!
Ronnie Fein
Carrot Salad is a favorite at our house. Turkish salad here is like a flavorful condiment and not the same old, same old. Nice tip!
Vicky & Ruth
Thanks Ronnie!
Yosef - This American Bite
Looks so good. Adding this to my shabbat meny for the weekend.
Renee Rothberg
Thanks for this easy, yummy recipe. I wanted to make a carrot salad that wasn't too spicy, and this one is just right. The only thing I did differently from the recipe was to cut the carrots a bit thinner and cook them for 25 minutes. Everyone liked it! Thanks so much.
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you so much Renee, we are so happy to hear you enjoyed our Moroccan carrot recipe!
Sasha
This Moroccan carrot salad is a perfect balance of sweetness from the carrots and tangy dressing. It taste like the Moroccan carrot salad I used to enjoy at my French Moroccan friend’s house.
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you so much. It took a lot of recipes testing to get it right!
MaryLouise
I have made this recipe many many times and it is wonderful. So easy, tasty & colorful. Sometimes find myself eating it by spoonfuls out of container as snack & can’t stop.
Love all your recipes. They inspire me to cook and be adventurous. Thanks
Vicky & Ruth
We are so happy to hear that you are enjoying our Moroccan Carrot recipe!
Ken Bristow
45 minutes to boil carrots!
Vicky & Ruth
Depending on the size of the cut carrots it may take more or less time to cook the carrots
cindy faust
Just made a double batch for Rosh HaShana- it's one of my favorite salads! I love that you make it a few days in advance...it just gets better!!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you! You are so right this Moroccan carrot salad tastes better after a couple of days in the fridge.
Jayne Bernasconi
Yummy salad. I cut this recipe in half and thought shredded too many carrots as my carrots were very large, but it was perfect! Just the right amount of lemon juice, and spices and I can't stop eating it before dinner!
Vicky & Ruth
Ha, Ha! Thank you so much!
Rebeca
Very tasty salad 🙂 I love it also as a side dish!
cindy faust
Just made this for Shabbos! So delicious! Very good advice about salting the water- it really does make a big difference. Highly recommend this salad!!
Vicky & Ruth
Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed it!
Allie Pells
I am so happy to find your recipe! I lost it years ago and this looks like the one I made. I used to make it when my son was a little boy and he loved them so much we renamed it “Tuvia Carrots”. He ate them so often that his skin took on an orange tint!
I actually took the lazy way out and used baby carrots (no peeling or chopping ). They cook faster too.
I’ll be making these for dinner!
Thank you!
Vicky and Ruth
Ha,Ha, my sister also used to eat so many carrots that the same thing happened to her!
Renly
Should this be served hot or cold ?
Vicky and Ruth
It's usually served cold. If you let it sit in the fridge for a day this carrot salad tastes even better.
Alden Mamann
Looks amazing but sumac does not appear in authentic Moroccan cooking.
Vicky and Ruth
Yes, that's true. But we love the flavor that sumac gives this recipe. We hope you like it too!
Elizabeth
I've been looking for a recipe that would replicate the marinated carrot salad at my favorite Moroccan restaurant - this is probably the closet, and even though it's still quite different it is delicious in its own right. Last time I made it I couldn't find Sumac to save my life, this time at least I have Za'atar so looking forward to this new batch. (Incidentally the carrot salad was served with marinated cucumber salad and marinated eggplant salad - if I could re-create this trio I will have died & gone to heaven.)
Vicky and Ruth
Thank you Elizabeth, it took us many tries to get this recipe the way we wanted it! Tell us a little bit about the marinated cucumber salad and marinated eggplant salad. We would love to try to re-create them!
Naomi & Ben
Great recipe
Hillary
Delicious! It was supposed to last for two meals and only made it through one after everyone grabbed seconds!
Vicky and Ruth
Ha, ha! happy to hear it was a success!
Natalia
What a beautiful and delicious salad! I made this for dinner tonight and I truly enjoyed the flavor! Way better than the one I have tried in our local restaurant! Saving this one to make again 🙂 thank you!
PS: tssss….I didn’t have much time to cook, so I cheated and placed the chopped carrots in a little water in microwave for 3 minutes. Came out with a perfect bite, not too soft and not too hard.
Vicky and Ruth
Thank you Natalia! We love your shortcut! Thank you for sharing!