Colorful Carrot Salad Recipe (2024)

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Crunchy, sweet, and zippy, this non-mayo Colorful Carrot Salad Recipe will be your new healthy, family-favorite summer side dish!

Do I have a recipe for you, specifically, this Colorful Carrot Salad Recipe. Carrots are the vegetable that are the last to get eaten every week at my house. I buy them regularly, but my children much prefer cucumber, celery or peppers. And if I’m being honest, they are my least favorite vegetable too…unless steamed and coated in copious amounts of butter and maple syrup. SUPER HEALTHY way to eat them.

Well, waaaay back in June, I created this salad made with just carrots as the main ingredient. Why? Because I had a bunch of carrots that were all alone in my crisper drawer that needed to get eaten. So, instead of making the typical carrot salad with grated carrots, pineapple and a mayonnaise-based dressing (ew), I made it a little more interesting by using colorful carrots, lots of toasted almonds, parsley and an oil and vinegar based dressing. Not only is this much more flavorful, but it’s better for those summer picnics.

Let me get on my public health soapbox for a hot minute and say mayonnaise based anything should not be out of the fridge and sitting out at potlucks, summer picnics or gatherings of any kind for longer than 3 hours…and even less time if it’s hot outside! I’m mainly talking about potato salad, coleslaw and the actual bottle of mayonnaise meant for burgers, but any kind of creamy salad also applies. People get sick if that stuff gets consumed after the three-hour mark. So, what is the solution? Place the potato salad on ice to keep it below 40 degrees F. OR, make this kind of carrot salad and not worry about it. (I went to school for this kind of stuff, so I do have some legitimate smarts to back up my preaching, in case you were wondering.)

ANYWAYS, the moral of the story is carrot salad doesn’t have to be boring or gross. It can be good. Really good. You just need the right recipe.

Note that I used a mandoline slicer to cut my carrots extra thin. I own this one and it has been a great addition to my kitchen. It’s small and inexpensive but high quality and has lasted me 5 years thus far.

Also, this is a great salad to make in advance because it tends to taste better after sitting in that tasty dressing for a few hours. If you want to make this in advance, be sure to omit the almonds until you’re ready to serve. I like mine nice and crunchy, and the nuts have a tendency to soften in this recipe after about 3 hours. So just throw those in at the end.

So, scroll down to grab the recipe and be sure to enjoy and distribute as desired. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think!

Have a great day, friends!

other amazing salad recipes you might like:

Broccoli Salad

Grandma’s Cucumber Salad Recipe

Chinese Chicken Salad

Simple Macaroni Salad Recipe

Sesame Noodle Salad