This simple and delicious French carrot salad is made from shredded carrots tossed in a simple lemon dressing. It is a light and healthy, low calorie alternative without mayonnaise that is a cinch to make, keeps well, and is good for you.
Just one taste and you'll begin to understand how French women manage to stay slim while enjoying delicious food!
My sister inspired me to try this raw shredded carrot salad. So if like her you hate cooked carrots be sure to give it a try.
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Carrot Salad?
According to my calculations each serving has just 75 calories and:
2 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
2 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
2 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
2 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
To see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
Recipe Notes
I slightly adapted this simple French shredded carrot salad, Carrottes Rapees, from one of my latest cookbook acquisitions, The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food That French Women Cook Every Day (affiliate link), from Wine Moranville.
I used only 1 tablespoon of olive oil—instead of 2. This decreased the calories by more than 100.
We all loved it so it's going into my regular rotation salad and vegetable rotation. Enjoy!
How to Make Shredded Carrot Salad Step by Step
Step 1 - Assemble & Prep Your Ingredients
French Shredded Carrot Salad Ingredients: Carrots, Lemon, Mustard, Oil, Sugar, Salt & Parsley
½ pound carrots, peeled and grated into long thin strips (about 3 cups) and placed in a large bowl.
Grating Fresh Carrots
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Squeezing Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, chives or a combination
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Step 2 - Make the Lemon Dressing
Fresh Lemon Juice
In a small bowl (affiliate link), whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, sugar and mustard until well blended.
Step 3 - Assemble the Shredded Carrot Salad
Making Shredded Carrot Salad
Pour the dressing over the carrots. Add the parsley and/or chives. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Taste and adjust the seasonings to suit your tastes. (You may want a little more lemon juice, mustard, salt or pepper.)
Chill the salad for at least 30 minutes to give the flavors a chance to blend and toss again before serving.
French Shredded Carrot Salad
Recipe Variations
This shredded carrot salad can be changed in a multitude of ways to suit your tastes:
- Substitute honey, maple syrup or your favorite sweetener for the sugar.
- Substitute mayonnaise for the olive oil.
- Add thinly sliced fennel and/or radish.
- Substitute fresh cilantro or dill for the parsley.
- Add some thinly sliced green onion/scallion.
- Add a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.
- Add a handful of golden raisins, dried cranberries or chopped dates.
- Add shredded or chopped apple.
- Add chopped nuts such as pistachios or walnuts.
Simple Shredded Carrot Salad
If you like this simple recipe for French carrot salad, be sure to check out my other low calorie Weight Watchers friendly carrot recipes including Weight Watchers Carrot Salad with Raisins & Walnuts, Slow Cooker Curried Carrot Soup, Easy Carrot Apple Slaw, Slow Cooker Carrots with Apple Glaze and Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
If you've made this shredded carrot salad, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Low Calorie French Shredded Carrot Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ pound carrots, peeled and grated into long thin strips (about 3 cups)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard (or more to taste)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, chives or a combination
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the carrots in a medium-size glass bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, sugar and mustard until well blended.
- Pour the dressing over the carrots.
- Add the parsley and/or chives.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss to coat.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings to suit your tastes.
- Chill the salad for at least 30 minutes to give the flavors a chance to blend and toss again before serving.
Equipment
Recipe Notes
- Substitute honey, maple syrup or your favorite sweetener for the sugar.
- Substitute mayonnaise for the olive oil.
- Add thinly sliced fennel and/or radish.
- Substitute fresh cilantro or dill for the parsley.
- Add some thinly sliced green onion/scallion.
- Add a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.
- Add a handful of golden raisins, dried cranberries or chopped dates.
- Add shredded or chopped apple.
- Add chopped nuts such as pistachios or walnuts.
Source: The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food That French Women Cook Every Day (affiliate link)
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
Fridays, a group of bloggers, led by Mireya of <em">My Healthy Eating Habits, is posting recipes using the healthy ingredients from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients (affiliate link), by Martha Stewart and the editors of Whole Living Magazine.
If you haven't seen the book, it's definitely worth taking a peek, especially if you're trying to eat healthier.
The 38 Power Foods are categorized into 5 chapters:
- Vegetables;
- Fruits;
- Grains and Legumes;
- Nuts and Seeds; and
- Eggs, Yogurt and Fish
In addition to several recipes for each ingredient, there's interesting health information, along with buying, storing, and preparation tips.
We are now up to #8, Carrots, on the alphabetical list of vegetables.
It turns out Bugs Bunny was right, chomping on carrots is a good thing to do for your health.
Watch this video to find out about 10 amazing health benefits of carrots...
They're full of fiber, vitamin C, and beta- carotene, which your body converts into vitamin A, a nutrient essential for healthy skin and night vision.
Carrots are richer in carotenoids than any other vegetable too, helping to protect you from cancer, heart disease and cataracts.
Because beta-carotene is fat soluble, it's best to eat them with a little healthy oil so your body can more fully absorb the nutrients, making this French carrot salad recipe a naturally delicious & healthy choice.
For more great delicious carrot recipes, check out the blogs of these fabulous food-blogging ladies who are participating in the 38 Power Foods group:
- Alyce @ More Time at the Table
- Ansh @ Spice Roots
- Jeanette @ Jeanette's Healthy Living
- Jill @ Saucy Cooks
- Mireya @ My Healthy Eating Habits
- Sarah @ Everything in the Kitchen Sink
- Casey @ Bookcase Foodie
- Bambi @ Adobo Down Under
More Low Calorie Weight Watchers Recipes with Carrots You Might Like
- Spiralized Carrot Salad with Lemon & Dijon (SkinnyTaste)
- Spicy Carrot Salad (SnackGirl)
- Roasted Beet & Carrot Salad with Feta Cheese (LaaLoosh)
- Jicama & Carrot Slaw with Honey-Lime Dressing (Cookin'Canuck)
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Alyce Morgan
This reminds me of the Moroccan carrots I made for the 50 Women Game Changers.
Gorgeous use of color to attract us to healthy food!
Sharon
I love all of the recipes I have tried Martha but you never put in the sugar count which affects the WW points and is something I need to track very carefully
Martha McKinnon
Hi Sharon, I run all the recipes through the WW Recipe Builder, which is the only accurate way to calculate Freestyle SmartPoints because of Zero Points foods. Here is a detailed article that explains it all: https://simple-nourished-living.com/why-your-recipes-smartpoints-may-be-higher-than-it-should-be/
Margo
This looks amazing and I love the fact that it seems pretty straight forward. This is one to keep in the fridge to nosh on. Love it!
Jeanette
What a pretty carrot salad - love how simple it is to make. I've got a stash of fresh carrots in my fridge this week. Can't wait to try this.
Ansh
Very beautiful. I love the simplicity.
Casey
What a nice simple salad that I think, my family will love. Hope to make it real soon.
Mireya Merritt
Simple carrot salad is a family favorite, and my husband can't get enough of it. I like it best made with a fine shredder.
Bonnie
The carrot salad was really good!! It will be a keeper! Thank you!
Martha McKinnon
Thanks for taking the tie to let me know Bonnie! I really appreciate it.
Yvette Davies
Martha, I want you to know how much I appreciate your emails not just your recipes but how you come across to us as a very warm and caring person, thank you. I love all your recipes because they’re not just tasty but also very simple to prepare.
I did send an email but I think I did something wrong?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Yvette, Thanks so much for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment!! I appreciate it very very much 🙂 - Martha
Barb
Delicious. Tart and sweet. Will use dressing on other salads too!!!!
Ty