Moroccan Carrot Salad is a simple, flavorful and unique North African salad that everyone will enjoy.
This salad can be served as a delicious vegan starter or as a side to a casual lunch or dinner.It makes for a great holiday dish for friends and family get-togethers too.
This Moroccan Carrot Salad made with a blend of tender cooked carrots tossed with fresh herbs and warm Moroccan spices.The spices commonly used in this salad are cumin, harissa or sumac spice and paprika.
The salad is then dressed in lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, along with cilantro(or parsley).If you so prefer, you can sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds as a final touch.

Table of Contents
What are the ingredients required to make this salad?
Carrots
Carrots, the easily available, all year around budget friendly, seasonal produce is the star of the show in this salad.
Carrots are cooked tenderly in salt water, just enough to soften, but not turn mushy.They need to still hold their shape.Cooking the carrots makes them perfectly tender and sweeter, with a bit less of their earthy flavor.
Soft tenderly cooked warm carrots absorb the flavors of spices well along with olive oil and lime juice, making this a simple yet mouth-watering carrot salad.
Preparing this salad ahead and placing it in the refrigerator, allows the spices to marinate and deepen their flavor, makes this salad taste even better!
Celery (optional)
If you enjoy a little bit of crunch in your salad, along with the soft and sweet carrots, you may add chopped celery to your salad.It is completely optional.
In our recipe here, I add a stick of celery for that extra crunch.
Celery is not an ingredients used in the traditional Moroccan Carrot salad recipe.If you enjoy a bit of culinary adventure while preparing a traditional dish, like I did, give it your little spin.
Looking for healthy and delicious salad recipes? Click here to learn more!

Spices
For that special Moroccan flare to this recipe, make sure to add the following spices,
For Flavor
Fresh minced garlic can’t be beat, to add a touch of flavor to any dish, including this salad. You can skip it you don’t like using garlic.
Toasted sesame seeds (optional) can be added if you enjoy a nutty flavor to your salad.
Garnish
Add fresh cilantro (or parsley or mint if you so prefer) for a pop of green on top.
Dressing
Keep it simple and flavorful by dressing the salad with,
- Fresh Lemon Juice
- Extra Virgin Olive oil
Coating the salad with the above melds the flavors well, making it delightful and tasty.
Moroccan Carrot Salad Recipe
Nutrition Facts
- Amount Per ServingCalories732
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 44g 68%
- Saturated Fat 6g 30%
- Sodium 7581mg 316%
- Potassium 2831mg 81%
- Total Carbohydrate 84g 29%
- Dietary Fiber 25g 100%
- Sugars 41g
- Protein 8g 16%
- Vitamin A 2898%
- Vitamin C 65%
- Calcium 30%
- Iron 17%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Tips for making the best Moroccan Carrot Salad
It helps to remember a few tips while making this carrot salad, though it is one of the easiest salads to make.Here goes…
- Cut the carrots evenly – It is important to remember to cut the carrots in uniform sizes.When boiling carrots you want all the pieces to cook well and evenly at the same time, to avoid crunchy in one and mushy in another.If you cut carrots in different sizes, you might end up with some overcooked and some uncooked carrot pieces, so it is important to cut them even. You may want to use a good carrot slicer like this one here.
- Remove excess water from cooked carrots – Once the carrots are cooked, you may use a colander to drain water by setting them aside for a few minutes.This ensures that the water is completely drained, before adding the carrots to the salad.
- Dress the carrots while they are still warm – This helps the flavors from the warm Moroccan spices, fresh herbs and bright dressing to be well absorbed.
- Refrigerate overnight to deepen the flavors – Refrigerating the salad in the marinated spices and tossed dressing, allows the salad taste to deepen and be more flavorful the next day or two.
- Salting the water before boiling carrots – If you are using say 12 large carrots for this salad, then you may use 3tsp of salt to the water before boiling.Salting the water before boiling and cooking the carrot slices in them sweetens their taste. Reduce or add salt depending upon the number of carrots you are using for this recipe.
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice – Adding freshly squeezed lemon juice from 2 lemons works best for this recipe, after you have removed the seeds. You may add more if you like a more citrusy flavor.
- Fresh herbs -In this recipe we used cilantro, but if you don’t like the taste of cilantro you may use parsley or mint.
- For more heat– Try adding finely diced jalapeno into the salad.
- Serve at room temperature – For tasting the delicious flavors and the perfect textures of these carrots in the Moroccan salad, serve this salad at room temperature. You may also serve it chilled if you so prefer.
Essential Kitchen Tools for making the best Salad
While you are busy trying out new salad recipes in your kitchen this season, don’t forget to check out our blogpost on Essential Kitchen Tools for making the best salads.We have an amazing collection of kitchen tools for you to shop from, in our blogpost, that will make life easy for you, save time and help maintain a mess free kitchen.
Read all about it here or by clicking the image below.
FAQ’s
How long can I store this carrot salad in the refrigerator?
This Moroccan carrot salad, stays good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, when placed in an airtight container.
You may bring it to room temperature before serving.
What is Harissa spice made up of?
Harissa recipes vary among different countries but most versions of this spicy paste include a blend of hot chili peppers, garlic, olive oil, and spices, including caraway, cumin, coriander, and mint. Other common ingredients include tomatoes and rose petals.
What does Harissa taste like?
If you like your food spicy, you’ll almost certainly love harissa, a hot pepper chili paste. It’s got a deeper flavor than just chili – you get a spicy hit backed by garlic and lemon. Sometimes it’s sweet and smoky.
What is a good Harissa substitute?
You may substitute with Sriracha sauce or Red pepper flakes, if you don’t have Harissa spice handy.
Is Sumac the same as Harissa?
Sumac is a slightly tangy Middle Eastern spice that goes well with anything. Especially salmon, avocado, poultry, and roasted veggies!
Harissa is also another Mediterranean spice that’s a total game-changer. It’s slightly spicy and warm without being over powering.
Links to our other Carrot Recipes
Here is a list of our other carrot recipes you ma enjoy.
- Bombay Carrot Salad
- Moroccan Carrot Salad
- Creamy Carrot Soup
- Carrot Chutney
- Carrot Poriyal/Stir Fry
- Carrot Paniyaram
- All about Carrots
The Bottom Line
Moroccan Carrot Salad is a salad with the perfect balance of sweetness from the carrots and tangy dressing.It is so easy to make with just a few ingredients.
We are sure you will enjoy our flavor filled and colorful Moroccan Carrot Salad, once you give it a try. If you do, we would love to hear your feedback in the comments section below.
This looks delish
Thank you.
Love love love salads. Would e trying this one.
Thank you. Enjoy!
Wow, I never thought of a carrot salad before. Looks delicious!
Thank you.The carrots taste tender and delicious in our Carrot salad recipe. Do give it a try!
Yum! This looks like an great salad to try!
Thank you. If you enjoy carrots, you are going to love this salad 🙂
Ooh, this looks so good!
Thank you.
Looks like a healthy and fresh salad for summer.
Thank you. Yes, most definitely. You can add it to your summer salad recipes.Enjoy!
Sounds interesting!
Thank you.
This looks absolutely delicious and healthy. Thanks for sharing!
You are most welcome. Enjoy!
Would this taste ok without the spice? My kids can’t handle spicy but they all love carrots.
You can skip the spices if your children cannot handle spices and just go with the dressing instead. The flavor will vary. minus the spices, but you will get to enjoy the tenderness of the carrots in a citrusy dressing. Enjoy our Moroccan Carrot Salad with your family!
This sounds good…can’t wait to try it!
Thank you, would love to hear your feedback, once you give our Moroccan Carrot Salad recipe a try. It is quick, easy & delicious. Enjoy!
This looks delicious.
Thank you.
This recipe looks so tasty and flavourful. I love carrots so I’ll definitely be giving this one a try.
Thank you. You will enjoy it, if you love carrots.It sure is delightfully tasty & so easy to make.
What a great way to add carrots to a meal without the boring.
Yup, try new ways to include the veggies in your diet & have fun doing it.
This looks delicious and I love the flavor profile and spices. It’s also great that you can make it a few days ahead if desired. Thank you!
You are most welcome. Yes, you can certainly make this salad a 2-3 days ahead , for the taste of spices to be totally absorbed making the salad even more delicious. Enjoy!
I have not heard of this dish. It sounds amazing. Where could you find Harissa spice?
Thank you. You can find Harissa spice in the Mediterranean aisle in an International Market, if you have one nearby, or you can order it online thru Amazon . Here is the link for online purchase :https://amzn.to/2RrCNLW
Have fun trying out a new recipe.
I’m so excited to try this recipe.. I never thought about cilantro and carrots together!!
This a wonderful and easy-to-make side dish or salad. I love carrots and can’t wait to try out this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
You are most welcome.If you will love carrots, you will definitely love our recipe.It is so simple to make, yet delicious. Enjoy!
Looks like it’s got a lot of flavor! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you.It sure does. Enjoy!
I love trying new recipes, especially when they have cilantro in them.
Agree with you.It’s fun trying new recipes, especially when they are so easy & quick to make & turn our delicious. Enjoy!
I am absolutely going to make this. It sounds delicious and I am a big fan of moroccan spices.
So glad to hear that. Warm spices bring out the delicious flavor in this tender carrot salad.Have fun trying out our recipe.Would love to hear how it turned out for you!