Carrot Ribbon Salad
A simple Carrot Ribbon Salad made with prunes and fresh parsley–tossed with a tangy orange dressing–is a delicious brunch or light lunch salad.
Is spring here yet? We love this carrot salad in the springtime, but it’s also fabulous with garden carrots in the summer and fall. There’s just something about new life, flowers, planting herbs and gardens, the longer days, sunshine, and literally a spring in my step. All so lovely, in so many ways.
Carrot Ribbon Salad
Today I’m sharing one of my favorite salads, a Carrot Salad made with prunes (yes, prunes), fresh parsley, and of course carrot ribbons. Who would have thought prunes would be so tasty, combined with cumin, and fresh parsley?
Just take a simple vegetable peeler to ribbon the carrots! It’s that easy! It turns carrots into beautifully thin strips in this healthy vegetable salad recipe. If you have a spiralizer, you can go for a different type of “peel” or zoodle instead.
Make your own orange juice marinade, it’s so light and fresh!
Why I love this recipe
- This salad is so easy to make, with simple ingredients, and everyone loves it.
- You can make ahead as it takes just as good as marinates in the dressing.
- Prepare these ahead of time, or at least you can zoodle or peel the carrots ahead of time, and then assemble before serving. It’s that simple!
Gather these ingredients
- Sugar
- Orange juice, fresh squeezed is best
- Lime juice
- Cumin
- Salt
- Pepper
- Pitted prunes, chopped (I buy at Costco)
- Carrots, peeled and ribboned (with a peeler)
- Chopped parsley leaves
- Cumin seeds, roasted and roughly crushed
It’s truly an elegant, spring or summer salad, delicious served on the side of any brunch. Or we love this salad served with fish or chicken or kebabs.
For setting a pretty table, I found these carrot napkins that I used a a luncheon I hosted. Between the napkins and the easy carrot salad, “carrots” were quite the topic of conversation. HA.
How to make Carrot Ribbon Salad
- For the dressing, in a small pan over moderate heat, stir the sugar until a dark caramelization takes place. Remove pan from heat and carefully add fresh squeezed orange and lime juice.
- Return pan to heat, stirring until you get a light brown, thick syrup. Stir for a few minutes; remove from heat. Mix in cumin, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Prepare the salad by steaming the carrots. Blanch (cool in fresh ice water) immediately. Blanching allows the color to remain very bright. Using a potato peeler, peel the carrots into long ribbons.
- Cut prunes into small pieces. Place the ribboned carrots, prunes, parsley, and cumin seeds in a large bowl or platter and pour the dressing on top. Toss to coat.
Serving suggestions
Not only is this salad a great side dish, it also makes a great potluck salad. It’s delicious served with a light meal (girl dinner, anyone?) with this chicken. Serve with other salads for a salad luncheon, like this Asian Chicken Salad and our favorite Spaghetti Salad. I am also fond of snacking on this, to just keep it made up in the fridge for a quick bite.
Enjoy!
More salads to try:
Get the Recipe:
Carrot Ribbon Salad
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. sugar
- ½ cup orange juice, fresh squeezed is best
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 1 tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 8 pitted prunes, chopped in small pieces (I buy at Costco)
- 4-6 orange carrots, peeled and ribboned (with a peeler)
- 3 Tbsp. chopped parsley leaves
- 1 tsp. cumin seeds, roasted and roughly crushed
Instructions
- For the dressing, in a small pan over moderate heat, stir the sugar until a dark caramelization takes place. Remove pan from heat and carefully add fresh squeezed orange and lime juice.
- Return pan to heat, stirring until you get a light brown, thick syrup. Stir for a few minutes; remove from heat. Mix in cumin, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Prepare the salad by steaming the carrots for 1 minute. Blanch (cool in fresh ice water) immediately. Blanching allows the color to remain very bright. Using a potato peeler, peel the carrots into long ribbons.
- Cut prunes into small pieces. Place the ribboned carrots, prunes, parsley, and cumin seeds in a large bowl or platter and pour the dressing on top. Toss to coat.
- Salad is best chilled; serve!
Notes
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
Okay, this sounds interesting. I chuckled when I saw Prunes, because I just always equate prunes with one thing. A month ago a friend was having a birthday party for her husband, i looked in the fridge at the cake she bought from our local natural grocery store and it said “Prune cake”. I thought “well, this’ll be interesting”. It actually was a really good cake. LOL