Easy Carrots Cucumber Salad Recipe – French Style
This quick and easy French carrots cucumber salad uses simple ingredients to create a crisp and refreshing salad. Crunchy carrots and cucumbers, lemon juice, and parsley create a great side dish for any time of day. No special equipment needed—just a cutting board, grater or peeler, and knife for this go-with-everything salad.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
It was my French mother-in-law that introduced me to the idea of having a variety of fresh veggies before lunch or dinner. “Crudités” is the word they use in France and it literally means raw vegetables. All of our lunches and dinners at my in-laws (and other friends and relatives) started with crudités, which were often carrot, cucumber or beet salad or a combination of these and other fresh vegetables. But not lettuce. Lettuce was served after the main meal.
Why you’ll love this carrots cucumber salad recipe:
- A simple recipe that takes just 10 minutes to prepare from start to finish
- Uses simple, affordable fresh ingredients you can find year-round
- Crisp and refreshing, perfect for hot summer days (or for any time of year 😉)
- Great side dish or light lunch or dinner
- Easy to make ahead/bring to work
- Goes with everything
Here in Australia, I find serving “crudités” is a great way to start a meal – especially when my boys were younger, and I was trying to get them to eat more veggies. But now I often serve this simple salad as a side dish or a light snack. This is a French style carrot and cucumber salad, not an Asian cucumber salad.
The reason I love this recipe is that I find this carrots cucumber salad is the perfect side dish for almost anything, such as chicken, fish, beef, pork, lamb. You name it, this carrots and cucumber salad will go with it. This crunchy salad is definitely one of my main go-to salads. Just follow my simple steps and you will have a delicious salad super quick.
Try serving this light and crunchy salad with this creamy Pasta Alfredo with Asparagus or this French-style Asparagus Ricotta Quiche with Phyllo Dough. And if you are looking for more easy non-lettuce salad recipes, try this cucumber beetroot salad with lemon dill dressing recipe.
Crunchy Cucumber Carrot Salad Ingredients:
Salad Ingredients:
- Carrots, julienned or grated
- Cucumbers – English cucumbers, regular cucumbers, Persian cucumbers, baby cucumbers, thinly sliced
- Red onion or spring onions, chives or shallots
- Parsley – any kind works well
Classic French Dressing ingredients:
- Olive oil – Extra virigin Olive oil if possible
- Lemon juice
- Honey or Maple syrup (Optional)
- Salt
- Black pepper
Substitutions
Parsley: You can use other fresh herbs such as dill, chives or fresh mint.
Red onion: You can use spring onion, chives, shallot or leave it out completely.
Olive oil: You can use avocado oil, vegetable oil or use a nut oil such as walnut or hazelnut oil for a change.
Lemon juice: You can use Apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar.
Honey: You can use maple syrup or leave it out completely.
Additions
Pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds make a nice addition to this salad.
Other vegetables: Baby tomatoes or sliced tomatoes, avocado, lettuce can all be added to this salad.
Step by Step Instructions:
Start by preparing the cucumber. Cucumbers hold a lot of water and they will gradually lose some of their water into your carrots cucumber salad. To prevent this, follow these steps:
Peel the cucumber and then slice the cucumber thinly, using a mandolin if you have one, or a sharp knife. I like to cut half moon shapes, but you can cut full circle shapes, or even make cube shapes.
Place cucumber slices in a bowl with salt and let stand for about 10 minutes. This will draw out some of the water in the cucumber. After 10 minutes, rinse the cucumber really well and then drain completely.
Next, prepare the carrots, red onion and parsley:
Peel the carrots and then coarsly grate the carrots using a veggie grater. I find this is a quick, easy way to get the job done.
Then prepare the red onion or spring onion. Thinly slice the red onion and then cut into smaller pieces. Or slice the spring onion into thin slices if using.
Wash and then finely chop your parsley.
Finally, prepare the dressing and mix all the ingredients together.
In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and honey.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the carrots, cucumber, and red onion.
Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss gently.
Add the chopped parsley and toss again.
Let the carrots cucumber salad sit for about 10 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld.
Tips and Notes
Coarsely grate the carrot. I find it loses some of its crunchiness if it is too finely grated. You can also use a julienne peeler and cut the carrots into thin matchstick strips. Or you can make long carrot ribbons by using a veggie peeler and just keep peeling the carrot. Or you can also just use a sharp knife or mandolin to cut thin sliced carrots.
Cucumber seeds: If your cucumbers have lots of seeds, you might consider scooping them out with a small spoon. I rarely do, but I know my mother-in-law almost always did. Up to you.
Don’t leave the cucumbers in the salt for too long, as they may get very droopy. 20 minutes max. And make sure you rinse then really well. You don’t want to take a bite of a super salty cucumber!
Storage
- Refrigerate for up to 3 days. The carrots cucumber salad stays fresh for 2-3 days in an airtight container. The lemon in the dressing helps keep the vegetables crisp, but it’s best to add the dressing just before serving for maximum crunchiness.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve carrots cucumber salad with some bruschetta with whipped lemon ricotta or tomatoes for a lovely light lunch
- A perfect side dish for lunch or dinner. Goes great with beef, chicken, fish and lamb.
- Serve as an entrée before your main lunch or dinner
- Add some quinoa, chickpeas, sunflower seeds or avocado and tomatoes to make it a more substantial meal
FAQ for Carrots Cucumber Salad
Carrots Cucumber Salad
Equipment
- veggie peeler
- veggie grater
- knife
- Cutting board
- salad bowl
Ingredients
- 4 Carrots grated, julienne strips or finely sliced
- 1-2 Cucumber Large English or two Persian, thinly sliced
- 1/4 Red onion thinly sliced and diced
- 3 Tbsp Parsley chopped
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil or Avocado, vegetable or nut oil
- 2 Tbsp Lemon juice
- 1 Tsp Honey or Maple syrup (Optional)
- 1/2 tsp Salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp Black pepper to taste
Instructions
Start by preparing the cucumber:
- Cucumbers hold a lot of water and they will gradually lose some of their water into your carrots cucumber salad. To prevent this, follow these steps:
- Peel the cucumber and then slice the cucumber thinly, using a mandolin if you have one, or a sharp knife. I like to cut half moon shapes, but you can cut full circle shapes, or even make cube shapes.
- Place cucumber slices in a bowl with salt and let stand for about 10 minutes. This will draw out some of the water in the cucumber. After 10 minutes, rinse the cucumber really well and then drain completely.
Next prepare the carrots, parsley and red onion:
- Peel the carrots and then coarsely grate the carrots using a veggie grater. I find this is a quick, easy way to get the job done.
- Then prepare the red onion or spring onion. Thinly slice the red onion and then cut into smaller pieces. Or slice the spring onion into thin slices if using.
- Wash and then finely chop your parsley.
Prepare the dressing and mix all the ingredients together.
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and honey.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the carrots, cucumber, and red onion.
- Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss gently.
- Add the chopped parsley and toss again.
- Let the carrots cucumber salad sit for about 10 minutes before serving to allow flavors to meld.
Notes
Nutrition
Looking for some more carrot salad recipe ideas? Be sure to check out my beet and carrot salad and my carrot and seeds recipe for a nutty flavor.
