This crunchy chili crisp carrot salad is the perfect salad to use up any carrots in your fridge. It’s a light, but flavorfully complex salad that I’ve had on rotation in our kitchen for months. 

Think thinly sliced sweet carrots, scallions, and cilantro, tossed in a sweet and spicy ginger chili crisp dressing with an excessive amount of toasted sesame seeds. Aka my new favorite way to eat a bunch of carrots! This carrot salad borrows the same technique and formula that I used in my chili crisp snap pea salad – so if you liked that, you’ll love this.

I like making this salad as a snack, but it pairs so well with fish or beef and white rice. 

Chili Crisp Carrot Salad Ingredients

  • Carrots
  • Scallions
  • Cilantro
  • Lemon juice
  • Sesame oil: Not toasted sesame oil, just regular sesame oil.
  • Honey: If you’re vegan, you can swap this out for agave, brown rice syrup, or maple syrup.
  • Fresh ginger
  • Chili crisp: Use your favorite chili crisp.
  • Toasted sesame seeds
  • Kosher salt: Diamond Crystal kosher salt, as usual!

A Visual Guide To Chopping The Carrots

The key to this salad is in the chopping – seriously, the carrots taste different when chopped into thin matchsticks.

There are essentially two ways you can get the carrots sliced super thin (aka julienned). Chop the tops and bottoms of the carrots, and then cut each carrot in half or thirds – so each piece is about 3 inches in length. You can mandoline the carrots lengthwise on the thinnest setting, and then use your knife and slice the carrot ribbons into matchsticks. Or, I used my mandoline (linking it here) that has an interchangeable blade to get matchsticks. Slice the green onions into thin matchsticks, similar in size to the carrots. Add the sliced carrots to a bowl, along with the scallions, cilantro, lemon, and a generous sprinkle of kosher salt. Toss and set aside and make the dressing.

NOTE: Tossing the carrots in salt and letting them sit for 5-10 minutes will help them release a little water, and will keep them crisp when tossed in the dressing.

Notes & A Mandoline Recc

  • Getting the carrots and scallions similar in size/length is super important – it makes for a better eating experience and makes this eat like a carrot noodle salad situation. There are essentially two ways you can get the carrots sliced super thin (aka julienned). You can mandoline the carrots lengthwise on the thinnest setting, and then use your knife and slice the carrot ribbons into matchsticks. Or, I used my mandoline (linking it here) that has an interchangeable blade to get matchsticks.
  • The hot sesame oil flash cooks the raw ginger, mellowing out the flavor, along with enhancing the flavor of the other ingredients. So don’t skip this step!

Can’t wait for you to make this salad, it’s my new favorite way to eat carrots! Don’t forget to leave a rating and review below – love hearing from you!

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Chili Crisp Carrot Salad

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 4 reviews
  • Author: Yasmeen Ali
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 2–3 servings 1x
  • Category: Dinner, Salads
  • Cuisine: Asian, Chinese
Print Recipe

Description

This crunchy chili crisp carrot salad is a light, but flavorfully complex salad that I’ve had on rotation in our kitchen for months.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3–4 large carrots, chopped into matchsticks (200g chopped)
  • 2–3 large scallions, thinly sliced (40g sliced), plus more for garnish
  • 2 tbsp minced cilantro (8g)
  • 1 tbsp (12g) lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp (20g) sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp (16g) honey
  • 2 tsp (3g) toasted sesame seeds
  • 2 tsp (10g) finely grated ginger 
  • 1–2 tsp (6g) chili crisp (use your favorite chili crisp and adjust to your spice level)
  • Kosher salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Prep the carrots and scallions. Chop the tops and bottoms of the carrots, and then cut each carrot in half or thirds – so each piece is about 3 inches in length. You can mandoline the carrots lengthwise on the thinnest setting, and then use your knife and slice the carrot ribbons into matchsticks. Or, I used my mandoline (linking it here) that has an interchangeable blade to get matchsticks. Slice the green onions into thin matchsticks, similar in size to the carrots. Add the sliced carrots to a bowl, along with the scallions, cilantro, lemon, and a generous sprinkle of kosher salt. Toss and set aside. NOTE: Tossing the carrots in salt and letting them sit for 5-10 minutes will help them release a little water, and will keep them crisp when tossed in the dressing.
  2. Make the dressing. Add the toasted sesame seeds, honey, ginger, and chili crisp to a heat-proof bowl or jar. Heat the sesame oil in a pan on high heat until it shimmers and looks watery (this is a good indicator that the oil is hot). Pour the oil over the bowl of aromatics – this will flash cook the raw ginger, mellowing out the sharpness, along with amplifying the flavors of the other ingredients. Stir well.
  3. Toss the salad and serve. Drain any water from the bowl of carrots, pour the dressing over the salad, and toss to combine. Adjust for salt as needed, top with extra chili crisp and sliced scallions, and serve immediately.

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