This light and refreshing orange and carrot salad recipe with salty feta and crunchy almonds is a beautiful salad that can be enjoyed all year round.

I often add feta to salads (as you may have seen from my beetroot and feta salad and Greek salad). It adds a little salty creaminess that is the perfect match to juicy vegetables. This carrot orange salad with crunchy almonds and peppery rocket, all dressed in a mustard dressing made with the juice from the orange; is full of colour, textures, and so refreshing.
Jump to:
Why we love this salad
- If you have purple carrots, this shaved carrot salad is a lovely way of showing off their beautiful two-tone colour.
- A carrot ribbon salad is a pretty way of serving carrots in a salad, rather than grating them as in coleslaw or cutting them in to matchsticks.
- This raw carrot salad is on the table in 15 minutes.
- Like my Spanish orange salad, this orange and feta salad is a bright and colourful salad that stands out from the other salads on the table.
Ingredients notes and substitutions
- Carrots – as you will see from the photos, I have used purple heirloom carrots for their contrasting colour with the orange, however you can use a mixture of yellow and purple heirloom carrots, dutch baby carrots or ‘normal’ orange carrots (which will reduce the cost significantly). It will taste the same, and still look very pretty!
- Oranges – blood oranges look especially pretty, but you can use naval oranges or even a ruby red grapefruit.
- Rocket – arugula. The peppery leaves go well with the sweet carrots and oranges and salty feta. You can sub in baby spinach or watercress.
- Feta cheese – I often use creamy Danish feta in this recipe, but feel free to use Greek feta if you prefer.
- Almonds – add a lovely crunch to the dish. If you have smoked almonds they are delicious in this salad, but if you use roasted or smoked salmons remember this when seasoning your vinaigrette as you don’t want the salad to be too salty with the feta.
- Dill – this soft herb adds a lovely aniseed flavour to the salad. You can however use flat leaf parsley instead.
- Mustard – wholegrain mustard or dijon mustard.
How to make this carrot salad
- Segment the orange
- Mix the oil, orange juice and wholegrain mustard to make the dressing
- Assemble the salad.
- TIP: I like to arrange the salad in layers, leave the feta for the top. If you stir the salad the feta can break up and whilst the salad will still taste just as good, it won’t look quite as vibrant.
- Top with the carrot shavings and sliced oranges.
- Crumble over the feta cheese and sprinkle over the chopped almonds and fresh herbs.
- Drizzle over the dressing and serve.
FAQ
Blood orange season in the UK is December to May. In Australia it is August to October.
If you don’t want to shave the carrots, you can coarsely grate them or cut into fine sticks.
Once mixed, store the orange vinaigrette in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
My recipe tips
- How to buy blood oranges: When buying blood oranges choose ones with a firm skin that feel heavy and smell fragrant. If blood oranges aren’t in season, then use a ruby grapefruit or navel orange which are delicious in salads such as this Spanish orange salad.
- To make carrot ribbons: take a vegetable peeler and peel down the length of the carrot to create a ribbon.
Storage
This salad, despite being best eaten on the day it is made is still very tasty the next day. Any leftovers can be place in an airtight container in the fridge and eaten for lunch the following day.
Serving Ideas
- This salad is a delicious side to grilled or poached fish, especially salmon.
- Serve as a starter / appetizer.
- As part of a buffet / potluck.
Variations
- No baby carrots: use 2 larger carrots
- Nut free: replace the almonds with pumpkin seeds, or leave out altogether.
- Dairy free/vegan: leave out the feta and add a pinch of salt to the salad dressing, or use a vegan feta.
Ideas to use leftover ingredients
- Feta cheese – sprinkle over green beans with almonds, if you have a small amount of feta, this Turkish yogurt dip is a quick and easy way to use it up (and uses fresh dill too).
- Almonds – serve on top of green beans with feta (link above), whizz into a cold cucumber gazpacho, or for something sweet, this Biscoff rocky road.
- Rocket (arugula) – this rocket salad with pomegranate seeds is another easy and stunning salad, or add a handful of leaves to tuna pesto pasta, blend a handful of rocket in to this cashew pesto to add a peppery kick.
- Carrots – grate into coleslaw, make air fryer carrot fries, or whizz in to carrot and lentil soup.
- Dill – if you’ve bought a packet of dill, blitz the leftover dill in to dill pesto, add to salmon pate, or add to a creamy cucumber salad.
More easy salad recipes
Carrot and Orange Salad with Feta
Author: Robyn
Ingredients
- 4 baby carrots ($2.00 / £1.10)
- 1 small blood orange or navel orange, cut into segments/slices, any juice saved for dressing ($1.16 / £0.30)
- ½ tablespoon olive oil ($0.08 / £0.04)
- ½ teaspoon wholegrain mustard ($0.04 / £0.01)
- Large handful of rocket ($0.84 / £0.50)
- 100g (3.5 oz) feta cheese ($1.75 / £0.68)
- 40g (¼ c) almonds, roughly chopped ($0.84 / £0.34)
- Couple of fronds of fresh dill ($1.00 / £0.20)
- Fresh black pepper ($0.02 / £0.01)
Instructions
- Cut away the peel of the orange with a knife, then cut the fruit into segments or slices. Take care to save any juice.
- Whisk the olive oil with the mustard and any orange juice then season to taste (if using feta no need to add salt), and set to one side.
- Slice the baby carrots lengthwise with a vegetable peeler. Lay them on a plate with the rocket and orange slices/segments. Sprinkle over the feta, almonds and dill then drizzle over the dressing and serve.
- Eat straight away.
Notes
- How to buy blood oranges: When buying blood oranges choose ones with a firm skin that feel heavy and smell fragrant. If blood oranges aren’t in season, then use a ruby grapefruit or navel orange which are delicious in salads such as this Spanish orange salad.
Nutrition
HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE?
I’d love to see your creation!
Or just leave a comment below!
Meg says
This salad looks so colourful and features wonderful combination of flavours, thank you. Meg
Robyn says
Thank you Meg 🙂
Katerina says
I have never paired orange and carrot before but I love feta salads and now I want to try this! Thanks so much for sharing. Wishing you a very happy New Year!
Robyn says
Thank you Katerina. Orange and carrot does sound like a surprising combination but it really works! Happy New Year to you too!
Gavin says
YUMMMMM! Fresh, salty, acidic & crunchy. This salad ticks all the boxes with limited easy to get ingredients. This could well become a family fav!
Robyn says
Thanks Gavin, yes no complicated ingredients here! Hope your family enjoy it.
Sally says
This is such a vibrant salad! I love the combination of citrus with the peppery rocket as well. This would be a perfect side for a BBQ.
Robyn says
Thanks Sally! It is such a great side dish!