Carrot Orange Salad with Feta

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.

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

1. Segment the orange
2. Mix the oil, orange juice and wholegrain mustard to make the dressing

3. 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.
4. Top with the carrot shavings and sliced oranges.

5. Crumble over the feta cheese and sprinkle over the chopped almonds and fresh herbs.
6. Drizzle over the dressing and serve.

FAQ

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.

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