This Moroccan carrot salad with chickpeas is a fresh, vibrant twist on a classic. Tender carrots and creamy chickpeas are tossed with chewy farro, sweet and tangy prunes, and plenty of bright, fresh mint. A spiced honey-lemon dressing brings the whole thing together for a nourishing, satisfying carrot salad you’ll want to make on repeat.
Ready to spice things up?
Something you should know about me is that I can never leave well enough alone when it comes to a salad. I want my salads to be delicious and satisfying. Crazy, I know.
As a consequence, I tend to take a maximalist approach with add-ins. Take this Moroccan carrot salad, for example — it's inspired by the classic, but my version includes chickpeas for protein, chewy farro for staying power, toasted almonds for crunch, and tangy prunes for little pops of sweetness.
We've also got handfuls of bright, fresh mint going in there, and a tangy, spicy honey-lemon dressing that I could just about guzzle straight from the jar. It's a veritable symphony of flavors and textures, and honestly, it's just so, so good. Making the dressing is probably the toughest part (not tough at all), and once that's done, it's just a matter of tossing everything together in a bowl.
I love serving this carrot salad as part of an Easter spread together with my smoky asparagus and leek quiche and curried deviled eggs, but truly it is delicious at any time of year.
Let's make Moroccan carrot salad together!
Alrighty my friend, let me show you just how easy it is to make this gloriously tangy carrot salad recipe. You'll find specific quantities for all the ingredients and detailed instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post. By all means, use the "jump to recipe" button to go straight there if you're in a hurry.
Start by toasting your nuts and seeds
We're going to start by toasting the cumin seeds in a dry skillet. This just takes a couple of minutes, and you want to pull them off the heat when they become fragrant.
You can use the same skillet to toast your almonds in while you're making the dressing.
Transfer the toasted seeds to a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, and crush them into a fine powder. (Note — you can also skip this step and just use ground cumin from the grocery store, but it won't be quite as flavorful.)
Make the dressing
Transfer the ground cumin seeds into a small bowl, and whisk together with honey, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Make the salad
This is the easy part! Combine all your ingredients in a nice big bowl. Pour the dressing over top...
And mix it up!
Serve!
Add the toasted almonds to the salad, give it another toss, and serve!
I mean, would you look at that 😍
Moroccan Carrot Salad with Chickpeas, Farro, and Mint
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon honey or other liquid sweetener for vegan
- ½ teaspoon finely ground sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 cups shredded carrots peeled then grated on the large holes of a box grater
- 14 ounces chickpeas 1 ½ cups
- 1 cup cooked farro or other intact grain
- ⅔ cup prunes cut into chickpea-sized chunks
- ⅓ cup fresh mint leaves torn
- ½ cup chopped toasted almonds
Instructions
- Heat cumin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat until they become fragrant. Remove from heat and use a motar and pestle or spice grinder to grind the cumin seeds into a powder.1 Tablespoon cumin seeds
- Place the ground cumin in a small jar, and whisk together with honey, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and cayenne.⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil, 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1 Tablespoon honey, ½ teaspoon finely ground sea salt, ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- In a large bowl toss together everything but the almonds with the dressing.3 cups shredded carrots, 14 ounces chickpeas, 1 cup cooked farro, ⅔ cup prunes, ⅓ cup fresh mint leaves
- Give it a good mix so the dressing can cover everything.
- Scatter almonds over the top.½ cup chopped toasted almonds
- Serve immediately, or refrigerate, covered, until you're ready to serve.
Notes
- Nutrition values are an estimate only
- If you don't have farro (also known as emmer wheat) you can use wheat berries, barley, or short grain brown rice in it's place. Or, leave the grains out altogether (don't use all of the dressing in that case).
- If you don't have prunes on hand (or don't like them) you can substitute an equivalent amount of chopped dates.
- If you're going to make this ahead of time, leave the toasted almonds off until you're just about to serve.
Nutrition
Tavai Thomas says
The dressing for this salad is next level- toasted cumin seeds smell so good.
Will definitely make this one again.
Katie Trant says
So glad you enjoyed this one, Tavai!
KT
janet @ the taste space says
This salad looks great. I found when I went to Morocco, the food was not as great as I was anticipating. I could make more flavourful foods at home. This looks perfect for spring carrots. 🙂
themuffinmyth says
Really Janet? My husband has been talking non-stop about the flavours of the food he had in Morocco. But who knows, it could have been the specific area or restaurants he was at. This recipe would indeed be great with sweet spring carrots 🙂
janet @ the taste space says
Maybe we were eating at different spots. I hit up more of the peasant places. 😉 I found it difficult to find veggie-centric meals and if I did, the 7-vegetable couscous tagines were not very good.
However, the flavour profiles are great and easy to bring back home. I should make harira. I got the recipe from my riad and it is surprisngly quite simple (they had the best version of them all). Bastilla is incredible, although a pain to make, and I also really liked the berbere omelette... and a calzone pizza thing on our way to the desert (it was specific to that city but the name escapes me).
Elizabeth @ SugarHero.com says
This sounds incredible! As the weather is getting warmer I'm starting to compile salad recipes for the hot summer months--this one's in the pile for sure!
themuffinmyth says
You know, for some reason I thought of this recipe as more wintery (probably because it's still so freaking cold where I live!) but now that you say that I can see it's merit as a summer salad too 😉
kellie@foodtoglow says
Loving the Pauliday and this aromatic, exotic recipe. We do a less Moroccan salad with a similar dressing - no argan, dried fruit or nuts though. I like your tweak of the original. Definitely a meal salad, ans a delicious-sounding one at that.
themuffinmyth says
Thanks Kellie! I always love adding grains to salads like this. Gives them so much chew power, and makes for such a satisfying meal.
Tessa says
There is something about travel that makes you notice with interest how food is prepared. On a recent trip to Portugal I found myself making mental notes on how to incorporate new ideas into my cooking. I had the most delicious salted cod dish in Sagres I ever could have imagined, which involved cream, onion and mashed potatoes. I can hear the groans, but true.
A Pauliday? For you or for him?
Just jokes.
themuffinmyth says
Both 😉
Oh My Veggies (@ohmyveggies) says
I like both kinds of vacation, but my husband only likes the activity type of vacation. I have been begging him to do a relaxing vacation for years now, but no dice. Maybe I will have to go it alone. 🙂 I had no idea you could eat argan oil--I put it on my face! Now I'm curious to cook with it...
themuffinmyth says
Totally, solo holidays are awesome! Go on a relaxing vacation on your own or send him off on an activity based vacation so you can enjoy some alone time.
Yeah, you can cook with argan oil. I had it for the first time last year at a blog conference and there was a woman who had started an organic argan oil company who had a chef there making all kinds of great things with it. A little goes a looooong way though, so tread carefully with it.