This simple air fried carrot salad topped with feta and a chilli oil and balsamic vinegar dressing is perfect as a side dish all year round. It's a tasty combination of sweet, sharp and salty flavours. If you don't have an air fryer the carrots can simply be roasted instead.
I love air frying because it's so much quicker and more energy efficient than turning the oven on to roast the carrots. If you don't have an air fryer the results are almost exaclty the same though. Air frying the carrots for just 12 minutes gives them that beautiful roasted carrot flavour.
Apart from cooking the carrots, the rest of this salad is just a matter of assembling on the plate. That means it's so easy to make. I just pile the ingredients up and then drizzle with balsamic vinegar and chilli oil. It's delicious.
I can quite happily eat this as a light main meal but it's really a delicious side dish. It's very tasty with grilled meats.
Ingredient notes for air fried carrot salad
To make this tasty air fryer carrot salad you'll need:
- Carrots - I just use ordinary orange carrots but if you can get heritage carrots they look really effective
- Chilli oil - I used the chilli oil from the Andalucian Olive Company which produces gourmet high quality olive oils.
- Rocket (arugula) - You can substitute this with another green leafy salad vegetable
- Feta - Feta goes brilliantly with carrots but I sometimes replace it with a crumbly cheese such as Wensleydale.
- Pumpkin seeds - These add a delicious crunch but you could use sunflower seeds or hazelnuts as an alternative
- Red onion - I think red onion looks good but you could replace it with a mild brown salad onion.
- Chilli pepper - I love to top this salad with a fairly mild sliced chilli pepper but you can miss this out if it would make the salad too hot for you.
- Balsamic vinegar - Make sure to use a good quality balsamic vinegar. Mine was from the Andalucian Olive Company.
- Seasoning - Add a little salt and black pepper to taste.
How to make Air fried carrot salad
Do check out the full recipe card further down the post. Basically the only cooking involved is the carrots. After cutting them into batons I toss them with just a little chilli oil.
If I'm air frying them I put them in the preheated air fryer at 190C for about 12 minutes. I turn them over half way through the cooking time. They sometimes need a couple more minutes. I have to admit that I'm sometimes a little lazy when air frying vegetables and just put them in and don't bother about preheating!
If you are cooking the carrots in the oven then they will need about 20 minutes at 180C.
After air frying the carrots, it's just a matter of assembling the salad. Just arrange everything on a plate and top with chilli oil and balsamic vinegar. Alternatively you could try this jalapeno honey and lime salad dressing on it.
It's delicious!
Adaptations to the recipe
Do check out the ingredients list above for suggestions to adapt the recipe. Basically, you could swap the salad leaves you use or the kind of cheese. You could even switch the carrots for another root vegetable. Sweet potato, butternut squash or even parsnip would work well with the other ingredients. Parsnip would probably take slightly longer to cook though.
You could add a few extra ingredients too. Olives, capers or roasted pepeprs would be lovely.
What to eat with this roasted carrot salad
I love to eat this salad as a light healthy lunch just by itself. However, it's also great as a side dish. It's lovely with this copycat Nandos chicken recipe or with my harissa chicken salad.
What air fryer is best?
In the pictures for this recipe you can see I used the Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate lid. It also has all the same functions as a traditional Instant Pot pressure cooker so is a great choice if you are short on space.
I also love my Instant Vortex Plus Dual Basket air fryer.
What can you do with the leftovers?
Any leftover roasted carrots can be kept in the fridge for up to three days. You can make this salad again with them or use them in another recipe. I like to throw them in a leftover roasted vegetable soup but they are even great in gnocchi.
Recipe
Air Fried Carrot Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 530 g carrots peeled and sliced lengthwise
- 1 tablespoon chilli oil
- 50 g rocket (arugula)
- 100 g feta crumbled
- 20 g pumpkin seeds
- ½ red onion sliced thinly
- 1 chilli pepper sliced thinly
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice the carrots so they are no more than 1cm thick anywhere. Drizzle with a teaspoon of chilli oil and rub in so they are coated in the oil.
- Put in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 190°c. Toss or turn them half way through the cooking time. Cook for an extra 2 minutes if necessary.
- Serve the salad by putting the carrots on the rocket, topped with the crumbled feta, pumkin seeds, onion and chilli pepper. Drizzle with more chilli oil and balsamic vinegar. Add a little salt and pepper too.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More air fryer recipes
If you are looking for more air fryer recipe ideas then do check out my collection of easy air fryer recipes as well as some of these recipes:
- Spicy air fryer chips (fries)
- Air fryer Cajun sweet potato fries
- Air fried asparagus with za'atar
- Spicy air fryer chicken nuggets
- Spicy air fryer crushed potatoes
- Air fried brussels sprouts salad
Keep in touch
Do let me know if you make this air fryer carrot salad recipe or any of my other recipes. I love to get feedback from readers.
You can also stay up to date by following on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter
Leave a Reply