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thai carrot salad | confections of a dietitian

Thanksgiving is next week and I’m giving you… a salad! I know, typical dietitian move, but you have to hear me out about this salad. For me, and I would assume for many of you, it is challenging to keep my diet in moderation this time of year with all of the delicious sweets and traditional, yet heavy, holiday dishes. For balance, I usually resort to eating salads each day for either lunch or dinner. After awhile though, green lettuce salads start to get a little mundane. Sure, there are lots of awesome salad recipes out there, but I can only buy so many ingredients for one person before it starts getting a little ridiculous. This Thai carrot salad is the perfect answer. I always have these ingredients in my pantry and it changes the salad pattern up just enough to keep things interesting! Another bonus is that carrots are always available, so you can make this salad year round and not have to worry about finding everything that you need.

There are so many things to love about this Thai carrot salad. The dressing is tangy and nutty, thanks to the citrus and cashews, which is a perfect match for the sweetness of the carrots. Like most salad dressings, it’s super easy and quick to make too. I just throw all of the ingredients into my mini blender, give it a few quick pulses, and it’s done! I usually serve the carrots over a bed of lettuce, but if you’re tired of eating lettuce, it’s really good all on it’s own too.

thai carrot salad | confections of a dietitian

As delicious as the carrot salad is, the curry spiced cashews are what takes this salad from good to amazing. They are, by far, the best part of this recipe. One caution though: they are super addicting! The first time I made them, my husband and I could not stop raving about (or eating) them. Which is great, just keep in mind that cashews are very high in fat (albeit healthy fat) so they have lots of calories for being so tiny. The cashews have the perfect balance of sweet and salty, but with a ton of Thai curry flavor that is just phenomenal. Always, always, always make a full recipe of the cashews. I promise, you will not be disappointed. If this salad wasn’t great enough already, it’s also naturally gluten free, vegan and uses alternative sugars. See, I told you posting a salad one week before Thanksgiving would be worth it!

thai carrot salad | confections of a dietitian