Buffalo Carrot Cucumber Salad! The buffalo-inspired dressing is creamy, tangy, with just a touch of heat that brightens every bite, while crunchy veggies and hearty chickpeas add layers of flavor and texture.
This Buffalo Carrot Cucumber Salad is a vibrant, nutrient-packed bowl with a kiss of heat. Brimming with vitamin-rich carrots, cucumbers, and green onions, this salad doubles as an immune-boosting powerhouse and a satisfying, lighter meal option. Whether you’re fueling a busy day or feeding a crowd, this colorful, nutrient-dense salad delivers bold Buffalo flair without overpowering the fresh veggie sweetness.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
We are Buffalo lovers, through and through! If you’re obsessed with the tangy, spicy magic of Frank’s Hot Sauce and live for that signature Buffalo bite, then this salad is your new go-to.
We throw Frank’s on everything, salad included, because nothing beats a zesty kick that wakes up crunchy cucumbers, sweet carrots, and peppery green onions. This recipe captures our playful, unapologetic Buffalo spirit: bold, bright, and happily addictive.
Give it a try and taste the love, we think you’ll agree this Buffalo Carrot Cucumber Salad is the perfect way to celebrate our shared obsession with heat, flavor, and fresh veggies.
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: This delicious Buffalo Carrot Cucumber Salad is packed with Buffalo veggie deliciousness. Freshly ribboned carrots, sliced cucumbers, celery, chickpeas, toasted sesame seeds, and green onions are mixed with a delightfully zingy Buffalo-flavored dressing that is sure to please Buffalo sauce lovers everywhere.
- Maple Syrup: The maple syrup helps balanced the zing the Buffalo dressing. You can increase or decrease accordingly. Carrots are generally sweet so you may find that you don’t need any at all, but we found that 1 teaspoon perfectly balanced the flavors.
- Fresh Cucumbers: Cucumbers are 96% water. They will leach some water into the dressing over time. If you plan to eat right away, this isn’t an issue; however, if you do plan to serve this salad later to guests, we advise not dressing the salad until ready to serve. Store the cucumbers separately from the rest of the salad until ready to serve if refrigerating overnight or serving later.
- Fresh Carrots: This recipe is all about very thinly sliced fresh carrots. If you are not a fan of the flavor of fresh raw carrots, then perhaps consider skipping this recipe. Thinly slicing the carrots does make for a fantastic mouth feel. If you were never a fan of crunching on raw carrots, here is a great way to eat them as the experience is different. It is more like a noodle experience. While the carrots still have a little bit of crunch, they are so much more palatable.
- Amount of Carrots: The amount of carrots is really dependent upon the size of the carrots. The measurement of 10 oz. if after the carrots have been cleaned, peeled, and thinly stripped. We did not strip the entire carrot with vegetable peeler. We peeled the carrots down to the xylem. Carrots have an inner core called the xylem or the heart of the carrot. It is usually lighter in color. See below on how we peeled the carrots into strips.
- Peeling the Carrots into Strips: We found the best way to peel the carrots into long thin strips was to clean and peel the carrots, then lay the carrot down onto a cutting board, hold the end of the carrot tightly, then run the vegetable peeler firmly along the surface with slight pressure. This makes for just a slightly thicker strip of carrot. Make several passes with the vegetable peeler, then rotate the carrot and make several passes with the vegetable peeler on the next side. Continue until you have made several passes on each side. Then flip the carrot over to hold the other end of the carrot. In other words, switch up the end of the carrot you are holding in your hand to get a solid grip on the end of the carrot and repeat. Be careful, vegetable peelers are very sharp. Slicing carrots this way leaves the xylem (heart of the carrot) which we later cut up and ate as snacks for a different day. We also diced up the xylem and used them in soups.
- Key to the Perfect Carrot Thickness: Peeling the carrots into very thin strips makes for a perfect salad. However, as we mentioned in the section above, laying the carrots onto a cutting board, applying slight pressure makes for the perfect carrot strip thickness. If you hold the carrot in your hand while peeling into strips, you will end up with very thin flimsy, ultra-thin strips of carrots which is not the look we are going for. You want thin strips that are flimsy, but they still have some substance and character to them.
- How to Peel the Carrots Faster: If you are not overly concerned about long thin strips. You still want thin strips, but you can cut them quicker by using half strips instead of the full length of the carrot. Simply grab the carrot firmly by the end and run the peel over half the carrot repeatedly, rotating the carrot every 4 strokes or so. Then flip the carrot over to the other end and grip the carrot by the end that you just peeled and repeat the process. In other words, the carrot strips will be shorter but still thin. We like to create a mix of long thin strips and shorter thin strips.
- Serving after Refrigerating: When serving after refrigeration, remove from the refrigerator at least 10 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to wake up and allowing the tahini to thin out again. Tahini tends to thicken during refrigeration.
- Make Ahead: This salad can be made ahead and travels well. Mix really well right before serving to ensure all the carrots are coated with the dressing. If you wish to have maximum presentation, keep some carrot strips aside (in a separate container – not mixed in the salad dressing) and add those carrot strips right before serving to allow the newly added carrot strips to hold the carrot strips up as some will be slightly flimsy. The mix of flimsy and less flimsy makes for a great presentation.
- Raw Carrot Benefits: Raw carrots are an excellent source of Vitamins A, C, and K, while also loaded with potassium, fiber, and antioxidants. Carrots are a great source of prebiotics and promote excellent gut health.
- Raw Green Onions Benefits: Raw green onions are rich in Vitamins A, C, and K, full of antioxidants, fiber, folate, potassium and calcium. Raw green onions have many antibacterial and antiviral properties.
- Tahini Benefits: Tahini is rich in anti-inflammatory and antioxidants. It is an excellent source of calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. It is a great source of B vitamins which support brain function and cognitive health.
- Tahini Substitutions: You can substitute the tahini with other nut or seed butters with the understanding that the flavor and texture will be impacted accordingly.
- Vinegar Substitutions: You can substitute the distilled white vinegar with apple cider vinegar with the understanding that the flavor will be impacted slightly.
- Almond Butter Substitutions: You can substitute the almond butter with other nut or seed butters with the understanding that the flavor and texture will be impacted accordingly.
- Amount of Sea Salt: Our family was completely divided over how much sea salt was needed to properly season this salad. Feel free to adjust accordingly to suit your family’s preferences.
- Table Salt: If using table salt, you should use less table salt than the amount listed in the ingredients as sea salt crystals are larger than table salt crystals. Since table salt crystals are very fine, less table salt is required to season a dish. We would suggest starting with about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of sea salt listed. You can always add more salt but cannot take it away. We recommend using sea salt as it is less refined than table salt.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered air-tight container.
This salad does not freeze well.
Pantry Products:
- Hot Sauce: We used Frank’s RedHot Original Hot Sauce.
- Almond Butter: We used Artisana Organics Raw Vegan Almond Butter. Feel free to use your favorite raw almond butter in this recipe. Read the label, make sure the only ingredient is raw almonds. Do not use a salted or sweetened almond butter.
- Tahini: We used Ziyad Premium Tahini (Sesame Paste). Feel free to use your favorite brand of tahini.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Equipment:
If you try this bold salad, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
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Buffalo Carrot Cucumber Salad
- Prep Time: 25 Minutes
- Total Time: 25 Minutes
- Yield: 6 Cups 1x
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Buffalo Carrot Cucumber Salad is a vibrant, nutrient-packed bowl with a kiss of heat.
Ingredients
Base Ingredients:
- 5 medium carrots, peeled, thinly stripped carrots * (10 oz. peeled and ribboned)
- 4 mini cucumbers, sliced into half-moons (10 oz.)
- 6 to 12 green onions, thinly sliced (1 to 1 ½ cups) *
Buffalo Dressing Ingredients:
- 1 Tablespoon hot sauce (+/-) *
- 1 Tablespoon tahini *
- 1 Tablespoon + ½ teaspoon unsweetened almond butter *
- 3 Tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup (+/-) *
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
Optional Additional Ingredients:
- ½ to 1 cup chickpeas (from can), drained and rinsed
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Optional Topping:
- Chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Prepare the Buffalo Dressing by placing all the Buffalo Dressing Ingredients into a small bowl, whisking well until smooth and emulsified, refrigerate until ready to use.
- Clean, peel, and thinly slice the carrots into long, very thin strips using a vegetable peeler and place into a bowl. Add the finely chopped cucumbers and sliced green onions into the bowl along with the thinly sliced carrots. Add any or all of the Optional Additional Ingredients. Mix thoroughly, set aside.
- Pour the Buffalo Dressing over the carrot/cucumber mixture, toss well to thoroughly coat all the ingredients. Cover and allow the carrot salad to sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or overnight. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.
Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Servings: 6 (makes 6 cups)
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