Shred Carrots

Shredded carrots are great in salads, slaws, and many other recipes. The technique is not hard at all to learn, it just might take practice to get the length of carrot necessary for your particular recipe. Whether you want to shred them by hand, use your food processor, or shred them julienne, you can learn how to make the perfect shredded carrots in just a few steps.

Steps

Shredding Carrots with a Grater

1. Determine how many carrots you will need. The number of carrots you will need depends on how much shredded carrot you need for your recipe. Keep in mind that you can always shred more if one shredded carrot is not enough. Some general equivalents include:
   • one large carrot = one cup of shredded carrot
   • one pound of carrots = two and half cups of shredded carrots
2. Wash the carrots. Run the carrots under cool water and use your hands to scrub the outside of the carrots. This will help remove any dirt, chemicals, or germs on the outside of the carrots.
   • Make sure you use full sized carrots. Baby carrots are hard to shred by hand and you also run the risk of shredding your fingers.
3. Peel the carrots. Take the washed carrots and place them on a cutting board. Cut off the top and bottom tip, about ¼ to ½ inch on each side. Then, using a vegetable peeler, remove the skins of each of the carrots in turn.
   • If you don't have a vegetable peeler, you can use a knife. Just be careful not to take too much of the carrot away with the peeling.
4. Pick a grater. There are two common types of graters, the box grater and the plane grater. You may have one in your kitchen already, or you may need to pick one up at a kitchen store or at a department store.
   • Box grater. The box grater is a larger grater with three or four sides and a handle on top. The sides have different sized holes. This is so you can have for different sized pieces when you shred the vegetables.
   • Plane grater. A plane grater is a flat, rectangular grater with a handle on one side. You should use whichever one you need for the size of shredded carrot that you want.
5. Position your grater. You will want to use your grater on a clean surface in your kitchen, such as on a counter or island. You may also want to place the grater on a cutting board or over a large bowl to catch the grated carrots. Make sure that whatever you use will catch the carrot shreds as you grate them.
6. Shred the carrots. Once you have positioned your grater, grab a carrot and hold it in your hand. Put the bottom edge of the carrot against the side of the grater near the top. Gently apply pressure to the carrot and move your hand down the side of the grater. Once you get to the bottom of the grater, move your hand away from the grater and move the carrot back up to the starting position. Continue this motion until you finish shredding all the carrots.
   • When you get to the very end of a carrot, watch your fingers as you shred. The edges of the grater are sharp and will cut you if you rub against them. You can also use a sharp knife to cut the small remaining piece into thin strips if you don't want to cut your fingers.
   • Be careful not to push too hard on the carrots. You can break the carrot in two and possibly injure your hand.

Shredding Carrots with a Food Processor

1. Check your recipe or consider what you need. If you know how many carrots you need to shred, then you can just use that amount. However, if your recipe calls for a certain amount of shredded carrot without specifying how many carrots to use, then you may need to estimate.
   • Keep in mind that one pound of carrots is about the same as two and a half cups of shredded carrots and one large carrot is about the same as one cup of shredded carrots.
2. Peel the carrots. Take the carrots you've picked for shredding and wash them under cool water. Cut off the top and bottom edge of the carrot in ¼ to ½ inch pieces. Take a vegetable peeler and remove the skins of the carrots.
   • Make sure to rub your hands along the carrots when you wash them to get off any excess dirt, germs, or chemicals that may be on the surface.
   • If you don't have a vegetable peeler, you can use a knife instead. Be careful not to cut off too much of the meat of the carrot when you peel them this way.
3. Cut the carrots. Take the peeled carrots and cut them into 3 inch long pieces. This is to ensure that they are small enough pieces that they can easily fit in the food processor feed tube.
   • You can also use baby carrots in a food processor. They are small enough to fit in the feed tube of the food processor and will shred nicely.
4. Attach the food processor blade. Every large food processor comes with a shredding blade. Find the shredding blade for the food processor. It should be a large metal disk with raised grater marks on one side. Once you find it, fit it into the food processor.
   • The blade will sit at the very top of the food processor bowl. This is so the shredded carrots can fall off underneath it into the bowl without building up under the blade.
5. Put on the tube. Now that you have the blade on the food processor, you need to put on the lid of the food processor that has the raised column on it. Fit the safety lid on the lid as well, but remove the cylinder inside the lid.
   • The opening that remains is where you will stuff the carrots.
6. Shred the carrots. Once the lid and safety lid is in place, turn on the food processor. Stick the first three inch piece into the tube at the top of the lid. Using the cylinder, push down the carrot against the shredding blade. Keep pushing it down until the whole carrot is shredded. Repeat until all of your carrots are shredded.
   • Do not push down the carrots with your fingers. You can cut your finger or even lose a finger. Always use the plastic cylinder that came with the food processor.
   • Once you are done shredding the carrots, turn off the food processor and wait for the blade to stop moving. Then, take off the top and remove the blade to get to the shredded carrots.
   • If you own a small food processor, you can still use it to shred carrots. Put the blade into the food processor and lock the bowl and blade into the processor. Then add the peeled and cut carrots. Secure the top and then pulse the food processor until the carrots are small enough for your recipe.

Shredding Carrots Julienne Style

1. Figure out how many carrots you should use. Check your recipe to see if it says how many carrots to julienne. If you are not sure, remember that you can always julienne a little more than you think you need. In general, one large carrot equals one cup of shredded carrots.
2. Peel the carrots. Take your carrots and wash them under cool water. Cut off the top and bottom tip of each carrot in about ¼ to ½ inch pieces. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the skin off of each of the carrots.
   • If you don't have a peeler, you can use a knife. Just make sure you do not cut too much of the meat of the carrot off as you do it.
3. Shape the carrots. With a sharp knife, take each carrot and cut them into one and a half to two inch pieces. This will make it easier to julienne the carrots. Next, cut one rounded edge off one side of the carrot to keep the carrot from rolling across the counter.
   • Don't throw away the slice of carrot you just cut off. You can cut it in two to three pieces and use them as uneven julienne carrots.
4. Cut the carrots into thick slices. Using a sharp knife, take each square block and cut the carrots lengthwise. You can cut them from 1/16 of an inch to 1/8 of an inch, depending on how large you want the shreds to be.
   • These don't have to be super precise, just make sure you get them about the same size.
5. Julienne the carrots. Stack the carrot slices on top of one another so that they are even. Then, use a sharp knife to cut the pieces into small matchsticks. They should be the same width as the thickness you cut them into before so that they make even slices.
   • Continue to cut until all of the carrots are in matchsticks.
   • Make sure you do this slowly. As you cut the stack of carrots, slowly move your finger back, keeping them away from the edge of the knife. This may prove more difficult as you get closer to the edge of the carrot slices. Just do it as best you can and keep your fingers as far away from the edge of the knife as possible.
   • You can also buy a finger guard if you are worried about cutting your fingers. These are stainless steel tools that help you hold the vegetable while protecting your fingertips from being cut.

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