
Creator Regula Ysewijn says of this salad: “Celery was typically used as a salad vegetable up to now. On this no-fuss mixture, it’s paired with apples after which dressed with mayonnaise. Utilizing a easy mayo dressing for ending every thing from salads to chilly cooked meats and greens was common within the Edwardian kitchen.”
Judging by how The One and I fell upon this celery and apple salad, it’s clear it’s simply as seductive now because it was in Edwardian occasions. There’s a simplicity of preparation and style.
The easiest way I can describe its taste is blinding contemporary and superlatively inexperienced. (Sure, I do know inexperienced isn’t a taste, however in case you shut your eyes and take a chunk, all you’ll be able to see are spherical tart Granny Smith apples, crunchy frilly celery leaves, and lavish mint sprigs.)
It is a winner any time of yr, and it’s a mainstay by the hotter months, however I like to serve it in spring. Its contemporary, inexperienced simplicity goes so properly with spring dishes: Easter ham, minty spring lamb chops, and contemporary spring peas.


Why You’ll Love This
My testers adored this easy celery and apple salad recipe for its refreshing crunch and “vibrant and creamy” dressing. They have been delighted to have a easy various to basic Waldorf salad that could possibly be ready in simply quarter-hour. FIFTEEN MINUTES!
What You’ll Have to Make This


- Celery–Search for agency stalks which have vibrant leaves and no scabs or bruises. The satisfying crispness of the celery is vital to the salad, so keep away from any celery that’s wanting wilted or slumped.
- Apple—Select a agency, crisp apple selection, reminiscent of Granny Smith for a tarter chunk or Honeycrisp or Pink Woman for a sweeter style. Belief me, you need loads of crunch within the salad, so keep away from softer varieties, like McIntosh or Golden Scrumptious, or any apples which can be previous their prime or have bruised spots.
- Lemon juice–For the perfect taste, use freshly squeezed lemon juice. That stuff within the yellow squeeze bottle is blech.
- Mayonnaise–Use your favourite good-quality store-bought or selfmade mayonnaise. As at all times, I like to recommend utilizing full-fat mayo.
- Heavy cream–I like to recommend utilizing full-fat cream right here because it provides taste and fats to the salad, giving it an exquisite creaminess. In a pinch, you’ll be able to substitute half and half.
Methods to Make Apple Celery Salad


- Use a pointy knife to peel away the fibrous strings from the celery stalks.
- Thinly slice the stalks and chop the leaves.


- Peel, quarter, and thinly slice the apple. Toss the apple slices with the lemon juice.
- Mix the celery and apple in a bowl.


- Add the mayonnaise and drizzle with cream.
- Toss every thing to coat. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with mint.
Widespread Questions
You’ll rating essentially the most leaves by on the lookout for a full bunch with darkish inexperienced outer stalks. Pale leaves have a extra delicate style and texture, whereas the darker leaves are grassier and harder. Choose the leaves off the skinny stems on the prime of the stalk, wrap them in a barely damp kitchen towel, and place the bundle in an open plastic bag in your vegetable drawer.
The strings of celery are robust and extra-fibrous and provides the stalks their help. They’re disagreeable to eat and may really feel like dental floss between your enamel. (Who desires that at dinner?) Stringing the celery offers you all the flavour and crunch with none of the robust chew.
Completely. You can also make this salad a couple of hours earlier than serving, because the lemon juice will stop the apple from turning brown. Nevertheless, I positively serve it the identical day it’s made, because the dressing will turn into watery if saved in a single day.
Useful Suggestions
- The quickest and best method to slice an apple is to chop it into quarters across the core, then, working with one quarter at a time, lay it flat on a chopping board and slice.
- This recipe is appropriate for gluten-free diets.
Substitutions & Variations
- If you would like a creamy however tangy dressing, use full-fat bitter cream as an alternative of the mayo.
- A pinch of celery seed on prime is a stunning addition for an additional punch of celery-ness.
- For a enjoyable, gentle lunch, serve this over a couple of lettuce leaves, prime with chilly poached or roasted rooster, and a sprinkle of toasted walnuts, and you’ve got a brand new and progressive rooster Waldorf salad.
- Reader Joe Pascoa says he likes so as to add thinly shaved fennel to the salad. A wonderful addition, Joe!
What to Serve with This Recipe
Our testers loved this as a light-weight lunch alongside freshly baked Italian breadsticks or as a part of a extra substantial meal that included roasted meat, cornmeal-crusted fried rooster, or barbecue.


Write a Evaluation
In the event you make this recipe, or any dish on LC, think about leaving a assessment, a star ranking, and your finest photograph within the feedback beneath. I like listening to from you.–David
Forestall your display screen from going darkish
Utilizing a small, sharp knife, peel away the robust outer strings from every celery stalk.
Thinly slice the stalks crosswise on the diagonal, then coarsely chop the leaves.
Peel the apple, quarter by the stem, and lower away the core. Ranging from the brief facet, slice every quarter as thinly as attainable. Working shortly, dump the slices right into a bowl and toss them with the lemon juice, coating evenly to stop browning.
Add the celery slices and leaves to the apple slices.
Spoon within the mayonnaise and cream.
Stir gently to coat the apple and celery. Prime with the mint.
Switch to a serving bowl, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and some grinds of pepper, garnish with a mint sprig.
- Slicing an apple–The quickest and best method to slice an apple is to chop it into quarters across the core, then, working with one quarter at a time, lay it flat on a chopping board and slice.
- Dietary–This recipe is appropriate for gluten-free diets.


Serving: 1 servingEnergy: 85 kcalCarbohydrates: 7 gProtein: 1 gFats: 7 gSaturated Fats: 2 gMonounsaturated Fats: 2 gTrans Fats: 1 gLdl cholesterol: 8 mgSodium: 47 mgFiber: 1 gSugar: 5 g
Vitamin info is robotically calculated, so ought to solely be used as an approximation.
Recipe © 2020 Regula Ysewijn. Photographs © 2024 David Leite. All rights reserved.
Recipe Testers’ Opinions
Natural celery and apples are two staples in my fridge always. Each are so versatile—nice for snacking with nut butter, nice add-ins for pureed soups, or nice on their very own because the star of a recipe like this one.
Celery is certainly an underappreciated veggie. It has such an exquisite crunch when uncooked in salads, however its floral taste, with the tiniest trace of pepper, is actually a game-changer.
Combining the contemporary, crisp celery slices with candy apples is so refreshing! I used a Pink Woman apple (my favourite), 1/4 teaspoon of contemporary pepper, and contemporary mint. The creamy dressing actually rounded every thing out.
I served this celery apple salad on the facet of chipotle-baked salmon with roasted candy potato wedges. I can see this salad being a superb various to a standard Waldorf salad at lunch, possibly on a mattress of watercress with some roasted, sliced rooster as properly.
I like apple and celery collectively in Waldorf salad, so I attempted this apple-celery salad recipe. Sadly, since I had that thought in my head, I discovered that I stored lacking the raisins and walnuts as I ate the salad! Nevertheless, for anybody who can’t eat nuts and/or is philosophically against raisins, this is able to be an ideal, extra primary various to the Waldorf.
The dressing was vibrant and creamy. It doesn’t specify the kind of mayonnaise; all I preserve available is Hellman’s gentle mayonnaise, so I used it. Using a full-fat mayonnaise would make the dressing richer, however we thought it was high quality because it was.
Since I didn’t have mint, I sprinkled a handful of chopped parsley over the salad on the finish as an alternative. That added some good colour.
I like this apple and celery salad recipe. My mom used to make a really comparable salad, and it was my job to peel the apple(s). It graced our Thanksgiving desk many occasions. Generally, she added walnuts or pecans, however celery was at all times the star!
The celery stalks nearer the guts have been higher, because the outer ribs have been extra mature and had extra “strings hooked up” (and who desires that?). Just a few radishes added colour and texture.
I’ve made this a number of extra occasions, and every time, I believe we get pleasure from it extra. Final time, I added a little bit of grated lemon zest (about 1/2 of the zest from a small lemon), and we preferred that addition very a lot. This salad was great with a pork roast, lamb burgers, and batter fried rooster!
I discovered this salad stored properly. It may undoubtedly be made a number of hours forward, even in a single day, with out compromising its texture.
Make coleslaw or bitter cream cucumber salad? Do that apple celery salad subsequent time as an alternative. It’s gentle, refreshing, and great with barbecue, fried rooster, and roasts, to call a couple of.
Placing celery entrance and middle in a dish could also be new to some, however the stunning chartreuse veggie has loads going for it. It’s uniquely aromatic, crunchy—do peel and take away a few of the strings for an addictive ethereal crispness—and versatile contemporary or cooked.
It marries the apple taste so properly on this recipe, and I beloved the addition of mint. The apple of my alternative was Pink Woman, my go-to after I want apples which have a pleasant stability of tartness and sweetness, and retain the crunch over time. I used two completely different sorts of mint from my backyard: spearmint and apple mint.
I used a Mutsu apple (an excellent consuming apple that doesn’t brown shortly) and celery from the farmer’s market. Had mint been in season, I might need used it because the steered garnish.
It was a pleasant, easy salad with plenty of crunch! As a result of it was very white with out the garnish, other than the flecks of freshly floor pepper, we served it atop a superb quantity of lettuce bedding so as to add some inexperienced colour to the plating.
We ate this with thick slices of unadorned, seedy, freshly baked bread, and a few handfuls of sweetly roasted blended nuts, all of which made for a fast, simple, and nice lunch on the go.