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This easy celery salad recipe could not be more refreshing! Take this veggie to new heights with apples, Parmesan and a tangy vinaigrette.

Celery Salad

Here’s a surprisingly delicious salad that deserves a spot on your plate: celery salad! The name doesn’t have quite the ring of say, potato salad. But this unique salad is so refreshing, you’ll become a convert from the first bite. Crunchy celery pairs perfectly with sweet apple, Parmesan shavings and a tangy vinaigrette. It’s easy, it’s crunchy, it’s hydrating: it works for summer, and it’s perfect in the winter too. Really, what can’t this celery salad do?

What’s in this celery salad?

You need just a handful of ingredients for celery salad: and we promise, it will be the talk of your dinner! (At least, it is whenever we serve it to guests.) Pairing the bitter depth and crunch of celery with sweet apples and tangy dressing makes for a unique salad that is always surprising. Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Celery: make sure it’s nice and fresh: bright green with no brown spots! You’ll want best quality celery here.
  • Apple: You can use any kind of apple: we like using a red apple for color contrast
  • Parmesan shavings: The better the Parmesan, the better the salad.
  • White wine vinegar
  • Dijon mustard
  • Maple syrup or sugar
  • Olive oil

Love celery? Try these 15 Easy Celery Recipes!

Celery salad

Use the celery rib and the leaves!

This celery salad heightens the flavor of this green vegetable by using the celery leaves as part of the salad! You’ll thinly slice the ribs of celery, then pull off the leaves and use those too. Make sure to find a bunch of celery with leaves attached (some bunches are sold without the leaves). If you can’t find the leaves you can omit them, but it adds to the fresh flavor and gives a nice color contrast as well.

More recipes with celery? Celery Smoothie or Celery Juice

Celery salad tastes the best the day of making

How to make celery salad? Thinly slice the celery, thinly slice the apples, and then mix them with the vinaigrette dressing. It’s that simple! One thing to note about the salad is that it does taste best right away. The flavor truly pops and is freshest right when you make it.

That said, you can refrigerate the salad until serving, or you can keep leftovers for a few days. If you do, you might find the flavor dull a little bit. Add a pinch of salt or a tiny sprinkle of white wine vinegar to revive the flavors.

Celery salad

Tip: how to cut apples…fast!

Thinly slicing celery is pretty self explanatory. But we do have a quick method for thinly slicing apples! It’s totally slick and you won’t believe that you’ve never done this before. Here’s the trick of how to quickly thinly slice apples: check out the video below!

  1. Holding the core of the apple, use a large chef’s knife to slice off four sides of the apple, cutting as close to the core as possible.
  2. Take one of the quarters and place it flat side down on the cutting board. Then cut it into thin slices.
  3. Repeat with the remaining quarters!

How to slice apples

Ways to serve celery salad

This salad pairs well with just about anything, making it an incredibly versatile side dish! Here are a few ways we’d suggest pairing:

Summer salads
Pair with other summer salads like broccolini salad or corn salad

This celery salad recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, omit the Parmesan cheese.

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Celery Salad

Celery Salad with Apples


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x

Description

This easy celery salad recipe could not be more refreshing! Take this veggie to new heights with apples, Parmesan and a tangy vinaigrette.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 8 celery ribs plus ½ cup celery leaves
  • 1 red apple
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup or sugar
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • ¼ cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. Thinly slice the celery ribs. Measure out the celery leaves. Thinly slice the red apple.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup or sugar, and kosher salt. Gradually whisk in the olive oil one tablespoon at a time.
  3. In another bowl, toss together the celery and celery leaves with the apple, dressing, and Parmesan cheese shavings. Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving. This tastes best the day of making, but you can refrigerate leftovers for a few days (refresh them with a little vinegar or salt if necessary).
  • Category: Salad
  • Method: Raw
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Keywords: Celery salad, Celery apple salad

More great salads

There are so many great salad recipes to try! Here are some of our top salads:

  • Perfect Italian Salad Your soul mate side dish! It features crisp veggies, crunchy croutons, tangy pepperoncini, and a punchy homemade dressing.
  • Kale Quinoa Salad Full of healthy ingredients and tastes incredible! Meal prep this easy plant-based lunch idea for meals all week.
  • Arugula Beet Salad or Beet Salad with Balsamic The perfect easy side dish! Vibrant beets and zingy vinaigrette dressing.
  • Easy Mexican Salad Topped with savory cilantro lime dressing and crunchy tortilla strips.
  • Cucumber Salad A tangy sauce with dill and shallots brings an irresistible flavor.

Last updated: December 2020

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

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8 Comments

  1. This is my new favorite snack! So crunchy and refreshing. I have also tried it with red wine vinegar and adding cucumber and it was even better. Thanks for sharing!

  2. I just made the celery salad for a side to go with my pan seared salmon salad!!!! I love, love, love, love, LOVE the celery salad!!!!!!(both of them actually, but this was my first time having the celery salad) They compliment each other very well also. I will be making celery salad a staple in my diet from now on!!! Thank you!!!

  3. I am an older homemaker always looking for quick, easy, tasty recipes. Love the celery salad and intend to try others you list. Sounds like you two do a great job.

  4. This salad was so good. I made it as is, and my whole family loved it. This recipe will be one that we repeat often. Thank you!

  5. I’m glad I found you and I’m looking forward to making some of your dishes. Do you have any recipes for vegan pizza?

  6. Holy crap, this was actually really good. I’ll be honest, I had low expectations of a celery salad but it was delicious.