Apple and Celery Salad

Apple and celery salad is a great dish to bring to a picnic or potluck, especially in the summertime. It requires minimal preparation and can be thrown together quickly, allowing you to focus on enjoying the company around you instead of worrying about making food for your event. Fresh, crisp celery is combined with sweet, juicy apples and a creamy mayo-based dressing that’s zesty, sweet, pungent and earthy.

This dish is as versatile as it is easy to make. Serve it alongside your favorite brunch recipes or as a side dish to roast chicken and grilled steak. It’s also highly customizable. You could use different types of apples or add fennel for a sweet, earthy taste. Or, get wild with mix-ins like crumbled feta to create a creamy texture or toasted nuts for extra crunch. And if you’re not a fan of mayonnaise, consider swapping in Greek yogurt or another dressing from our best no-mayo salad recipes.

Apple and Celery Salad Ingredients

• Celery: Chopped celery adds a pleasant crunch and an earthy flavor with slight bitter notes. Choose light green stalks with vibrant leaves that haven’t begun to wilt.
• Apples: Opt for crisp apples that don’t brown easily, like Pink Lady or Cosmic Crisp.
• Lemon juice: Lemon juice adds bright acidity that livens up the dish and helps prevent the apples from browning.
• Mayonnaise: Store-bought mayo will work just fine for this apple salad recipe. Of course, you could use homemade mayonnaise as the creamy foundation for this salad dressing, or skip the eggs and make a vegan mayonnaise using aquafaba.
• Sparkling apple cider: Sparkling cider adds an intense apple flavor to the dressing, but unsweetened apple juice works just as well to avoid adding extra sweetness.
• Dressing: The dressing combines mayonnaise and apple cider with red wine vinegar, olive oil, whole grain mustard and sugar. It’s complex and well-rounded, creating a zesty, earthy, pungent and sweet flavor.

Directions

Step 1: Prepare the celery and apples

In a bowl, toss the celery and apples with the lemon juice.

Editor’s Tip: Using an acid like lemon juice prevents the apples from browning and intensifies the flavor of the celery.

Step 2: Add the dressing

In another bowl, add the mayonnaise, apple cider, red wine vinegar, olive oil, mustard and sugar.

Whisk the mixture.

Editor’s Tip: If whisking the dressing by hand proves tedious, consider using an immersion blender to mix the ingredients more efficiently.

Pour the mixture over the apples and celery.

Toss to coat.

Step 3: Chill the salad

Refrigerate, covered, for one hour. Stir before serving.

Recipe Variations

• Use a different vinegar: If red wine vinegar makes the dish too acidic for your taste, consider swapping in a different type of vinegar. White vinegar has a milder, less acidic taste, while balsamic vinegar introduces a molasses-like sweetness to the apple and celery salad.
• Make it spicy: This recipe strikes a delicate balance of acidity, pungency and sweetness, but spice lovers may want to kick it up a notch. Try adding a pinch of cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes to introduce that much-welcome pop of spice.
• Add nuts: While apple and celery add a good amount of crunch to the salad, adding a sprinkle of nuts can elevate this dish to another level. Toasted almonds add an intense nutty flavor, while walnuts have a more bitter taste. You could even use candied pecans to add sweetness.

How to Store Apple and Celery Salad

Store leftover apple and celery salad in an airtight container. Keep it in the refrigerator to keep the produce fresh and crisp.

How long does apple and celery salad last?

Apple and celery salad will last up to four days in the fridge when stored in an airtight container. However, it may start to turn mushy, as the celery will wilt and the apples will lose their crispness. To make them last longer, keep the salad and dressing separate and consume the dish as quickly as possible once they are mixed together.

Can you make apple and celery salad ahead of time?

We don’t recommend making this apple and celery salad too far in advance. While one hour of rest is essential for the salad’s flavors to come together, going much beyond puts the salad’s texture at risk. If you need to prep this salad ahead of time, we suggest keeping the dressing separate from the fruit and combining it only when you’re ready to serve.

Apple and Celery Salad Tips

What kind of apples work best in this salad?

Of the many types of apples, we prefer to make salads with those that offer a nice balance of crispness and sweetness, like Honeycrisp, Fuji, Granny Smith and Pink Lady. These options hold up well and resist browning once chopped or sliced.

How can you prevent apples from browning?

You can prevent apples from browning by soaking them in cold water with salt, honey or lemon juice. Oxidation is the main cause of browning, and submerging the fruit in these solutions keeps the surface from interacting with oxygen.

How do you turn apple celery salad into a Waldorf salad?

To make a Waldorf salad, change the dressing in this apple celery salad to a mixture of mayonnaise and plain yogurt. Add sweet, chewy raisins and crunchy, bitter walnuts for a textural contrast.