Celery Salad

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This celery salad recipe is so easy to pull together and so fast. In my book, the best salads are usually the ones with the best crunch. And clearly, there are few salads in the world crunchier than one with celery as the starring ingredient! This pretty green salad only takes 15 minutes to pull together.

If you can, plan to let the celery salad sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving so the celery has some time to absorb the dressing. It will get even more flavorful. Don’t worry — it will still be very crunchy! This is not a creamy salad but rather a crisp, light, and fresh celery salad. Perfect for a picnic or potluck. 

Ingredients

This salad has a very light dressing with no mayonnaise. It’s more like a vinaigrette, but it’s packed with flavor.

• Hearts of celery – you can use whole heads of celery, but hearts of celery tend to be a little less stringy
• Extra-virgin olive oil – the base of the dressing
• Lemons – you will use both the juice and the zest for a burst of lemony flavor
• Red wine vinegar – white wine vinegar is a fine substitute, as is rice vinegar
• Capers – a nice pop of brininess
• Minced garlic – fresh is best
• Celery seed – this is optional, but add another level of celery flavor
• Fresh oregano leaves – fresh herbs are definitely best in the salad
• Fresh parsley leaves – love parsley in salads!
• Red pepper flakes – offers a little bit of heat – skip it if you prefer
• Red onion – quartered and thinly sliced
• Parmesan cheese – optional; skip the cheese for a vegan salad

Celery Salad Substitutions

With luck, most (if not all) of the rest of the ingredients for this recipe are in your kitchen or pantry already. Feel free to make substitutions or omissions as you like — no celery seed? Skip it. Shallots instead of onions? Use them. Out of capers? Leave them out. Or think about adding a finely minced anchovy or two to the dressing or maybe a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce (but know that the salad will no longer be vegan or vegetarian).

Vegan Celery Salad

If you leave out the optional Parm at the end, this is a vegan salad. There are also vegan Parmesan cheeses out there….or if you have a favorite vegan cheese you like, add that instead!

What To Do With a Lot of Celery

I feel like this is a more common predicament than one might imagine! Maybe we bought a bag or bunch of celery for a specific recipe, like tuna fish or potato salad, and only needed a small amount for that dish. Maybe we brought home that big bunch with all sorts of good intentions for pre-dinner snacking, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. That’s ok! You’ve set yourself up for celery salad!

Crunchy Celery Salad

And, yes, it’s quite healthy! It has a good bit of olive oil, but other than that, each and every ingredient is on the full-on good-for-you side, so there should be zero guilt involved in making or eating this salad. And, of course, celery is basically a no-cal, no-fat food, so you can pile your plate high.

Make Ahead and Storage

If you need to plan a salad to bring to a potluck or a picnic or buffet, you can’t do better than this one. It will stay fresh and crunchy for hours, and it looks really inviting. Just pack it up already dressed, and by the time it gets put out for eating, all of the flavors of the dressing will be “married” to the main ingredients, and you won’t have a moment’s worry about a soggy salad. A marinating time of between 4 and 8 hours is ideal if you can plan accordingly. I have eaten this 5 days after dressing it and keeping it in the fridge and it’s still crunchy and even more powerfully flavorful.

How to Make Celery Salad

1. Slice the celery: Trim the leaves from the celery, discard any limp leaves, and then coarsely chop the remaining leaves. Slice the celery into ¼-inch slices on the diagonal. Place in a serving bowl with the onions.
2. Make the dressing: In a container combine the olive oil, lemon juice and zest, red wine vinegar, capers, garlic, celery seed (if using), oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (if using).
3. Combine the salad: Pour over the dressing and toss. (If you have the time, cover the salad and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 8.) 

4. Serve: Toss again and sprinkle the Parmesan on top, if desired, before serving.

What to Serve With Celery Salad

• Barbecued Chicken
• Chicken Piccata Orzo Salad
• Lemon Garlic Tilapia
• Fall-Apart Pork Shoulder
• Crispy Baked Eggplant Parmesan

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