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

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 bright, 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

Use the celery stalk 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 stalks, 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.

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.

Tip: how to cut apples…fast!

Thinly slicing celery stalks 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!

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:

• With more salads! Serve it as a salad trio as a summer salad dinner! Try it with Antipasto Salad, Corn Salad, Easy Cabbage Salad, Red Cabbage Slaw or Carrot Salad.
• Seafood. Try it with Baked Salmon, Grilled Salmon, Garlic Shrimp, Grilled Shrimp, Ahi Tuna, or Grilled Scallops.
• Pasta. Add it alongside Roasted Cauliflower Pasta, Roasted Eggplant Pasta, Butternut Squash Pasta, Creamy Cavatappi Pasta or Favorite Vegan Lasagna.

This celery salad recipe is…

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

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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.
• Creamy Cucumber Salad A silky sauce with dill and shallots brings an irresistible flavor.

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