Celery Salad

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This easy celery salad is light, refreshing, and delicious. it’s made with celery, pear, and parmesan cheese, is bursting with sweet and savory flavors, and has a variety of textures. It’s perfect for your holiday table!

Published on Dec 2022 /Updated on Nov 2024

Top view of a celery salad with parmesan and pomegranate arils over a white background.

I’ve been making this delightful celery salad for ages, especially at this time of the year. The fresh, pleasant bitterness of the celery, combined with the sweet pear and nutty parmesan cheese, is just fantastic.

And I love how this salad recipe requires minimal prep time and turns the super healthy veggie into a beautiful, versatile salad suitable for an everyday meal as well as a special occasion.

It’s also light, refreshing, and just bursting with bright flavors, absolutely perfect after a hearty holiday meal.

You just need a handful of pomegranate arils or dried cranberries to add extra sweetness and to make it bright, and festive in no time!

List of the ingredients

  • Celery
  • Pomegranate arils (optional)
  • Pear or apple
  • Shaved Parmesan cheese
  • Lemon
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Honey
  • Salt & pepper
The ingredients to make this celery salad are arranged over a white background.

How to make this celery salad recipe

(Note: this is a quick description; the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)

  • Slice celery and pear. Prepping the ingredients involves slicing, but using a handy mandoline saves so much time!
  • Shave the parmesan cheese.
  • Add the sliced ingredients to a salad bowl with part of the shaved parmesan.
Two images showing how to slice celery and parmesan cheese.
  • Place the dressing ingredients into a glass jar with a lid and shake.
  • Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently.
Two images showing how to make and how to pour the salad dressing.
  • Garnish with the pomegranate arils and the rest of the shaved parmesan.
  • Ready to serve!

Recipe Notes

Celery salad ingredients

Celery: Use a bunch of celery with crisp, firm, bright stalks. The ribs should be straight and rigid, with fresh, bright green leaves.

Parmesan cheese: It adds a delicious umami flavour and offers a rich, salty contrast to the aromatic celery and sweet pear.

Extra virgin olive oil: It’s the best vegetable oil for flavor, nutrition and gives the dressing body and richness.

Fresh lemon juicy: Zippy and bright, perfect with celery and parmesan. But you can use apple cider vinegar instead of fresh lemon.

Honey: It brings sweetness and texture to the dressing and creates a lovely contrast with the salty parmesan.

Pear: A sweet, juicy pear makes this salad extra special, but an apple would work, too.

Pomegranate arils (optional): They look lovely and taste fresh. Dried cranberries, with their chewy texture and bright colour, also make a perfect festive garnish. But I leave them optional.

Nuts: I didn’t include any nuts in this recipe, but you can garnish this salad with toasted almonds, pecans, or walnuts to add extra texture.

Salt and pepper: Make sure to adjust the seasoning to your taste.

Close-up of a white salt bowl full of celery salad garnished with red juicy arils.

STorage tips & leftovers

Celery salad leftovers keep well in the fridge for about 1 day. Before serving, pour off some of the excess liquid. If you add sliced pear, keep in mind that the slices will eventually brown and look less appetizing. It’s just a natural oxidation process.

Make it ahead

If you plan to make this salad ahead for a dinner party, store the sliced celery in a separate container. When it’s time to serve, add shaved parmesan, sliced pear, dressing, and arils.

More salad recipes you’ll love!

If you make this festive celery salad, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it or tag a photo #theclevermeal on Instagram. I would love to hear from you!

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Celery Salad

Impress for less with this healthy and refreshing celery salad, it makes a glamorous starter to any dinner party and it's ready in less than 15 minutes.
Prep Time15 minutes
Total Time15 minutes
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Keyword: celery salad
Servings: 4
Author: Katia

Ingredients

  • 8 long celery stalks, thinly sliced
  • 1 pear or apple, thinly sliced
  • ¼-½ pomegranate, arils (optional)
  • cup shaved Parmesan

Dressing

  • 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more fro drizzling if you wish
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • ¼ heaped teaspoon fine salt,  plus more to taste
  • teaspoon black pepper,  plus more to taste

Instructions

  • Separate the celery ribs, trim the stalks, but keep the most tender celery leaves. Wash and pat them dry, then finely chop the leaves, and slice the celery ribs into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Add everything to a large salad bowl.
  • Wash and cut the pear or the apple into two halves, remove the core, and slice each half into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Add to the salad bowl.
  • If you don't use store-bought shaved parmesan cheese, you can do it yourself by finely slicing the with a peeler or a serrated knife. Add half of it to the salad bowl and keep the rest to garnish the salad before serving.
  • Remove the arils from half pomegranade. To reduce the mess, I suggest you do to remove the arils while keeping the pomegranate submerged into a bowl full of water. Pat dry the arils and set aside.
  • Place the dressing ingredients into a jar with a lid (I start with 1/4 heaped tsp of salt) and shake well until emulsified. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss gently. Taste and adjust the seasoning to your taste.
  • Top with the pomegranate arils and the reserved shaved parmesan cheese. The quantity of arils depend on the size of the serving plate of bowl (trust your judgment).
  • Serve the celery salad straight away at room temperature.

Notes

STORAGE: This celery salad keeps well, covered and chilled, for about 1 day (before serving, pour off some of the excess liquid). But if f you plan to make this salad ahead, I would suggest you to store sliced celery in a separate container. Then add pomegranate arils, parmesan, and dressing when ready to serve.

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