This crisp and refreshing Celery Salad has walnuts, parmesan, and pomegranate arils for a unique salad that’s pretty enough for the holiday table.

If you often find yourself with leftover celery that needs using up, this is a great staple for turning it into a great side dish.

Celery Salad - On White Platter with Pomegranate and Cheese

I love celery and buy it pretty often to make Potato Salad, Egg Salad, Chicken Pot Pie, and more, but I find that often I’ll only need a couple ribs, and the rest of the bunch risks going to waste.

One day I set out to find new celery recipes and I discovered this recipe from Ina Garten.

I’ve changed a few minor things, but overall I discovered something delicious that also fixed my leftover celery problem.

How to Make Celery Salad:

To start, separate and clean a bunch of celery stalks:

Celery Stalks on Wooden Board

Now you want to slice the celery into thin pieces.

I used my food processor for this to make the process really fast, but using a knife is perfectly acceptable too.

Sliced Celery in Food Processor Bowl

For the dressing, zest and juice a meyer lemon:

Lemon Juice Pouring in With Zest

A regular lemon is fine too, but when I see meyer lemons, I love cooking with them wherever I can.

Add minced shallots and olive oil:

Adding Olive Oil to Shallot and Lemon

Then add anchovy paste, pepper, and salt:

Whisking Olive Oil Vinaigrette in Bowl

Whisk for 30 seconds until everything is emulsified:

Emulsified and Whisked Olive Oil Dressing In Bowl

Pour the dressing all over the sliced celery:

Pouring Lemon Vinaigrette Over Celery Slices in Bowl

Let the celery sit, and you’ll see that over the next hour, the celery will macerate and the texture will become even better:

marinated Celery Slices in Dressing

Plate the celery with shaved parmesan cheese, parsley leaves, toasted walnuts, and pomegranate seeds:

Celery Salad Recipe - On White Platter with Pomegranate

Turkey Chili, Shrimp Salad, and Chicken Noodle Soup are some of my other favorite recipes using celery. Can’t let that stuff go to waste!

More Salad Recipes:

Celery Salad On White Platter with Pomegranate and Cheese

Celery Salad

Servings: 6
Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 10 mins
This crisp celery salad has walnuts, parmesan cheese, and pomegranates. It’s refreshing, tangy, and delicious with a creamy vinaigrette.
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Ingredients

For the dressing:

  • zest of 1 meyer lemon
  • juice of 1 meyer lemon (1/3 cup)
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 a small shallot minced (2 tbsp)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
  • 1 tsp anchovy paste

For the celery salad:

  • 1 bunch celery sliced (6 cups)
  • 1 cup toasted walnuts
  • 1/4 cup shaved parmesan
  • 1/4 cup pomegranate arils
  • 1/8 cup parsley leaves

Instructions 

  • To make the dressing, whisk all the dressing ingredients together for 30 seconds until emulsified.
  • Pour the dressing all over the sliced celery and let sit for 1 hour. The celery will macerate and soften slightly. 
  • Move the celery salad to a serving plate with a slotted spoon (leaving behind any excess liquid), then sprinkle on the toasted walnuts, parmesan, pomegranate seeds, and parsley leaves. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 313kcal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 32g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 3mg, Sodium: 503mg, Potassium: 143mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 200IU, Vitamin C: 3.1mg, Calcium: 78mg, Iron: 0.8mg

Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.

Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Author: Joanne Ozug

Post updated in December 2018. Originally published November 2015.