This Celery Salad is a handy recipe to use up leftover celery we all have lurking at the back of the fridge, usually buying a whole bunch only to use just one or two stalks for a recipe. It’s sort of pickled, sort of salsa/relish-like, and seriously good!
Welcome to Day 4 of the inaugural Holiday Salad Marathon, a series where I’m doing the polar opposite of the usual baking countdowns and bringing you a new salad recipe every single day through to Christmas Eve!
I’ve got a bit of a unique one for you today ….
Celery Salad
I do not go out of my way to make this salad. It’s simply a means to use up leftover celery which I always seem to have. It’s an essential flavour base in small quantities in so many dishes such using as a soffritto / mirepoix for Italian classics like Beef Ragu and Osso Bucco, or finely diced for meat fillings such as in Sausage Rolls.
But it is never a star ingredient (sorry celery – but we both know it’s true). So what to do with the rest of the bunch?
Make this Celery Salad!
What Celery Salad tastes like
The flavour profile is a little bit unique, using a combination of caraway seeds and fresh dill. But this is what makes it so good! They work extremely well together, with the subtle earthy aniseed flavour of the caraway seeds echoing the fresh flavour of the dill.
If you’re wary, have a browse of the glowing reviews on the RecipeTin Family No-Mayo Coleslaw that also uses this combination. 🙂 First timers are always pleasantly surprised!
What you need
Here’s what you need to make this Celery Salad:
How to make this Celery Salad
Finely slice the celery on an angle, then toss it together with everything else. Leave it to sit for 10 minutes so the dressing softens the celery a touch and the flavours meld together. Then serve immediately or leave it for up to 2 days. The longer you keep it, the softer the celery becomes, and starts to kind of pickle (but not as sour as a true pickle). It is highly addictive!
How to serve it
This is a small batch salad. 5 celery stalks that the recipe calls for makes a side salad for just 2 – 3 people. I consider it more to be one of those extra salads that you put out for variety, sort of like you do pickles actually.
In terms of pairings, it will go well with any Western foods. The caraway, dill and “pickling” quality however does give it a Northern/Central European vibe – think eastern France, Scandinavia, Germany and beyond. So it’d go particularly well with traditional dishes from these regions like crispy crackling roast pork, smoked fish or gravlax, smoked salmon dip, quiche lorraine, or alongside potato rosti to cut through the richness. But it’s equally at home alongside any Western-style protein mains, particularly white meats: fish, chicken and pork.
Love to know what you think if you try it! – Nagi x
What is the Holiday Salad Marathon?
This is my inaugural Christmas recipe countdown where I am sharing 30 salad recipes in a row until Christmas Eve – something completely different to people’s usual baking countdowns!
These salads are in addition to my regular 3 new recipes a week. Because aren’t you bored of the usual tomato-cucumber-lettuce garden salad routine??
Click here to see all the Holiday Salad Marathon recipes to date, or sign up for instant updates and you’ll receive a free email alert whenever I publish a new salad! 🙂
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Leftover Celery Salad
Ingredients
- 5 ribs celery
- 3 tbsp dill , finely chopped
- 2 tbsp parsley , finely chopped
- 1.5 tsp caraway seeds
- 2 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar , red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Remove the leaves from the celery and trim off the dirty base. Finely slice on the diagonal into 4mm / 1/6″ slices.
- Toss in a bowl with remaining ingredients. Set aside for 10 minutes before serving.
- Keeps for up to 3 days in the fridge – the celery softens and becomes even more pickle like.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
So unimpressed with my offering….
This is one of the best salads ever. It features regularly on my dinner menus as I love the spiced, pickled crunch of it. I often don’t have fresh dill so play around. Tonight was chopped parsley and it was still really good. I tend to add way less olive oil so it ‘pickles’ better.
Thanks, Nagi, this is a winner!
Awesome! Well done creating this recipe. Love it
Thanks Leonie!! I am happy that you liked it! N x
I LOVE this salad. I make it all the time now, it goes so well with steak.
Woo hoo!! That’s great Suzy – enjoy! N x
My family loves celery! Generally buy 6 heads a week. Sounds like a lot but we take for lunch as snack. It’s great dipped in peanut butter or with a soft cheese. I was delighted to see this recipe and I’m making for dinner tonight.
Wow that’s a lot of celery!!!! N x
We don’t really like celery but this was a great way to use up leftovers from a soup recipe. Great as a sandwich filling with cold meats
Thanks for that feedback Kat!! N x
No one in my family likes celery much but everyone enjoyed this celery salad. It’s going to go on high rotation in my house. Thanks Nagi