Waldorf Salad: Pure and Simple

Crisp, creamy and wonderfully simple, this Waldorf salad is all about fresh flavour and crunch. Made with just three core ingredients, sweet apple, crunchy celery and toasted walnuts, which are tossed in a quick mayonnaise and yoghurt dressing. It’s fast, fuss-free and perfect as a light meal or easy side.

Dive Right In

What Is Waldorf Salad?

In 1883 the maitre d’hotel at the Waldorf Hotel in New York, created a super simple salad to feed 1,500 invited guests celebrating the hotel’s opening. His name was Oscar Tschirky and the salad consisted of just three ingredients: apples, celery and mayonnaise.

The Waldorf salad recipe was born. It really took off when he published it three years later in The Cook Book by Oscar of the Waldorf, 1886. It went like this:

“Peel two raw apples and cut them into small pieces, say about half an inch square, also cut some celery the same way, and mix it with the apple. Be very careful not to let any seeds of the apples be mixed with it. The salad must be dressed with a good mayonnaise.”

This iconic American salad evolved and in the 1920s walnuts were added to the mix. Later raisins or sometimes grapes found their way in too. Personally, I prefer the simpler recipe of the 1920s. Grapes don’t have the right texture for this salad as they’re soft rather than crunchy. And if you already have sweet apples, you don’t really need even sweeter grapes. Or raisins for that matter.

Modern recipes tend to lighten the dressing by subbing some of the mayonnaise for yoghurt. It’s also unusual these days to peel the apples.

Why You’ll Want To Make This Waldorf Salad?

• Quick and easy – ready in minutes with minimal prep.
• Simple ingredients – just a handful of everyday staples.
• Good balance of flavours – sweet apple, fresh celery and nutty walnuts.
• No grapes – avoids excess sweetness and keeps the texture crisp.
• Toasted walnuts – give extra crunch and a deeper, richer flavour.
• Lighter dressing – a mix of yoghurt and mayonnaise keeps the salad fresh.
• Easy to adapt – add extras if you like, or keep it beautifully simple. Works as a light lunch, side dish or buffet staple.
• Naturally vegetarian – wholesome and satisfying without fuss.
• Great for all seasons – refreshing in summer, but worth eating year-round.

A Super Simple Waldorf Salad

Apples, celery and walnuts go together so well. You have the sweetness of the apples, the freshness and grassiness of the celery and the slight earthy bitterness of the walnuts which all combine to make an exceptionally good taste experience. Add a creamy mayonnaise and yoghurt dressing and you have an outstanding, if simple, salad.

Originally Waldorf salad was an autumn one when apples, celery and walnuts were all in season. But these days, it’s so easy to get hold of these particular ingredients, we tend to eat it all year round.

Although it’s quite common to add grapes to Waldorf salad, I don’t. I find them unnecessary. They don’t have the right texture for this crunchy dish and if you use sweet apples you don’t need them for a flavour contrast.

I like to roast the walnuts for extra crunch and toasty butteriness, but if you’re in a hurry, you can omit this step. Raw walnuts are used in the original recipe.

Instead of using only mayonnaise, I add yoghurt to make the dressing a bit lighter and give it a little tang. It results in a dressing that’s both refreshing and satisfying.

I quite like Waldorf salad as a simple lunch served on a bed of lettuce. Having said that, we often eat it as a main meal served alongside a cheesy jacket potato or something like these arayes. It also goes well with, burgers, fritters and cheese sandwiches, toasted or otherwise.

It’s also great for buffet style parties and potlucks.

Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions

With so few ingredients needed to make this simple Waldorf salad, there’s not much to say, other than try to use the freshest and tastiest apples, celery and walnuts you can get hold of.

Apples

As I don’t include grapes in my recipe, you’ll want to find crisp, but sweet flavoursome apples. For preference, go with red dessert apples; they form a nice colour contrast, which just makes the salad more appealing.

Mayonnaise

Use your favourite mayonnaise, regular or vegan both work. But as it’s such a key ingredient, it’s worth pushing the boat out and using a good one. I make my own vegan mayonnaise on a regular basis, so I used that.

Walnuts

It’s fine to use ready cracked walnuts, but try to buy them as fresh as possible. Walnut halves store much better than walnut pieces.

Yoghurt

You want thick Greek yoghurt for this recipe rather than standard plain. The idea is to have a dressing that clings to the ingredients rather than a runny one as you’d expect with most salads.

How To Make A Simple Waldorf Salad

This is one of the easiest salads you can make and it comes together in minutes. I like to toast the walnuts first, which does add an additional step. But if you prep everything else whilst they toast, you can still make it in under ten minutes.

Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for cooking temperatures and quantities of ingredients used.

Step 1. Toast Walnuts

Place the walnuts on an ovenproof tray and roast them in the oven or air fryer until crisp and golden. Alternatively toast them over a moderate heat in a dry frying pan. Give an occasional stir and check they’re not burning.

Leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then roughly chop.

Step 2. Prep Apples & Celery

Whilst the walnuts are toasting prep the remaining ingredients.

Rinse and dry the apples. Quarter and core them, but don’t peel. You want the red skins to shine through and make a nice contrast against the green. It’s also an awful waste of apple skins to throw them away.

Chop them into roughly one and a half centimetre chunks (half inch) – they don’t need to be exact.

Place the chunks in a medium mixing bowl and squeeze in the lemon juice. Give the apples a good toss to coat them in the juice. This stops the apple flesh from browning and also adds a bit of zip to the salad.

Wash and dry the celery sticks, then chop them into one centimetre slices (just under half an inch) and add to the bowl.

Step 3. Add Remaining ingredients

Reserve a quarter of the walnuts for scattering over the top and add the rest to the bowl.

Spoon in the mayonnaise and yoghurt, then add the salt and pepper. Give everything a really good mix so that the apples, celery and walnuts are evenly coated.

If you prefer, you could whisk the dressing ingredients together separately before adding to the salad, but this requires an additional bowl. I tend to go for the “less washing up please” option.

Step 4. Serve

Serve on a bed of lettuce, if liked and scatter with the reserved walnuts.

Waldorf salad is best eaten on the day of making. It will, however, keep in a sealed container in the fridge for two to three days, but will lose some of its freshness and crispness.

Easy Ways To Enhance Your Waldorf Salad

It’s nice to have a simple, yet delicious salad up one’s sleeve. However, if you feel so inclined, you can jazz this Waldorf salad up in any number of ways.

• Use aioli instead of mayonnaise for a garlicky hit.
• Add a teaspoon of dijon mustard or chilli sauce to the mayonnaise and yoghurt dressing.
• Snip in a few onion chives or garlic chives or add some chopped parsley.
• Add a few grapes or raisins as many recipes do. Some even incorporate dried cranberries. You could even try roasting grapes for a more intense flavour. If going down this route, you might want to go for tart apples rather than sweet ones though.
• Blue cheese works really well with apples, celery and walnuts, so it’s an ideal cheese to add if you’d like to make a more substantial meal or add some additional protein.
• Decorate with edible flowers. I used chive flowers in the images you can see here.
• Top individual lettuce leaves with a spoonful or two of salad and serve on a large platter. Ideal for parties, potlucks and buffets. Just scale up the recipe as appropriate.

Vegan Waldorf Salad

Follow the recipe as written, but use vegan mayonnaise and swap the Greek yoghurt for a plain vegan one. I have an excellent vegan mayonnaise recipe that takes just minutes to make. Indeed, it’s the only mayo I use.

More Vegetarian Salads To Try

And if these aren’t enough for you I have this post for all the summer salad recipes you will ever need.

Keep in Touch

Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this Waldorf salad, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for easy salads?

Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I really enjoy seeing your take on my recipes.

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If you’d like more salad recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.

Choclette x

Waldorf Salad. PIN IT.