The 4-Ingredient Salad I Make Every Week

I haven’t always been the biggest fan of raw celery. For most of my life, I would only eat it as a vehicle for copious amounts of peanut butter. A few years ago, however, I was introduced to celery salad at a small plates restaurant where I live in Berlin, and I couldn’t get enough—I had to be talked out of ordering seconds.

From that point on, I began to actively seek out celery salads wherever I went. Call it confirmation bias, but I began to see celery salads everywhere—in restaurants, on Instagram, in my dreams. To satisfy my cravings, I started making my own celery salads at home, experimenting with flavors and textures to find my platonic ideal.

No matter how I’ve played around with mix-ins, the base is almost always the same: celery, shallot, lemon, and Parmesan cheese. It feels very stripped back, but I find that with these minimal ingredients, I have maximum room to play depending on how I feel, what I have on hand, and what I’m serving it with. So, that’s the recipe you’ll find below—a super simple, crunchy, refreshing celery salad that’s perfect as is, but can be endlessly adjusted to suit your taste.

How To Keep Your Celery Crisp

If you don’t often have celery on hand, there is one tip you should definitely know before you fall headfirst into your celery salad love affair. Celery can go limp quickly when stored in the fridge—even in the vegetable crisper. To keep it fresher for longer and to ensure it’s ready to go when I want to use it, I use this technique to prep the celery a day or two after I buy it.

Start by separating the stalks and washing them thoroughly. Grab a large airtight container and fill it with cold water (use a tall, vertical container if you’ve got one). Trim the ends off of the celery and cut the stalks into lengths that will fit in your container. Place the celery in the water, store your container in the fridge, and you’re good to go!

If you ever forget to prep your celery this way beforehand and you end up with limp stalks, don’t worry! Wash and chop as desired, then let them sit in an ice bath or cold water in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to get the crunch back. Just drain and thoroughly pat dry before using.

How To Make My 4-Ingredient Simple Celery Salad

To make four servings, you’ll need:

• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 1 small bunch celery (about 1 pound), sliced into 1/4 to 1/2-inch-thick pieces
• 1 1/2 ounces Parmesan cheese, finely grated or shaved (about 1/3 cup)

Add the minced shallot to a large bowl. Slice the lemon in half and juice one half into the bowl. Add the olive oil, salt, and pepper and mix well to combine. 

Add the celery and Parmesan cheese to the dressing and toss well to coat. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed; it should be salty and sour but overall balanced, so add more lemon juice, olive oil, and/or salt as needed. Serve or keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Personalize Your Salad

Being the celery salad connoisseur that I now make myself out to be, I can honestly tell you that there are basically no limits to how you can personalize this salad to suit your tastes. Here are some of my favorite ways to switch things up:

• Add more veggies, fruit, or herbs: Add thinly shaved fennel or kohlrabi, thinly sliced green or red apples, or fresh, soft herbs like mint or dill
• Add nuts: Toss in toasted, roughly chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, or whole pine nuts
• Add dried fruit: Mix in raisins, chopped dates, or dried figs
• Swap the cheese: Swap the Parmesan for crumbles or shavings of sharp cheddar or mild blue cheese
• Amp up the vinaigrette: Flesh out the shallot-lemon mix with a spoon of Dijon mustard, use rice wine, red wine, or apple cider vinegar instead of the lemon juice, blend in some finely chopped fresh herbs, or grate in a clove of garlic
• Play with the textures: Try thinly slicing your celery on the bias for a less bold crunch or dice it up small for a spoonable salad. For the cheese, play around by tossing it in as crumbles, finely grating it with a microplane, or shaving it with a vegetable peeler.

What To Serve This Salad With

I love to serve this crisp, fresh celery salad anywhere I’d typically serve a green salad. It pairs particularly well with chicken dishes, tomatoey pastas, and pizza. 

I’ve also used this salad as a mix-in for a leafy green salad (salad-ception!). It works well if you make it as outlined below and toss it through a big pile of lightly oiled greens like romaine, baby spinach, or radicchio.

More Super Simple Veggie Salads You’ll Love