Waldorf Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup finely chopped red onion, from 1 small onion
- ½ cup mayonnaise, best quality such as Hellmann’s or Duke’s
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Zest of one lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1½ teaspoons honey
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tart-sweet apples, unpeeled, cored, cut into ½-in pieces (see note)
- 1½ cups thinly sliced celery, from 4 to 5 stalks
- 1 cup grapes, halved
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans (or a mix), toasted and chopped
- 1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs, such as chives or tarragon
- Mixed greens or radicchio cups for serving (optional; see note)
Instructions
- Place the onion in a small bowl and cover with cold water. Let sit for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream (or yogurt), lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper until evenly combined.
- Add the apples, celery, grapes, and red onion and toss to coat. At this point, the salad can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours before serving.
- Right before serving, stir in the nuts and 1 tablespoon of the herbs. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more herbs if desired. Spoon the salad over mixed greens or into radicchio cups, if using, and serve.
Notes
- For the apples, I like using two Honeycrisp apples and one Granny Smith for a sweet-tart balance.
- To make radicchio cups, separate the leaves from a small head of radicchio, rinse and dry them well, then spoon in the salad. The crisp leaves look pretty and add a pleasantly bitter contrast to the salad.
- Variations: Use ½ cup raisins or dried cranberries as an alternative to the grapes; add a few cups of diced cooked chicken; or replace ¾ cup of the sliced celery with ¾ cup thinly sliced radishes.
- Make-Ahead Instructions: The dressing can be prepared up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Up to 8 hours before serving, combine the dressing, apples, celery, grapes, and onion and refrigerate. Stir in the nuts and fresh herbs just before serving so they stay crisp and vibrant. If serving over greens or in radicchio cups, assemble right before serving.
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.