A fruit salad has to be pretty darn good to actually get a name, and the venerable Waldorf salad is certainly worthy. Embellish this as you see fit, but I really like it best with just the four ingredients seen here. Things like dried cranberries can add a nice seasonal touch but, for me, the chewy fruit gets in the way of that addictive crunchy/crisp texture.

Chef John's Waldorf Salad

mayonnaise

creme fraiche

½ lemon, juiced

tarragon

white sugar

salt

black pepper

cayenne pepper

crisp, sweet apples,

celery

green grapes

walnut

Whisk mayonnaise, creme fraiche, lemon juice, tarragon, sugar, salt, black pepper, and cayenne together in a bowl.


Place apples, celery root, grapes, and walnut pieces in a large bowl. Toss with about 1/2 cup of dressing. Add more dressing until salad components are well coated but not swimming in dressing. You might not need all the dressing.


Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.


This is an absolutely delicious salad.  I used Envy apples for the time of year and i was outstanding!  The celery root is important for texture though it doesn't add much actual flavor.   Be careful to not use all the dressing.  You can even cut that recipe in half as I tossed about 2/3 of it.  It's delicious but you definitely don't want to ruin this salad with too much dressing.  The fruits stand alone.  I will make this again.

Salad turned out great. I added BBQed chicken breast and I didn't have celery root so I used celery. I  only wished that I had chopped everything smaller because I used it to stuff a hollowed out papaya. I was trying to emulate a dish that I had on Qantas Airline in 1980 on my way to Australia. My husband said it was a 10 so I gave it 5 stars.

Good! I had pecans instead of walnuts and regular celery (used a ton of that). Yes it made more dressing than needed in this one salad. Plated bit of cole slaw greens under the waldorf blend added romaine around the edges and sliced rotisserie chicken on top. Yum!! Family loved it although they were critical at first.

Simple and fresh! Tasty combination of flavors and textures.

Tasty with nice additions to the traditional recipe. While the celery root was not objectionable I think the CRUNCH of celery adds a nicer contrast in a dish that's largely about the contrasting textures of the ingredients.

This is amazing!  Thank you chef John for introducing me to celeriac!  The tarragon and celeriac make this something special.

Made it! Loved it! Simple and refreshing.

Chef John's Waldorf salad with apples, celery root, walnuts, and grapes.

chef john's waldorf salad

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total: 20 minutes

Servings: 4

Author : Chef John

Ingredients

Instructions

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