Vegan Waldorf Salad

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Side Dish, Starter

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 0

Total Time: 30

Servings: as a side serving

Calories: 243kcal

Author: Jacq

Our Vegan Waldorf Salad is adapted from the traditional Waldorf salad of the 1800s and contains everyday staple ingredients: celery, apples, grapes, walnuts, and a creamy vegan mayonnaise dressing.

This salad is fruity, fresh, and savoury, with walnuts adding an extra delicious crispy nuttiness.

Perfect for lunch, a dinner side, BBQs, picnics, or as part of a party or buffet spread, you can also use the Waldorf salad as a filling for sandwiches, tortilla wraps, or baked potatoes.

Print Recipe

US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Salad bowl or trifle or large dip bowl, or similar
Vegetable knife
cutting board
lemon squeezer
Small mixing bowls

Ingredients

170 grams apples [2 small dessert apples, diced small, or any variety]
1 tablespoon lemon juice [the juice from about ½ medium lemon]
100 grams lettuce [such as a whole Romaine lettuce or another lettuce variety]
95 grams celery [2-3 small stalks, diced small]
95 grams red onion [1 medium onion, diced small]
110 grams red grapes [or green/black, halved, plus a few extra for garnish]
40 grams walnuts [halved]
10 grams chives [sliced, plus a few extra sliced chives for garnish, if available use a few chive flowers for garnish, they taste delicious!]

Salad dressing:

5 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise [shop-bought or home-made]
2 tablespoons vegan yogurt [can replace with cashew cream or vegan sour cream]
1 tablespoon lemon juice [juice from 1 medium lemon]

Instructions

Line the salad bowl with the lettuce leaves.
100 grams lettuce
Stir the juice of half a lemon through the diced apples to prevent the apple becoming brown.
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Stir the diced celery, diced red onion and diced apples together within a mixing bowl.
Add the grapes and mix keeping a few grapes aside for garnish if preferred.
170 grams apples, 95 grams celery, 95 grams red onion, 110 grams red grapes
In a small bowl add the mayonnaise, yogurt and lemon juice together.
Stir through the chopped chives keeping a few chives for garnish.
Season with a few pinches of salt and pepper.
[don't add too much salt at this point unless your going to eat the salad soon, as the salt can pull water out of the fruit and vegetables. Extra seasoning can always be added before serving]
Give it a good mix.
5 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons vegan yogurt, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 10 grams chives
Place half the diced fruit and vegetables into the salad bowl on top of the lettuce leaves.
Cover with half of the salad dressing.
Add the rest of the diced fruit and vegetables on top of the salad dressing.
Finally top with the remaining dressing.
[Alternatively mix the fruit and vegetables with the dressing and scoop into the salad bowl]
Scatter the walnuts over the top of the salad, including any chopped chives and grapes that you may have saved for garnish.
40 grams walnuts

Notes

Nutritional information is for guidance only and is not an exact calculation as ingredients vary.
Store leftover Waldorf salad for 1-2 days within the refrigerator. Cover the salad bowl with food wrap or transfer to a food container. The salad dressing may leak down to the bottom of the dish but can simply be stirred back through the salad.
If preparing Waldorf salad in advance keep the diced fruit and veggies separate from the mayonnaise salad dressing, and combine before using.
The walnuts can be replaced with a different variety of nut or seeds such as pumpkin or sunflower seeds, pecans, peanuts, or flaked almonds.
Or replace the nuts with crunchy croutons, roasted chickpeas, olives, etc.
Double up the salad dressing ingredients for an extra creamy Waldorf salad, or if you are requiring extra portions and are preparing extra diced fruit and vegetables.
For a gluten-free Waldorf salad simply check that your vegan mayonnaise and yogurt are free from gluten ingredients.
Waldorf salad can be prepared as a sandwich, roll/bap, pitta bread, or tortilla wrap filling. Just mix the diced ingredients with the dressing, scatter the walnuts over and use as a filling.
Or simply mix the diced fruit and vegetables with the salad dressing and use the Waldorf salad as a delicious dip along with tortilla chips, crackers, etc., to scoop the creamy salad dip up.
A scoop of Waldorf salad goes well as a side dish along with a nice baked sweet or white potato, a few veggie sausages, a vegetable burger, pasta or rice, or as part of a larger salad bowl.
Even if you are not too keen on raw celery do give it a try within the Waldorf salad as it is surprisingly tasty and quite different from raw plain celery.

Nutrition