We often find ourselves with leftover celery after making soups (anyone else?) and now we’ve found the tastiest way to use it up! This celery salad (with dates, mandarins, and pistachios, oh my!) is SO fresh, bright, and crunchy that you’ll wish you had leftover celery every week!
It’s the perfect simple side or appetizer to pair with richer entrées. It comes together in just 15 minutes and requires just 1 bowl and 8 ingredients! Let us show you how it’s done!
How to Make Celery Salad
Celery is wonderful — hydrating, crunchy, fresh, plus rich in vitamin K, folate, potassium, and more. We love it in green juice, soups, salads, and more.
But let’s face reality: Most recipes only use a little bit of celery and it’s challenging to use up the rest of the bunch before it goes bad. This recipe is different — celery takes center stage!
If we didn’t get this recipe to you in time to rescue your sad, limping celery in the back of the fridge, soak it in water overnight and watch it crisp back up. With crisp celery on hand, we’re ready to make salad!
For this salad, we pair celery with sweet dates, herby parsley, tart-sweet mandarins, crunchy pistachios, and a tangy lemon olive oil dressing. Since celery is somehow mild yet pungent, it’s ideal for pairing with other strong but complementary flavors. Mix it all up in one bowl and serve!
We hope you LOVE this celery salad! It’s:
Fresh
Bright
Sweet
Crunchy
Simple
& SO delicious!
It pairs beautifully with couscous and coconut yogurt, or alongside our Easy Vegan Moussaka or Kale Falafel Hummus Wraps (30 Minutes!).
More Simple Side Salads
- Minty Watermelon Cucumber Salad (Vegan)
- Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with Apples and Dates
- 5-Minute Green Salad with No-Mix Tahini Dressing
- Pear Salad with Dried Cherries and Candied Walnuts
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo @minimalistbaker on Instagram. Cheers, friends!
Vibrant Celery Salad with Dates & Pistachios
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 Tbsp freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 3-4 pitted medjool dates, finely chopped (4 dates yield ~1/2 cup or 85g measured after pitting)
- 1 ½ cups thinly sliced celery stalks (4 large stalks yield ~1 ½ cups or 180 g)
- 3 Tbsp chopped celery leaves
- 1 cup fresh mandarin orange slices*, peeled and pith removed, cut into 1-inch pieces (2 small mandarins yield ~1 cup chopped)
- 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped (optional)
Instructions
- To a large mixing bowl, add olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and parsley, and whisk to combine.
- Add the chopped dates, breaking them apart with your fingers. You can also use a whisk or fork as needed to break them up completely.
- Add the celery, celery leaves, mandarin oranges, and pistachios (optional) and mix with two spoons until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Taste and adjust as needed, adding more dates for sweetness, lemon juice for brightness, or salt to taste.
- This salad pairs beautifully with couscous and coconut yogurt, or alongside our Easy Vegan Moussaka or Kale Falafel Hummus Wraps (30 Minutes!).
- Best when fresh. Leftovers will keep stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Not freezer friendly.
Video
Notes
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with 3 dates and without optional ingredients.
Sue says
We love this recipe! Made it for Passover last year and it’s become tradition! It’s a great salad all year-round! Thanks so much.
We love to hear this! Thanks so much for the lovely review, Sue!
Denise says
So good! I’ve made this three times in the past week 😋
I added some chopped kale to it tonight to get some leafy greens in and it was just as yummy! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome recipe!
We love to hear this! Thanks so much for the great review, Denise!
Kimberly King says
Holy smokes! This salad is incredible – and super unique. In my experience. Wow! Thank yoh
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Kimberly. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Julie says
Fresh, tasty, adaptable and quick to make – a great salad. I’ve made it many times and it’s always good.
Amazing! We’re so glad you enjoy it, Julie! xoxo
Diane M says
I love this easy flavorful salad. I’ve made it many times often to use up the last of my celery so I’m not throwing food out. I sub whatever nuts I have on hand if no pistachios in the pantry. Once when I made this my last couple mandarins had started to go bad but I had a grapefruit to sub. (Who knew grapefruit was so easy to peel and prep!) Substitutions or not always a great salad!
Amazing! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Diane!
Ab says
This was SO tasty! It’s a great, refreshing, flavorful, crisp summer salad. I made it for some company and everyone really enjoyed it. I doubled the recipe but otherwise made no changes.
Woohoo! We’re so glad everyone enjoyed. Thanks for the great review, Ab!
Steff says
Love this, excellent way to use up celery before it goes bad! I use a regular orange, sub mint for the parsley, and sub raw cashews for the pistachios. Regular dried dates are also good when out of medjool (or even mix the two types).
We’re so glad you enjoy it, Steff! Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications! xo
linsey says
super easy to make and comes together really quick. For how simple this salad is, it packs a ton of flavor!
I preferred it fresh compared to the next day but it was still delicious the next day too. I just found the flavors became pretty strong and I preferred the fresher and more mild flavors when it was made fresh. I still devoured the rest that was left.
I left out the mandarins because mine had gone dry and it was still so good. The pistachios and the dates add a flavor and texture combo that almost reminded me of something like a super mild feta?? dont know how but it worked!
I’ll be keeping this in mind for summer bbqs and am sure it will be making a regular appearance!
Yay! Thanks so much for the wonderful review, Linsey. We’re so glad you enjoyed!
Suee33 says
Made this lovely and tasty salad today – it is delicious!! Will make this again – when the celery is fresh and tasty!! Easy and fast to make and very healthy, buy pistachios at Trader Joe’s for this salad. Enjoy and thanks
Yay! Glad you enjoyed this salad, Sue. Thanks for the review!
Allie says
Crunchy celery, bites of sweet fruit, salty pistachios, bright dressing—all my favorites! The only downside was that it was so delicious I ate it all by myself within 24 hours.
So glad you enjoyed, Allie! Thanks for the review and 5 stars!
Patricia Hall says
I made this and it was surprisingly delicious. Celery is not my go to vegetable and it often goes bad in my fridge. Never again because these are ingredients that I usually have so I know I will make this again and again. Thank you for this recipe!
Yay! Thanks for the lovely review, Patricia, so glad you enjoyed!
Mary says
This salad is very refreshing, and a nice side dish to have in the fridge. It is also super easy to make; I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a new easy go-to salad!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the recipe, Mary! Thank you for sharing! xo
Laura says
I loved this!! I was so excited when you posted this bc I’ve thrown away sooo many sad old partially used celery bunches because I didn’t have a use for the remainder. I ended up adding a can of chickpeas to make it a meal and it was just a really fresh, crunchy, tasty salad. I will definitely make it again and probably double the recipe. Would probably also be good over some greens or pearl couscous mixed in. Thank you!
It seems to be a common problem with celery! We’re so glad the recipe was helpful and you enjoyed it! And love your creativity for making it a meal =) xoxo
Ivana says
The combination of flavors is perfect! Next time I definitely have to include pistachios. Thank you for this flavor enjoyment!
We’re so glad you enjoyed the flavor combination, Ivana! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Laura says
Took a lot of liberties with this one because I didn’t have most ingredients, was hungry and wanted the salad NOW. Recipe: 3 celery stalks (left over from MB chicken noodle soup), dates, cashews, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper. A lovely little afternoon pick-me-up.
We’re so glad it worked well! Thank you for sharing, Laura! xo
Jen says
I’ve made this twice – once for family dinner & once because I wanted some all to myself – and it is AMAZING! Thanks for a great recipe!
Jen says
Forgot to 5 star it – sorry!
Whoop! We’re so glad you enjoy the recipe, Jen! Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Maneesha says
Great recipe! I used raisins instead of dates and added some pepitas and sunflower seeds, and I also omitted the clementines/mandarine oranges because I did not have any at home. Turned out really well! Thank you!
Lovely! Thank you for sharing, Maneesha! xo
Sophie says
Loved this salad, so refreshing and the flavors worked really well together. Thank you!
Yay! We’re glad to hear you enjoyed it, Sophie! Thank you for sharing! xo
Jennie says
Love the unusual, mediterranean inspired flavors here. I had a homemade dressing I had to use up so that was my main modification.
I also added a lot of fresh parsley to add volume and some feta at the end.
I can definitely see this being a pretty, creative alternative to a Greek salad in mediterranean dinner parties!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it, Jennie! Love your modifications too. Thank you for sharing! xo
Kate says
Wow. I saw this recipe and fell in love. I finally had time to make it today. All I have to say is that the serving size on this should say one. ;-) So delicious, I had to eat it all. Now I’ll have to make another batch so I have some to take to work tomorrow. I made it exactly as written, and it was incredibly perfect.
Woohoo! We love to hear this. Thanks so much for the wonderful review, Kate!
Julia says
So tasty! I did half the amount of celery and substituted just regular lettuce to make it more of a main salad. It was so good, would definitely make again.
Love that idea! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Julia!
VAlda Connolly says
Loved loved this salad -so fresh & easy to make .Valda
Yay! So glad you enjoyed, Valda!
Gabby says
wow! outstanding, so fresh and delicious, I had mine with some coconut yoghurt. So good, thank you
Yum! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Gabby!
Alex says
Hallo friends,
I made this salad yesterday evening and gotta tell you, it worked both as adinner and a dessert. Talking about killing two birds with one stone, ha! Honestly, I also thought it might taste unusual, but I am glad I gave it a try. I could not get enough of it! Now, I will be making it a few more times to find out when/if I shall get bored by it. Only, I needed very little oil, as mine was extra virgin and quite flavoursome, so someone might find this helpful. Thanks again!
We’re so glad you gave the recipe a try and enjoyed the result! Thank you for sharing, Alex! xo
MPK says
Amazing! It was so delicious that I doubled the batch last night and already am making another double batch this afternoon… and just two people in my household! My only recommendation is to double, triple, quadruple as you see fit =)
Yay! We’re so glad to hear you’re enjoying it. Thank you for the lovely review! xo
Veronica says
I didn’t have celery, so I used a cucumber instead. Added some honey crisp apple too. So easy and delicious!
Yum! Thanks for the review, Veronica!
GLORIA YOUNG says
This was so excellent. I couldn’t stop eating it. Easy to make and so quick. I know that celery has nutricianal value, but it usely dies in the back of my refridgerator before I can think of anything.
I only had oranges and that worked.
Thanks: Made my day!
Woohoo! Thanks so much for the great review, Gloria. We’re so glad you enjoyed!
Holly Ketterer says
I’m very excited to try this tomorrow. I don’t have pistachios on hand. Of walnuts, pecans, or sunflower seeds, which do you think would work best?
Hi Holly! We think walnuts or sunflower seeds would both be nice here!
susan says
What dressing are you using? Looking forward to making it, thanks.
Hi Susan, you can find the dressing at the top of the recipe – olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and parsley. Hope you love it!
Jitka says
Love celery and looking forward to trying this. I wonder what about good oil free alternative might be for dressing?
Hm, we’d say the best bet on this one would be to leave it out. Hope that helps!
Michele says
This salad was so delicious! I was skeptical at first looking at the ingredients. But wow…they work so well together! I refrigerated it for an hour before serving. I will definitely make this again.
Yay! Thanks so much for the lovely review, Michele. So glad you enjoyed!
sasha says
a nice fresh side dish for the warmer months! i replaced the parsley for cilantro and opted for slivered almonds over pistachios. loved the combination of flavors!
Yum! Thanks for the great review and for sharing your modifications, Sasha!