Marinate

Marinated Celery Salad

by:
December 13, 2021
4.6
5 Ratings
Marinated Celery Salad
Photo by MJ Kroeger, prop styling by Brooke Deonarine, food styling by Lauren Lapenna
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

*Recipe Note: Use capers that are brined, not packed in salt —joannE.

Test Kitchen Notes

This is a quick, beautiful-looking salad that can be made any time of the year whenever you need a delicious side. All you need is some celery, red onion, garlic, and capers, with a simple dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar, plus fresh oregano and parsley. It's a great answer to when you're trying to figure out what to do with all that celery in your fridge. Feel free to add some chicken, shrimp, or scallops to make it a heartier meal. Or include it on a meat sandwich to get a bright and colorful crunch. Use whatever herbs and seasonings you have on hand to really make this salad into one of your favorites. We love the addition of briny capers, which makes this salad stand out from the rest, but try with chopped green olives, artichokes, even anchovies too if you're not the biggest capers fan.

A few simple steps, and your salad will be ready to go, and the best part is you can make it ahead of time. Pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours, freeing up the kitchen if you need to make another dish or entrée, and it'll be ready to go whenever you need it. The flavors will marry even more the longer it sits. Also be sure to taste as you go, as a whole raw red onion may be a little too pungent, so feel free to scale back as you see fit. Regardless, you're going to love this simple salad that you'll find yourself making time and time again! —The Editors

What You'll Need
Watch This Recipe
Marinated Celery Salad
Ingredients
  • 1 bunch celery (about 10 stalks)
  • 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons capers, coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon chopped oregano
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Directions
  1. Cut the celery stalks on the bias into ½-inch slices. Coarsely chop the leaves. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the onion, garlic, vinegar, oil, capers, oregano, parsley, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes; toss to combine. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.
  2. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 4. Toss again and serve!
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4 Reviews

Aidel.K
Aidel.K June 15, 2020
I made this a couple of weeks ago, and my husband and I both loved it. We are getting free produce in our area (thanks, Corona), and it always includes celery. My husband usually won't eat celery, but I served this on pulled beef sandwiches, and he loved it. I threw the celery salad leftovers into a salmon salad; that too was delicious.
 
Juno P.
Juno P. March 21, 2019
Definitely need less onion, 1/4th sounds right, I went with 1/2 and now the celery to onion ratio is 1:1. Luckily I love raw onion and my coworkers will need to avoid my onion breath the rest of the day.
 
Juno P.
Juno P. March 21, 2019
Also FYI, VeryWellFit's recipe calorie calculator gives this recipe 139 calories per serving (after I added 1/4 cup of raw shelled unsalted sunflower seed to the recipe!)
 
Homemadecornbread
Homemadecornbread April 9, 2012
Though I used only about a quarter of the onion, this was delicious and very refreshing. Satisfyingly crunchy. It went very well with broiled fish. I think it would be great on a meat sandwich, too.