Name: Apple Salad Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1/2 tsp honey; 3 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise; 2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt; 1/8 tsp salt; 4 oz celery (bias-sliced); 6 oz green apples (Granny Smith, cubed); 8 oz red apples (Honeycrisp, cubed); 1 oz red onion (finely chopped); 1 oz pecans (broken into pieces); 1 oz raisins; 2 oz iceberg lettuce (whole leaves); 0.5 oz cheddar (shredded)

This apple salad recipe turns apples with some veggies and nuts into an unforgettable experience.

Some salads are boring to eat, but the fault for that lies with the maker — they haven’t played with textures and flavors. Today, we’re walking you through a salad with heaps of juicy veggies and apple chunks, nuts, and raisins, all tossed in a creamy, savory dressing.

Best of all, the salad comes together in just 10 minutes and can be prepped ahead of time. It makes a great side to go with meat, or a light snack for when you don’t feel like eating a full meal.

So, click here for the full ingredients list of this apple salad recipe. Or, read on to learn more about this fresh salad.

Is Apple Salad Healthy?

“Aren’t all salads healthy?”, you might be wondering. That’s what we used to believe, but things turned out to be not so simple.

Besides eating a variety of foods, the USDA’s dietary guidelines also recommend having less sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar. Without careful portioning, your diet can be high in these nutrients, which is bad in the long run.

That’s why we take nutritional profiles and meal planning seriously, even with innocent-looking salads like this one. A typical salad can be high in saturated fat and sodium (because of the dressing), but not ours.

Specifically, here’s what each serving of our apple salad recipe contains, compared to what’s recommended:

Nutrients	Daily Allowance — USDA’s dietary guidelines	Side Dish Allowance — Our guidelines	One Serving
Calories	2300-2700	250	238
Saturated Fat	25-30 g	2-4 g	2.5 g
Sodium	2300 mg	300 mg	201 mg

Besides these, a healthy diet also requires sufficient intake of both macronutrients and micros — vitamins and minerals. This is what we try our best to accomplish — making you wholesome meal plans and helping you meet these requirements.

If you love salads, here are a few more to keep your meals colorful:

Zucchini salad: a simple, flavorful salad to use up leftover zucchinis.
Fruit salad: full of fruit coated in a sweet dressing, a fun dessert.

Benefits of Apples, Celery, and More

Like most salads, this salad packs plenty of fiber, not only from the veggies but also from the fruit that keeps the doctor away. Fiber aids our digestive system and helps us keep us regular.

Plus, apples and celery together are a huge source of antioxidants. Antioxidants are immune-boosting nutrients that enhance the body’s performance and strengthen its ability to fight diseases.

Moreover, pecans are a good source of fat and key minerals. Nuts in general not only add flavors to salads, but also important nutrients.

All About Apples

This section covers everything you need to know about apples, from picking the right variety to prepping.

1. Types of Apples for Apple Salad

When it comes to making a great dish, ingredient selection speaks volumes. Tender, soft varieties like Empire, Gala or Fuji might be an awesome snack, but they make terrible salads.

What you want for an apple salad is those with a crisp, juicy texture, like Granny Smiths and Honeycrisps. We’re using both for a combination of colors and flavors (sweet and sour).

2. How to Cut an Apple for Apple Salad

A salad often comes with thinly sliced vegetables or chunks of them so they fit easily onto a fork. It’s a matter of preference really, so we went for the chunky presentation.

For apples, after rinsing them thoroughly, place one on a cutting board and cut it into inch-thick slices. Remember to remove the seeds in the middle slice, as they are inedible, and trim away the stem part.

Then, stack two or three apple slices, hold them tight and start slicing them into thick strips. Rotate the strips a quarter turn and cut them into large cubes, like so:

Slice celery on a bias, so they’re as large as the apples. Keeping the ingredients similar in size helps with the presentation as well as the eating experience.

How to Make Apple Salad

Here’s an overview of our apple salad recipe. For more detailed instructions, refer to the recipe card below.

Combine dressing ingredients in a large salad bowl

Toss in apples, onion, pecans, raisins, and celery

Lay the mixture on a bed of shredded lettuce

Serve (or chill and serve cold)

Tips to Make Apple Salad

Apples are prone to browning when exposed to the air, but this can be avoided with an acidic solution. Submerge the apples in a bowl of water, add a few drops of lemon juice, and they will stay fresh for longer.

We usually choose romaine lettuce for simplicity, but for this one, we picked iceberg. It gives a juicy, crunchy bite that embodies everything about this salad. You can use both if desired.

How to Preserve Apple Salad

After making, the salad can be eaten right away, or chilled in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before serving. It should not be left in the open air for more than 2 hours.

To store leftovers, cover the salad bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a maximum of 5 days. The FDA does not recommend freezing egg-related products, plus the vegetables lose their freshness when thawed.

To have fresh salad whenever you want, prep the salad ingredients, place them in a bowl without dressings, and refrigerate. When you want to have salad, simply make the dressing and toss with the salad — all done in only a few minutes.

Apple Salad Recipe