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  • Serves 6
  • Makes 1
  • 15 minutes
  • Difficulty Easy
  • 8 Ingredients
February 17, 2012

146 Comment

Waldorf Salad fans rejoice!

This Waldorf Salad Recipe brings you all the deliciousness of a traditional Waldorf Salad only with a lightness your heart will thank you for!

Who remembers the gluggy, gluey Waldorf Salads from the 1970s? Where the recipe literally called for a whole jar of mayonnaise dumped over chunks of apple and celery.  OMG, it was like munching through a weird fat smothered fruit plate.  And god forbid if there were sultanas in there too!

According to The Kitchen Project, the Waldorf Salad was originally created in 1896 at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.  It wasn’t a creation made by a chef but rather the dining room manager Oscar Tschirky. Apparently it was an instant success.  It seemed the recipe hasn’t changed much since then given our memories are that of a Waldorf Salad that contained just apples, celery and mayonnaise.

Fear not!  This recipe is nothing like that.

In fact, this Waldorf Salad was born on a day we were having a Sunday lunch that included a lovely big roll of Roast Pork.  There was going to be loads of pork crackling and that would be quite enough fat for the family! So rather than produce apple sauce and then a salad, we decided to combine the two.

The traditional Waldorf Salad ingredients are still all included – we’ve just lightened it up and added a little twist or two.  

The great thing about this recipe is that you can add and subtract as much as you like.  This salad made enough for 6 adults with a little left over for the kids who are old enough to eat salad.

Do you have a favourite salad?  Or a new take on an old recipe?  Do share – we love to hear from other mums.


Ingredients (serves 6 | makes 1 Large Salad)

  • 4 large Pink Lady Apples (or any red apples)
  • 4 large Granny Smith Apples (or any green apples)
  • 2 - 3 cups Baby Spinach Leaves
  • 1 large Lemon
  • 2 - 3 tbsps Whole Egg Mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup Crushed Walnuts
  • 1 small Spanish Onion
  • Salt & Pepper to taste

Method

  1. In a large bowl (not the bowl or platter you’ll use to serve), combine the mayonnaise, lemon or lime juice and season to taste. Give this a good mix to create a drizzly dressing. The lightnesss of this salad comes from using enough lemon juice to ‘cut’ the fattiness and heaviness of the mayonnaise. You may want to fiddle a bit to get it to a consistency you’re happy with.
  2. Finely slice the Spanish Onion and drop into the dressing.
  3. Finely slice one apple at a time and drop into the dressing and coat the slices in the dressing. This will ensure the apples don’t discolour while you cut the other apples.
  4. Just before you are ready to serve, toss through the spinach leaves and half the walnuts and then arrange on your serving platter.
  5. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts over as the finishing touch.

Notes

This salad teams up beautifully with any pork dishes but is also just as happy as one of the salads at any barbecue.   A note to remember is that the onions and apples will stay crisp for quite a while once in the dressing but the spinach leaves will start to wilt once they are ‘dressed’.  So best to put the salad together at the last minute to ensure maximum crunch … which is what the Waldorf Salad is so famous for!

Here's a few more classic salads you might like to try:
  • thanks for sharing . great read and tips 🙂

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  • wow this looks like a crowd pleaser

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  • I never had the 70’s version but this looks awesome

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  • Thanks for sharing this 🙂

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  • This is def my fave salad of all time !

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  • Waldorf salad perfect for summer season.

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  • A healthy version of waldorf salad? Count me in!

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  • I love salads so looking forward to trying this healthier version this summer.

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  • I”ve never had a waldorf salad I’ll have to try this.

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  • Yum! a very refreshing recipe! I would add lots of sultanas 🙂

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  • Ooh yum! This sounds delicious and great for summer.

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  • this salad sounds interesting and looks yummy


    • It is indeed yummy and minus the calories, got to love that.

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  • I must admit I’ve not tried this kind of salad but it looks great.

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  • My mum loves waldorf salad but unfortunately for me I am allergic to nuts 🙁

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  • My favourite is ceaser salad but this looks great and will have to try! Especially in summer where lots of BBQ’s are involved!

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  • thank looks too good to be naughty

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  • I love Waldorf Salad, will be trying this recipe next time I make it.

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  • An oldie but a goodie & this one is spruced up compared to,the ones I had in the 70’s. if you like apples & walnuts this is for you, personally, I can take or love although this one looks tasty 🙂

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  • Waldorf salad looks yummy . 🙂 thank you for the recipe this would be good to take to work.

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  • whats in the unhealthy one though?

    Reply

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