We’re so in love with this crunchy, fresh, sweet-tart hazelnut, pear and celery salad recipe. While it makes a truly lovely Thanksgiving salad, it’s also a terrific everyday treat for fall and winter. Try serving it as a light lunch, or bring this autumnal celery salad to a winter dinner party along with our Christmas Salad. With no leafy greens, it travels beautifully, and can even be made ahead of time. Yes — a salad you can make ahead! For the best autumn dinner party ever, pair it with Pear and Burrata Crostini, Baked Chicken and Creamed Brussels Sprouts. For more fresh, creative salad ideas, try our very grown-up Endive and Roquefort Salad with Pear Vinaigrette or wintery Radicchio Salad with Crème Fraîche Vinaigrette.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make This Fall Salad
Celery: Celery takes center stage here, so be sure you use the best, freshest celery you can find. It should be bright in color, and firm to the touch.
Fennel bulb: If you have an anise-hater in the mix, you could skip the fennel but it would break our hearts a little. We adore the fresh vibrancy of fennel bulbs, and they have a sweetness that places so well with the pear vinaigrette.
Pears: The pear is one thing that can’t really hold up to making ahead of time, so if you need to prep the salad ahead, hold off on adding the pear if you can. Otherwise, it’ll brown like an apple would.
Hazelnuts: Nothing says “I am an adult now” like understanding what a luxury hazelnuts are. Just using these creamy, toasty nuts makes this salad feel festive and indulgent.
Golden raisins: We choose golden raisins purely for their lovely color. Even though it’s a winter salad, this recipe feels so light and bright.
For the pear vinaigrette:
Pear: When pears are in season here in the Pacific Northwest, we double down on these beautiful fruits. They’re so sweet and fragrant, we want them in everything. Choose the most gorgeous pears you can find and even a slightly overripe pear would work fine here — after all, it’s headed for the blender anyway.
Extra-virgin olive oil: For salad dressings, we always reach for extra virgin olive oil.
Apple cider vinegar: Acidic, with a hint of apples — in other words, ideal for this vinaigrette.
Honey: Just a dollop of honey to play up the sweetness of the pear.
Lemon: The lemon will add a lot of brightness — both in terms of color and flavor.
Fresh tarragon: Whenever we’ve really loved a restaurant salad, tarragon is usually involved. It’s the secret to every French bistro vinaigrette, and it’s so easy to add it to your homemade salads. Simply adding tarragon to the dressing is the most reliable “trick” to making your salad taste restaurant-level we know.
How To Make The Best Celery Salad
Raw fennel bulb, sliced super thinly and tossed with celery and pears and the nutty crunch of hazelnuts, makes for a truly transcendent salad experience. This is a seriously restaurant-y salad, in the best way.
Chop! If you’re making the salad ahead of time, chop everything except for the pears, because they’ll turn brown. If you really want to get restaurant-y, break out your mandoline slicer and get the fennel bulb and celery ultra-thin.
Make the celery salad dressing! Simply combine everything in a blender and purée until you’ve got a creamy, smooth pear dressing. You could do this step a few hours ahead of time, if needed.
Toss it all together! If you’re making the salad ahead, wait to dress it until close to the time you’re going to eat.
Yes, Make Ahead Salads Are A Thing!
Holiday dinners, dinner parties, potlucks — there are so many times we have wished that salads were more forgiving. Well, this one is. With hearty ingredients like celery and fennel bulb — and notably lacking in tender salad greens — this autumnal salad is ideal for making ahead! We just love the fact that you’ll be able to prep all of the components for this salad ahead of time, and even once it’s dressed and on the table, the celery and fennel stay crunchy. We don’t recommend making this salad days ahead of time, but you could certainly prep it the morning of a big dinner so that all you have to do at the last minute is slice a pear and toss it all together.
More Fall Salad Ideas
Crunch Crunch Crunch
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