Name: Polish Celery Root (Celeriac) Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 7.05 ounces celery root (approx. ½ sm. celeriac, peeled); 2 small tart apples (such as Granny Smiths, cored, unpeeled); 2 med./sm. carrots (or 1 large, peeled); 1 small leek (finely chopped, avoid tough green ends); 3 tablespoons mayonnaise (regular or reduced fat); 3 tablespoons sour cream (or thick yogurt); 2 teaspoons lemon juice; ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (plus pepper to taste)

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This celery root salad consists of earthy, aromatic shredded celeriac, sweet carrot, tart apple and mild leek plus an easy creamy dressing for a delicious, traditional Polish-style side dish. Versatile, simple to make and ready in under 10 minutes!

Top down view of celery root salad in rustic pink bowl with spoon.

This celery root salad is a type of 'surówka' (from 'surowy', meaning 'raw' in Polish), a popular name given to Polish salads (usually made with shredded ingredients), which also include beet, sauerkraut and cabbage. It's made using a handful of ingredients and, unlike many other surówka slaws, comes with a creamy dressing.

Celery root (also called 'celeriac') offers an intense, aromatic and complex flavour which is a mixture of earthy, sweet and nutty. It forms the basis of most traditional Polish soups but can also be used raw, as in this recipe. I paired it with milder flavours including sweet carrot, tart apple and delicate leek, which tone down its richness and produce a balanced flavour profile. This shredded celeriac coleslaw salad is a little earthy but also sweet, zesty and refreshing.

Some traditional Polish celery root salad recipes call for mayonnaise, heavy cream, sometimes apples, but omit the vegetables. This type of salad can often end up being soggy and for me, personally, the celeriac flavour is a little strong.

I hope you enjoy my version of this salad:)

Celery root salad ingredients and substitutions

Top down view of ingredients for celery root slaw salad in individual dishes. — Celery root salad.

Celery root/celeriac.
Carrot.
Apples: I recommend sour tasting apples, such as Granny Smiths.
Leek.
Mayonnaise: either regular or reduced-fat.
Sour cream: you can use Greek yogurt, instead.
Lemon juice.
Salt and pepper.

How to prepare the ingredients

To prepare the celeriac cut the knobs off then simply peel the celeriac using a vegetable peeler.

It's important to make sure that the celery root as well as the carrot and apples remain crisp. A food processor does a great job at producing crisp and even strands of vegetables and fruits so this is what I recommend you use to make this celery root slaw salad. Plus it's very quick!

I find that a manual box grater tends to produce thinner strands of vegetables, which can make the salad mushy.

Step-by-step recipe instructions

1. Shred ingredients: In a food processor shred the celery root, transfer it to a mixing bowl and stir in the lemon juice (to help it retain its white colour). Shred the carrot and apples and add to the bowl along with the chopped leek.

Shredded celery root in food processor bowl.

Shredded vegetables in large, wooden bowl.

2. Assemble: Add the sour cream, mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste and stir thoroughly. I recommend using 2 large salad utensils and tossing gently by lifting the ingredients from the bottom of the bowl (this will inject air into the slaw and prevent it from becoming mushy).

Shredded celery root, carrot and mayo in wooden bowl.

Tossing Polish celeriac salad in wooden bowl with green spatula.

3. Serve: Transfer to your serving bowl and either serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Side view of creamy celeriac salad in pink bowl with cloth in background.

*Scroll down to the bottom of the post for a full, printable list of ingredients and instructions.

Serving suggestions

Polish-style celeriac salad makes a delicious accompaniment to chicken, pork or fish dishes. In Poland it's often served with traditional meat patties (kotlety), breaded pork schnitzel or fried fish, alongside mashed potatoes. It's also ideal to pair with fish cakes, chicken fingers or fish nuggets.

Top tips

Use a food processor, rather than a box grater, to shred the ingredients. It produces crispy and even strands and is also much quicker than shredding vegetables by hand.
I recommend using a moderate amount of lemon juice. This salad has quite a bit of acidity (apples plus mayo) and adding too much lemon might make it too sour as well as soggy.
This creamy celery root salad is best served immediately. If you prefer to chill it before serving cover and refrigerate it for up to 30 minutes.
Not suitable for freezing.

More Polish salad recipes to try next

See also these other easy, delicious salad recipes as well as more traditional Polish recipes!

Recipe

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If you make this creamy celery root salad recipe I'd love to know how it turns out for you. Let me know in the comments below, thanks!

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