Turkey Waldorf Salad Recipe (2024)

This is a wonderful winter salad, hearty & rich but with nice bright flavors.
I skip the mayo & use only yogurt - the walnut oil gives the dressing a very silky texture. I also sub maple syrup for honey and dried cranberries for raisins.
If you're making this as a main course, the recipe as written only makes 3-4 servings, not 6.

Needed to feed a crowd so I added 3 cups of cooked and drained ziti. Doubled the curry spices and salted to taste. Used all macadamia oil. Fresh Meyer lemon juice, which is not as tart. Added rough chopped pickled onions. This was delicious. Great recipe that can be altered to what's available in the kitchen.

I really liked the flavours but found the walnut oil too much, too heavy, too walnutty. I'll make this salad again for sure but I'll cut down on the oil.

Farro instead of turkey. Dried cranberries instead of raisins. Pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts. Forgot to add oil but it was still tasty. Served it in a bed of spinach for lunch.

Added some fresh mint for a burst of brightness

My swaps: omit lettuce in favor of more apples, pecans for walnuts, and a super simple dressing (just mayo, orange or lemon juice to thin it, lots of curry and cumin, s & p), halved red grapes for even more color. Leftover cranberry sauce becomes "cranberry chutney" (only the name morphs) and leftover sweet potatoes become mini souffles with the addition of whipped egg whites, vanilla and brown sugar all baked in ramekins. T-day leftovers just as good as the main event.

I didn't have curry or cumin so I added za'atar seasoning. Really yummy dressing. Great way to use turkey leftovers.

Substituted grapes for apples. skipped the mayo. Add Craisins. We liked it.

Fabulous. Served as dinner, so good that I ate it again for breakfast. Used leftover roast chicken, and upped curry to almost a Tbsp. Fuji apple, radicchio, toasted the walnuts, golden raisins on hand, fresh crisp celery. Omitted oil from dressing as unnecessary for liquidity or flavor, used ground cumin. Another star from and to Martha Rose Shulman.

Lacking radicchio, I used the bottom portion of a romaine heart, plus parsley. I wish I had read the suggestion of leaving out the mayonnaise, or at least cutting it--I didn't use all the dressing, but I was aware of all the fat calories in it. It was good, and I'll make again, and I appreciate that it's the kind of recipe where substitutions don't ruin things. (I wasn't even going to say this, but I didn't have raisins so I used pomegranate seeds--we liked the tarter flavor and added crunch!)

Made this with half endive and half radicchio. Doubled the dressing because I like a lot of dressing. Beautiful salad. Great use of leftover turkey.

Added some fresh mint for a burst of brightness

Farro instead of turkey. Dried cranberries instead of raisins. Pumpkin seeds instead of walnuts. Forgot to add oil but it was still tasty. Served it in a bed of spinach for lunch.

My swaps: omit lettuce in favor of more apples, pecans for walnuts, and a super simple dressing (just mayo, orange or lemon juice to thin it, lots of curry and cumin, s & p), halved red grapes for even more color. Leftover cranberry sauce becomes "cranberry chutney" (only the name morphs) and leftover sweet potatoes become mini souffles with the addition of whipped egg whites, vanilla and brown sugar all baked in ramekins. T-day leftovers just as good as the main event.

I just made this and it's a hit. I used dried cherries and apricots in place of the raisins since I'm not a huge fan, but that was the only difference. I totally forgot that I was going to use some left over cooked chicken and started eating it without. Great both ways!

I really liked the flavours but found the walnut oil too much, too heavy, too walnutty. I'll make this salad again for sure but I'll cut down on the oil.

Needed to feed a crowd so I added 3 cups of cooked and drained ziti. Doubled the curry spices and salted to taste. Used all macadamia oil. Fresh Meyer lemon juice, which is not as tart. Added rough chopped pickled onions. This was delicious. Great recipe that can be altered to what's available in the kitchen.

This is a wonderful winter salad, hearty & rich but with nice bright flavors.
I skip the mayo & use only yogurt - the walnut oil gives the dressing a very silky texture. I also sub maple syrup for honey and dried cranberries for raisins.
If you're making this as a main course, the recipe as written only makes 3-4 servings, not 6.

Delicious! Added some orange segments I had to use up and just a bit more honey to the dressing. A keeper!

agree this was terrific. i agree, i'd never intentionally order a traditional waldorf salad, but minus the mayo and plus curry and cumin makes this super tasty. will definitely add to my holiday traditions list for leftover turkey.

It is a very nice way to use leftover turkey. I added som red bell peppers which complemented the flavor and gave an additional crunch to the salad. Also, you need to be careful about the spices. Some store brand spices are milder than others. I like a string flavor of curry, so I added a lot of it.