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This Healthy Waldorf Salad is everything you want in a no-cook side dish! It’s made with crisp apples, juicy grapes, crunchy walnuts, and a creamy Greek yogurt dressing with no mayo and no added sugar. At just 94 calories a serving, it’s the kind of recipe that fits into your routine whether you’re meal prepping for the week or bringing something to a holiday table.
Fresh, creamy, and ready in under 15 minutes, this is one of those recipes that earns a permanent spot in your rotation. The classic Waldorf salad dates back to 1893, when it was created at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. Originally, it was just a simple combination of apples, celery, and mayo.
This version keeps everything that makes the original so good and swaps mayonnaise for Greek yogurt. Same creamy, tangy coating, with a fraction of the fat and calories, plus a protein boost that helps keep you satisfied.
This salad works as a side dish, just like my healthy fruit salad, a light lunch, a holiday appetizer, or a starting point for a full meal when you stir in some shredded chicken or turkey.
Try this best Asian salad recipe for another easy no-cook salad to add to meals!
Why You Will Love This Recipe
This recipe is a healthier spin on a low-fat Waldorf salad by replacing the traditional mayonnaise with Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is lower in calories and higher in protein, making this version healthier, and it’s just as tasty and creamy as the real deal!
- Low-Calorie: Just 94 calories per serving, and it’s made with nutrient-dense ingredients that play an important role in hormone health and the body’s functions.
- Lower Fat + Higher Protein: Using Greek yogurt instead of mayo means the unhealthy fat content is lower and boosts the protein. Each serving has 3 grams of protein, which may not seem like a lot, but it’s more than the traditional Waldorf salad.
- Allergy-Friendly: This recipe is naturally gluten-free, can be made dairy-free with just one swap, and you can leave out the nuts to keep it nut-free.
- Make Ahead Friendly: You can easily prep the salad the day ahead! I love this and one of the main reason, it’s often on my healthy Thanksgiving menu!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make low-calorie Waldorf Salad. You will also need a large mixing bowl and I highly recommend an apple slicer to make the prep easier.
- Grapes: You can use any variety of grapes you prefer, but I recommend seedless for the best texture.
- Apples and Pears: I love Gala apples because they are sweeter than other apples, and Asian pears add a subtle floral sweetness and a different texture than regular pears. Feel free to use any crisp apple or pear you love or mix and match with one sweet apple and one tart apple. You can also replace either one by using only apples or pears. If you love apples in salads, try this apple chicken salad next!
- Sweetener: Use stevia or monkfruit to add a bit of sweetness. These are both zero-calorie sweeteners, so you get the flavor without any extra calories. Start with a small amount and then increase it to taste.
- Greek yogurt: Plain nonfat Greek yogurt completely replaces the mayo in the salad, providing the creamy base for the salad. It also adds protein and reduces the fat, for a low-calorie and low-fat salad. You can use full-fat here but it will change the nutrition. I also use it for the dressing in this healthy broccoli salad and low-calorie taco dip.
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients with quantities.
Variations & Dietary Modifications
- Waldorf Chicken Salad: Add 1–1½ cups of shredded or cubed cooked chicken breast, and you’ve got a protein-packed lunch that keeps you satisfied for hours. My quick and easy shredded chicken is the easiest way to prep it. Leftover rotisserie chicken works great too if you’re short on time.
- Prefer Turkey? My baked turkey breast recipe is equally delicious stirred right in, and it makes this a perfect use for holiday leftovers.
- Dairy-Free: Swap the Greek yogurt for an unsweetened dairy-free yogurt. Coconut yogurt is my top pick here because it adds a subtle creaminess with a hint of tropical flavor that pairs really nicely with the apples and grapes. Almond-based yogurt works too but tends to be thinner, so the dressing will be a little less creamy. Just make sure to check the label. Many dairy-free yogurts sneak in a lot of added sugar. You can also use an avocado oil-based mayo as a 1:1 swap if you prefer to skip the yogurt altogether, which also makes this Paleo-friendly.
- Holiday Waldorf Salad: For a festive spin, use a mix of red and green grapes instead of all red, and stir in a small handful of dried cranberries. The color contrast is gorgeous on a holiday table and the cranberries add a tart little pop that plays really well with the creamy dressing.
How To Make a Healthy Waldorf Salad with Greek Yogurt No Mayo
- Step 1: Combine. Place the Greek yogurt in a mixing bowl, and add the lemon juice and stevia. Mix the dressing, and then add the fruit, celery, and chopped walnuts.
- Step 2: Chill and Serve. Stir to combine and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and enjoy! This is a great side for a meal with slow cooker pulled pork or baked cod.
Recipe Tip
- Start cold. This salad is at its best when everything goes in chilled. If your grapes have been sitting out, pop them in the freezer for about 10 minutes before you start. It makes a noticeable difference in how refreshing the finished salad tastes.
- Don’t rush the chill time. Thirty minutes in the fridge before serving is the minimum. It gives the dressing time to soften the fruit slightly and lets all the flavors come together. If you can swing it, make this a few hours ahead or even the night before. It genuinely gets better as it sits.
- Cut everything to a similar size. This one sounds small but it matters. When your apple, pear, and grapes are roughly the same size, every forkful has a good balance of fruit, crunch from the walnuts, and creaminess from the dressing.
- Storage. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The lemon juice helps preserve the apples and pears, but by day 4 or 5 they’ll start to soften, so try to enjoy it within that window. I don’t recommend freezing this one, as the fruit breaks down and the yogurt dressing separates.
Healthy Waldorf Salad Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can fully assemble this salad up to a day in advance, and it holds up well with a few adjustments. I suggest tossing the apples and pears in a bit of lemon juice before adding them to the salad. This further slows down the browning. You also should keep the walnuts separate, as they will soften in the dressing overnight.
Yes, especially this version! Swapping the traditional mayo for Greek yogurt cuts the fat significantly while adding a small protein boost. Each 1/2 cup serving is just 94 calories per serving with 3g of protein and 3g of fiber, so it’s a genuinely nutrient-dense option. The apples, grapes, and pear bring vitamins and antioxidants, and the walnuts add healthy omega-3 fats. It’s also naturally gluten-free with no swaps needed.
Gala and Fuji are my go-tos because they’re naturally sweet, which means you need less added sweetener in the dressing. Granny Smith works beautifully if you want a tart contrast to the creamy yogurt. Using one red and one green apple is a great move if you want more color contrast. It makes the salad look as good as it tastes.
Absolutely! It’s one of my favorite ways to serve this as a full meal instead of a side. Shredded or cubed cooked chicken breast is the easiest add-in. Stir in 1 to 1½ cups, and you’ve got a protein-packed lunch that keeps you full for hours. My quick and easy shredded chicken is perfect for this!
Serving Suggestions
Waldorf salad should be served chilled as an appetizer, side salad or small snack topped with my low-calorie granola. It’s especially great for Thanksgiving with a table full of other low-calorie Thanksgiving dishes.
If you want to make it a complete meal, I recommend adding lean protein like crispy baked salmon, oven baked shrimp, baked halibut recipe, or wild rice pork chop casserole!
More Healthy Salad Recipes
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Healthy Waldorf Salad
Ingredients
- 2 Red Apples, cubed
- 1 Pear, cubed
- ⅔ cup Red Grapes, seedless
- ½ cup Celery, diced
- 2 tablespoons Walnuts, raw and chopped
- ½ cup Nonfat Greek Yogurt
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- Stevia to taste , or sugar of choice
Instructions
- Chop the fruit into cubes, dice the celery and roughly chop the walnuts.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt, lemon juice and stevia. Add the fruit, celery and walnuts. Stir to combine then refrigerate to chill 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Portion size is about 1/2 cup. Portion size will vary depending on the size of your pears and apples. 1 1/2 cups of chopped apples and 2/3 cup of pear is what you need for this recipe.
- Start cold. Chill all ingredients before mixing. If your grapes are room temp, pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes first.
- Don’t skip the chill time. 30-minutes minimum before serving. The flavors come together as it sits. Overnight is even better.
- Cut everything to a similar size. Even pieces mean every bite has a good balance of fruit, walnut crunch, and creamy dressing.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
