White Bean, Feta and Quick-Pickled Celery Salad 

By Hetty Lui McKinnon

Published June 2, 2025

White Bean, Feta and Quick-Pickled Celery Salad 
Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Brett Regot.
Total Time
30 minutes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Rating
5(2,024)
Comments
Read comments

Pickling celery for just fifteen minutes is a game changer: The acid tames its grassy notes, brings out savoriness and transforms its texture from simply crunchy to crisp-tender. Here, celery is quickly pickled with red onion to create a sweet-and-sour foundation for this hearty cannellini bean salad. The cumin seeds are optional, but they add a deeply earthy and aromatic edge to the pickles; feel free to substitute or experiment with other whole spices such as caraway, coriander, fennel or star anise. Creamy and salty feta balances the sharpness of the pickles. This is a great no-cook dish for easy weeknight eating, but it also improves with age, so can be made ahead for potlucks, picnics or other gatherings.

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 4celery stalks, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • ½small red onion, thinly sliced
  • ¼cup white or red wine vinegar
  • 1tablespoon sugar
  • 1teaspoon cumin seeds (optional) 
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2(15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed
  • 7 to 8ounces crumbled feta
  • 1cup chopped tender herbs, such as mint, parsley, cilantro, dill or a mix 
  • ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

355 calories; 17 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 36 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 16 grams protein; 910 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place the celery and red onion in a large bowl. Add the vinegar, sugar, cumin seeds (if using) and about ½ teaspoon of salt. Toss well to combine, then set aside to pickle for 15 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Add the cannellini beans, feta and herbs to the celery and red onion. Drizzle with the olive oil, season well with salt and pepper and toss well to combine. Serve at room temperature. (The salad can be prepared and refrigerated up to 1 day in advance.)

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
2,024 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Dianne

Delicious! I followed reader comments, and cut back the sugar to 2 teaspoons. Added just a little bit of fennel to the pickling process. Added lots of mint. Note to the editors: on all your recipes that indicate the number of servings, kindly indicate how many cups in a serving according to your recipe. Serving size is so subjective.

Jennie

@Stephen in AP It's still hard IMO when you don't know, for example, the size of the celery stalks or onion. A small onion to me may be a medium onion to everyone else cuz I love onion! I would really prefer to see a volume or weight measurement for items that are not uniform in size. So how many cups are the 4 stalks of celery supposed to yield? Thank you!

Meg

I break, not cut, the stalk in half. Any strings tough enough not to break, get pulled off. Anything tender enough to break along with the stalk is tender enough to eat.

Leftcoast cook

Delicious! Easy! I always pickle my onions this way (with sugar) and they're terrific. Very portable. Next time, though, I think I'll leave out the cumin seeds - I didn't love the note they hit. My beans were Rancho Gordo Marcella (half a bag).

Jeri

I was generous with the celery, cheese and onion. Dressing ingredients as written. This is a holy grail potluck recipe--fine made the night before, served at room temperature. Seemed to be a popular offering--only about a cup came home with me.

Danielle

Fantastic dish! Followed the recipe, using red wine vinegar and cumin seeds, as recommended. I also pickled the celery and onion for 30 minutes. Overall, really delicious and satisfying.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.