Polish Royal Salad or sałatka królewska is one of those unusual Polish creations. It’s a combination of flavors that I wouldn’t have thought to put together, much like the Cauliflower Salad that my friend Ėlzbieta taught me to make.
When a reader asked recently if I had a recipe for Royal Salad, I didn’t recognize the name. A quick internet search revealed that there are basics included in every version of Royal Salad:
canned corn, canned celery, canned pineapple, hard-boiled eggs. and mayo
There are other add-ins, but they seem to come and go. Many people add diced ham to the ingredients above. Sometimes canned beans take the protein limelight. Some recipes call for diced leeks; some add cubed cheese. Some add mustard with the mayo. It’s a salad, after the basics, there’s some leeway.
While I didn’t recognize the royal salad name, this is a dish I’ve sampled at Polish hotel breakfast buffets. The spread that the most humble Polish hotel puts out for breakfast is amazing. There is so much variety, there will something, many things, for everyone. The breakfast really fuels you for the day and make be enough to keep you going until supper.
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Ingredients for Polish Royal Salad
One of the most noticeable things about the Polish Royal Salad ingredients that I’ve listed above is that the list includes so much canned produce.
Since this is a Polish recipe, I suspect the canned celery is canned celery root or maybe pickled celery stalks. I tried to both honor the original recipe and the lack of familiarity and availability of celery root in the USA. I used celery stalks which have a slightly stronger taste but are easy to find. Because the celery was canned, I gave the celery a quick blanching. I did the same with the leeks I used.
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I’ve looked around to find some history of this dish. With such emphasis on the canned ingredients, I wonder if it dates back to the Communists times in Poland. I suspect to have had all of these ingredients on hand at once would have made for a feast, a royal dish indeed.
If you have any info on the background of this dish, I’d love to hear it.
The next time I make it, I think I will try to use more fresh ingredients. I think I would have preferred the taste and texture of fresh pineapple and fresh celery. Ah well, live and learn.
Smacznego!
Lois
Polish Royal Salad
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Polish
Description
A popular Polish salad combining sweet and savory in a mayonnaise based dressing
Ingredients
- 3 stalks celery finely diced
- 1 leek, white part only quartered and sliced thinly OR 4 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 can crushed pineapple, drained
- 1 can whole corn, drained
- 1 cups cubed ham
- 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and dicecd
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the celery and leek to a strainer, submerge in boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove and rinse with cool water.
- Add to a bowl with the pineapple, corn, ham, and eggs. Whisk together the mayo and yogurt and add to the salad, stirring to combine, season with salt and pepper. Chill
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Claudine Bratcher
I recently found out about Polish Royal Salad, I did a search online and found your recipe! My question is this, what size can of crushed pineapple is used? I also assume the size can of corn is the 14.5 ounce size, am I right.
Thank you for your help.
Claudine in Fort Worth, TX
polishhousewife
Hi Claudine, I used a 14.5 ounce can in this case, but because it’s a salad, you could use whatever you have on hand. Proportions are not super-critical and can be changed based on your taste/preference and what’s in the pantry. Thanks so much for your question. It’s great to hear from you.
Sarah Wennik (Drewniak)
I’ve enjoyed this so much in private homes when visiting Poland. Many years ago, my friend sent me the recipe (on paper!), but I have unfortunately lost it and never made the salad. I’m so very happy to find this recipe. It’s kind of an unusual set of ingredients, but I love it so much and look forward to sharing it with my American friends and family
Brittney Howard
Okay, it sounds weird, but trust the process. It’s like the perfect mix of egg salad, ham salad and corn salad all in one! My grandmother was polish and we love polish food. We served this with kielbasa, pierogis and potato pancakes. I chose not to boil the celery and left it raw and used 4 stalks. I also chose to omit the pineapple, because I skeptical. I did serve it on the side and we added it in separate from the main dish. It was good both ways, but I really loved it without the pineapple. I used the green onion variation to the recipe and it was so delish! I think I am going to make this for our next church fellowship brunch!
Liz sutfin
I am 73 years old my mom was from breslai this salad is made like this because in the past in the cities there were no fresh ingredientsnts
Celery root sounds real good don’t mess it up with lots of non native ingredients MEAT. MAYO LOTS YOGURT IS ZOMETHING FROM THE US Pickles sour pickles onion and eggs and cubed potatoes to stretch if need
Before and After the war things were tough
Under the Russians even worse
Yummy good stuff