A healing bowl of Celery Soup – comforting, affordable, and flavorful, that can be made in 35 minutes. Healthy, delicious and vegan adaptable- watch the 35-second Video!
Love soup? Take a peek at 25 Cozy Vegetarian Soup Recipes!
When we come to a great barrier, when we find a place inside us we do not know how to navigate, when we are in a painful experience that we cannot avoid, we need to sit right down there–at the root of that experience, at the root of the tree of life- and be still. ~Adyashanti
This recipe for Simple Celery Soup is creamy and luscious ohhhhh so comforting! If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know how much I love to take simple, ordinary ingredients and try to elevate them. It’s something I learned from my very frugal, immigrant parents who would often host the most delicious dinners while using the humblest, most cost-saving ingredients.
This Celery Soup could be the start of a grand meal. It could also be a wholesome homemade supper, simply served with crusty bread. What I love most about this is, how adaptable it is. It is really easy to make this vegan. For more plant-based soup inspiration, take a peek at our 25 Cozy Vegetarian Soup Recipes!
Watch how to make Simple Celery Soup!
Oftentimes I’ll skip the dairy completely and make this with cashews, cooked right in the soup.
Sometimes I’ll make it with sour cream, giving it a delicious tanginess and extra richness.
Traditionally, it’s made with butter and heavy cream, which is totally fine too. Up to you!
Do what feels best.
Here I’ve topped the soup with crispy celery leaves and toasted nigella seeds and some hemp seeds, but really, you can top it any way you like.
Croutons are always a nice option, as well as my new favorite, halloumi croutons, or millet croutons if going grain-free.
The crispy celery leaves are a beautiful touch and are really simple to make too.
Nigella Seeds are often used in Indian and Middle Eastern cooking and offer up a pungent, oniony-peppery, herbal flavor, that is especially nice when toasted in a little oil. Sometimes they are called black cumin or black caraway seeds.
They are not imperative to the recipe, but if you have Nigella seeds, try them out-they will elevate!
And if you are curious about the health benefits of celery – they are numerous!
Seriously, just google it!
Celery fights inflammation, lowers cholesterol, lowers blood pressure and is super high in antioxidants, just to name a few.
Health benefits aside, I personally just really loooooooove the flavor. I am one of those people who fill celery stalks with almond butter and sprinkle them with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. A tasty snack!
As common as celery is, it truly is a flavor enhancer.
So for me, to have a bowlful of this Celery Soup with warm toasty bread ….. is beyond amazing!
I hope you like it too!
More recipes you may like:
- 25 Cozy Vegetarian Soup Recipes
- Potato Leek Soup
- Coconut Corn Chowder
- Homemade Tomato Soup
- North African Carrot Soup
- Creamy Celeriac Soup
- Parsnip Soup
- Simple Cabbage Soup
- Farmers Market Vegetable Soup
Have a lovely weekend!
xoxo
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Simple Celery Soup
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 7 cups 1x
- Category: Soup, vegan, Gluten free
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A healing bowl of Celery Soup- comforting, affordable and flavorful, that can be made in 35 minutes. Healthy, delicious and vegan adaptable!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, or butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 fat garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 6 cups celery, sliced thin (about 1 1/4-1 1/2 pounds) 1 extra-large head, save some leaves for garnish
- 2 cups potatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds ( about 3/4 lb – 1 extra-large russet peeled, or use a few yukons, unpeeled.
- 4 cups veggie or chicken broth ( or 4 cups water + 1 tablespoon “Better than Bouillon” Vegetable Base)
- 1 cup water
- 1 bay leaf (optional), remove it before blending
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, start conservatively, add more to taste or leave it out entirely.
Add:
- 1/4 cup fresh dill (small stems ok)
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley (small stems ok)
- Stir in: 1/2 cup (or more) of probiotic sour cream, vegan sour cream, heavy cream or cashew cream. (see notes)
- Garnish: Crispy celery leaves, nigella seeds, hemp seeds (all optional, but delicious!)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a big pot over medium-high heat and add the onion, stirring occasionally, letting the onions get golden, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and stir 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the celery, potatoes, broth, water, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and cayenne. The liquid should just cover the veggies ( if not, add a little more water). Cover, bring to a rolling boil, turn heat down and simmer gently until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.
- Turn heat off, remove bay leaf and add the fresh herbs and just wilt them (don’t cook herbs or you lose the vibrant color!)
- Using an immersion blender blend until very silky smooth – OR if using a regular blender, let cool before blending in smaller batches. ( If blending warm soup, fill blender no more than halfway full, cover tightly with a lid and kitchen towel, holding it down firmly, when you start the motor (on the lowest setting, working up gradually) to prevent a blender “explosion”).
- Blend well, a full minute, until herbs are fully blended, creating a vibrant colored soup. For extra “green” color, add a handful of raw baby spinach if you like, or more fresh parsley.
- Place it back in the same pot over low heat. Stir in your choice of sour cream, or any of the other options. Gently heat, careful to not over-simmer, or you may lose the lovely vibrant color.
- To make the crispy celery leaves, heat a generous amount of olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Wait until the oil is hot. Fry a “tester” celery leaf for 10-20 seconds on each side. Set on a paper towel. If it is crisp, continue on. Adding a few at a time, not overly crowding. If not crisp, fry them a little longer. You want about 3-5 leaves per serving bowl. In the same oil, you could fry the nigella seeds until you just begin to hear popping. Turn heat off. Arrange the crispy celery leaves in a crescent shape. Spoon a little of the nigella seeds along with a little oil in the same shape. Sprinkle with hemp seeds if you like.
Enjoy!
Notes
If using cashew cream, adding a little splash of lemon juice, enlivens the soup. Sour cream and yogurt have a natural tanginess, so you may not need it.
A quick way to make this vegan version ( with cashew cream), is toss the ½ cup of cashews into the simmering pot at the beginning with the celery and potatoes, letting them soften. Then just blend it all up!
Slicing the celery thinly will prevent fibers texture.
If freezing, best to freeze without the sour cream, as it may get granular- then add it later when reheating.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups made with ½ cup sour cream
- Calories: 183
- Sugar: 5.2 g
- Sodium: 478.2 mg
- Fat: 9.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.1 g
- Fiber: 4.8 g
- Protein: 4.5 g
- Cholesterol: 8.1 mg
I love the sour cream and cayenne in the soup. They add some needed excitement to the simple ingredients!
Glad you liked it!
I love this soup. Made it for 1/2 way to St Patrick’s Day. I put oil on cookie sheet & rubbed it with my hands. I took my oily hands & coated the celery leaves; spread them out & broiled until crisp(keeping my eye on them). I placed the leaves all over the soup & generously sprinkled with everything but bagel seasoning. I did use the cashews, too.
Perfect Jean!
This was so delicious! Can’t wait to try more of your soup recipes. Thank you for sharing 😊
Thanks Cindy!
Made this. Very tasty. Tasted without the later add-ins. Made about 1 1/2 gallons into canning jars (minus the listed add-ins since I was canning the primary concoction). I only ventured off in my own direction by adding 3/4 cup of frozen sliced okra for the thickening property, and about a 1/4 tsp of extra celery seed. Used immersion blender and that worked awesomely great. But, following recipe (including okra), mine was far from the vivid green in the pictures. More like a natural pale green. That’s fine, but I can’t see, based on the ingredients listed, such a vivid green would be attained. Still, very pleased with results and I will save this recipe for next time I have a hankering for a celery stick w/peanut butter…..and have 10 stalks left over. Oh, also used a handful of the celery leaves.
Hi Mike- the later add-ins (fresh parsley and dill) are what give the soup its vibrant green color, and bright flavor. 😉
Fantastic! Can’t recommend highly enough. We had a big bunch of celery to get rid of, and I cooked this up thinking it’d probably not be great, and it was AWESOME!!!! Definitely making again.
Glad it exceeded expectations. 😉
Delicious and nutritious! Loved it.
Great to hear!
Made this with my young adult son this evening. We both fell in love with this recipe and look forward to making again soon. Soooo good!
So happy you both enoyed this Amy!
This soup was amazingly good! I used sweet potatoes instead and used the vegan note option with cashews. I was skeptical at first because I’ve never had celery soup but will definitely make this again.
Glad you gave this a go!
Hi, 2nd time I’ve made this delish soup – thank you! But have added a bit too much cayenne pepper – apart from yogurt or sour cream any other suggestions for lowering the heat?
Oh shoot! It could mellow with time. You could make another half batch and add it?
This soup is delicious hot or cold. I use the pulp from juicing my morning celery. I save the pulp in the fridge (or freezer) for a few days to have enough for the soup. No waste, it’s awesome.
Such a great idea!
Do you think this soup will freeze well? I have family coming to stay for a long stint, and am trying to get ahead of the game now 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Kimberly, yes, but leave out the diary when freezing, and add when heating it. It should be fine, my only hesitation is it may not be as vibrant green.
The celery soup was delicious I shared it with my neighbour who is feeling rather poorly.❤️
So sweet of you Eileen!
This soup was delicious. Amazingly hearty and tasty, yet still light. My family was skeptical of celery soup and ended up loving it. Thank you!
Love it Lisa!
Simple and delicious
Thanks Jane!
This was amazing
Thanks Abby!
Nigella’s also called Kalonji, but it’s definitely not the others you mention. It’s worth hunting it down in the Desi shops. Superb flavour.
This was a great soup. Used cilantro instead of parsley since that’s what I had. The swap turned out great!
Will remake many times I’m sure. Thanks!
Thanks Sheza!
Best ever use of leftover celery stalks from my daily salad! However, it is definitely not a ‘leftover’ soup.
Surprisingly filling and a bright and cozy soup for these blustery spring days. Very filling, even without my usual Rye Wasa cracker, or fruit for dessert.
I add a touch of celery seed, Italian herbs, and garlic and onion powders to round out the natural flavors! Keeping it simple and basic…
It’s a winner!
Thanks so much Gina!
I am seriously blown away and surprised with how good this soup turned out!
Once its is cooked and blended, the celery taste is mellowed and it is so flavourful and really delicious! I went with the vegan version adding about one cup of cashews and 1/2 a squeezed lemon (at the end), was generous with the garlic, onion, fresh parsley, dill and potato, added a few extra cups of water and a little Veg Better Than Boullion, and on a whim at the the end added about 1/2 cup of t’hini and about 1/2 cup of Nooch and blended till quite smooth and creamy. I will definitely be making this easy soup again and again. Thank you for yet another incredible recipe Sylvie!! You are sooo talented and your blog is a great inspiration for me with so many healthy, creative and delicious recipes! xxx
thanks so much Paula!
Great recipe! Super fast and easy to make, and soup is very delicious. I’ll make it again. Thanks for sharing.
So happy you enjoyed this!
Family hesitated then LOVED it. Everyone had multiple bowls
Love it Jessica!
Thanks for the recipe! Needed to use up some celery. Really enjoyed this. I did add a couple Parmesan rinds to add a bit of depth. Only had dry dill. Subbed oat milk for creaminess. Would def make again. Thanks!
Awesome Caro!
Delicious.. I added in 4 small rashers of bacon and the dill just brought it to the next level..
Sounds great Alison!
it looks healthy and healing diet thanking you for sharing .
Yum! Celery and all the ingredients in this recipe are so healthy!
So happy you enjoyed this!
Everyone loved this soup. Definitely a keeper. So much flavor, a hint of heat and just delicious.
So happy you enjoyed this Jean!
Excellent recipe, I substituted carrots for potatoes and added t spoon each of cumin and turmeric.
It’s a great recipe for playing with, thanks a lot.
Thanks John!