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 used Trader Joe’s chicken bone broth. Came out very tasty. Also added a bit of Calabrian chiles to finish.
Yum! Sounds tasty Andrea!
Followed recipe to the T. Found it quite bland. How can I increase the ‘fullness’? I used fresh dill, fresh parsley and 3 bay leaves. Thanks in advance!
Hi Kim- sorry to hear this. How was your veggie broth? Flavorful?
I use homemade chicken broth (no water) and found that it makes such a difference!
this soup tastes so good! i did not do all the fancy garnish but just sour cream and served with thick sour dough toast. super fab! will make a lot more.
Nice Rose, so happy you enjoyed!
Someone gave me 5 bags of celery and I had no idea what to do with them. I’m SO GLAD I stumbled upon this recipe! It’s so flavorful! I didn’t know celery could be that good! Definitely use fresh ingredients. I ran out of parsley and used dry and it was NOT the same!
Good to know and happy you enjoyed this!
Looks delicious, but any suggestions on what to substitute for the potato?
how about cauliflower?
I subbed with cauliflower!
I used avocado.
Delicious soup! Used celery from my garden which was a little drier than should have been, but doubled the recipe, except used 9 cups of celery
and only 1/4 c dill. I added 1/2 of a large zucchini left over from making zucchini bread, and added a cup of spinach with the herbs. Skipped the cayenne pepper. Loved it without the sour cream, as did my Belgian mother but did try a bowl with a teaspoon of sour cream stirred in.s Will make more to freeze!
Love it Ann!
Hi, I made this today and I added some fresh fennel that was in the fridge. I used a fresh bay leaf and Kashmiri chili powder. I’m going to serve it cold tonight adding a Mexican creama to each bowl (what I have) and put out some Calabrian chilies to add as desired. Love your recipes!
Love it Andrea!
Sounds lovely Andrea!
I haven’t made this yet, but I’m wondering if it would be good cold. It’s similar to a cold pea or cucumber soup that I eat make. Has anyone eaten it cold?
I have not personally had it cold, but if you read back, I feel like a few people have enjoyed it cold. Let us know what you think?
very delicious we added about a half cup of broccoli and 1/4 cup macadamia nut everyone loved it just wish the blender could have smothed it out a bit better but hay it was good
Oh yummy! Cashews get the creamiest for next time, especially if you simmer and soften before blending. Did you simmer/soften the macadamia nuts? Just curious. 😉
So delicious! Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed!
Made this with mix of “cutting celery” and conventional celery, and it was some of the best soup I’ve ever made. Who would think celery could make such flavorful and beautiful soup? And I actually thought it was pretty perfect before I added the sour cream. Think I’ll leave that out, or use less today when I make it again! Have to work on method for frying celery leaves (a must w the nigella garnish) – my stovetop got a bit splattered with oil😂
So happy you enjoyed this Jill! Make sure the leaves are patted dry, and I use a splatter guard, do you have one?
Thanks! Will try splatter guard (have one!) but also now use a deeper saucepan and barely lift the lid to throw the leaves and shut the lid, LOL! Yes, I noticed how it helps to pat the leave dry. Am having for lunch today at work!!
Mmmmm GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
This recipe is excellent! I didn’t do any of the cream variations – meant to add cashews then forgot. But it was great without it. I loved the texture and the whole family enjoyed it. The only thing I would say is I found it a touch too salty so I wouldn’t put the full amount next time. But really really good. And simple to prepare with really good easy to follow instructions.
Thanks Abigail! Glad you enjoyed it. I bet with the added cream, it would have brought the salt down.
So satisfyingly warm and cozy! We loved this dish!
Great to hear!
Just made this. Its delicious. I have my own garden and just harvested all the ingredients! Thats a first! potatoes, celery, parsley, dill. I used leeks and bunching onions in place of 1 brown onion that I grew as well. I doubled the cayenne because we like things hot but that was borderline for me. Next time I stick to your list. Husband will love it. I also fried the celery leaves. Wowsers! I topped with hemp seeds. Thanks for the recipe!
Wow, so exciting to use all your fresh grown veggies! Yummy.
Love this recipe! Chiming in to add my own modification: I used leftover coconut milk instead of the sour cream / yogurt. The celery flavour in this is just superb with the dill. Can’t believe I’ve never done that combo before.
Awesome Layla! Glad you have enjoyed it!
I would like to read comments from people who have made this soup before I try it myself.
There are 600 comments to choose from. Just scroll down. 🙂
Easy, tasty soup! Even with the modifications I had to make… No onions, and the only fresh herbs I had were celery leaves & spring onion. Recommend.
So glad this worked out for you Raveena!
Great simple soup highly recommend. Flavors were perfect.
Thanks Dale!
This recipe is amazing!
I’m not a big celery fan but somehow managed to have two bundles that were about to go in the trash. I stumbled on this bad boy and was sooo impressed. This soup is rich and elegant. Felt like I needed to have my pinky up while eating it. I only had dried herbs but look forward to trying it with fresh and with the toasted leaves ( I didn’t get that fancy). Thank you so much❤️❤️❤️
Great to hear Christine! 😉
Spectacular! Wasn’t expecting much from the lowly celery but wow what a great surprise.
Glad you enjoyed Elisa!
I love this recipe! One of my favorites soups!!
Thanks so much Alexandra, great to hear!
Great recipe, but several suggestions: (1) Better Than Bouillon is not broth-equivalent. In fact it usually is very salty, and celery has natural sodium, so I found even just 2 1/2 tsps. of BtB (3 recommended), and NO added salt…was still a bit salty. It’s edible, but better not to add that recommended 1 tsp. of salt at all. Be careful!
(2) It took me more than a solid hour to fine-slice the celery, plus the dicing of potatoes and the onion. So the 30+ minute cooking time ignores the considerable prep time. Plan for it.☺️
Fix these 2 issues and I’d give 5 stars.
Thanks for the feedback Lise.
Doing this definitely didn’t take over an hour for me! Not a great reason to lose a star in my opinion.
I love this soup and make it all the time, it’s soo tasty!
Thanks Em. 🙂
The recipe goes fast enough with good knife skills.
AMAZING! Added Cayenne and Nigella seeds to garnish – beautiful soup!
Thanks so much! The Nigella is really nice here- glad you used it!
Just finished serving my Valentine Sweetheart this soup with warm baguette. Delicious and very warm smiles! Thanks for sharing your recipe
Yay John- so happy you both enjoyed!
I’ve heard that roasted cashews
are a great addition to salads and other dishes. Have you tried using them in any recipes? I’d love to hear your ideas!
Yes, try adding them to salads and stir-fries!