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
Really tasty…I added some spring green leaves too and a parsnip
Love it. I had asparagus yesterday, so I saved the unused stems and boiled them in the 1 cup water in the recipe. Added color and flavor. I didn’t use the, only the water.
Plan to make this now!!
Needed to use up celery from my csa box and came across this soup. It was good the first day but was excellent after two days once all the flavors merged together. I will make it at least one day in advance of eating it next time.
Absolutely delicious. Easy to make, especially with mandolin for slicing the entire bunch as one unit, keeping fingers at root end far away from blade. Great for a simple dinner, but would not hesitate to serve for company. That is of course when we can have company. My only substitution was white sweet potato for potato because that was what I had on hand. Thank you for this great recipe!
Thank you for this lovely soup. It’s fresh and filling without being heavy. The cayenne really makes humble celery sing. I had sour cream on hand but found it didn’t really need it.
Great soup. Once blended it became creamy and smooth.
Easy to make and delicious! Suggested garnishes added visual and taste appeal.
This was delicious and so creamy!
Thank you
This recipe is awesome! Had some spare celery I needed to use, as well as potatoes and stock. I didnt have all the herbs on hand so I used some dry italian seasonings and cilantro. I did use greek yogurt for the cream and added some spinach and lemon. Super, super fresh and savory. Love it, will be making again for sure.
Great 👍 recipe! Done ✅ it!
I added a small parsnip. It was truly delicious.
Great idea- love it Jan!
Wow! This is deeply satisfying. I just seasoned to taste at the end and ended up adding a bit more chicken bouillon, over a cup of Anita’s coconut yogurt (fabulous dairy sub), and a spritz of fresh lemon juice. A hand blender makes this such an easy recipe (I didn’t blend it all the way because I like having little bits to chew). Thank you so much! This was the first of your recipes I’ve tried, and I can’t wait to try more, as we are moving to more of a plant-based diet. Thank you!
Makes simple ingredients delicious! It’s a good way to use up extra celery.
Thanks so much!
Love this recipe! I use organic chicken bone broth to add more protein.
I can (& do) sip this soup all day long. Yum!!
I have two large heads of celery in garden and this is perfect time for celery soup with homemade bread and cheese
since early morning there’s a pot of veggie stock on the stove
which will go into soup and a chance to try out the new blender
Sounds perfect Laatrice!
I love this recipe, Absolutely delicious.
Thank you so much.
thanks Leonie!
Just made this soup with my husband, who loves to chop vegetables. It is fabulous. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
How Lucky are you! A husband who loves to chop…amazing!
Wonderful soup! Easy to make and delicious flavor — I didn’t even have the herbs or garlic on hand and it was still very flavorful.
For freezing the soup, would you recommend adding the herbs, spinach and sour cream after defrosting a portion? Or is it okay to freeze and reheat these ingredients?
Maybe leave the cream out?
This looks delicious! Just wondering if anyone has used sweet potatoes inside of regular potatoes? I don’t have enough regular potatoes at the moment and wondering if would still be as good (obviously a bit sweeter)?
So good!! I’m usually not a fan of celery, but everything tastes great blended together. I was also surprised by the kick that the cayenne pepper and sour cream added to the flavor profile. I loved seeing and tasting the transformation from the mixed soup to the blended form. Will definitely make again!
I will make it for sure. It sounds so good and healthy.
Easy simple and Healthy! thank you for sharing.
I made this last week adding feta cheese at the end in place of your suggestions. It was more than the sum of it’s parts. Making it again tonight. Thank you for this wonderful bowl of comfort.
thanks Karen!
Really tasty – great way to use up celery – we finished it with Greek yoghurt & parsley only (no dill on hand) and the nigella seeds with the crispy celery leaves were really fab – will definitely make this yummy soup again (a lot 😊) !!