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
This looks so good! Do you think you could sub white beans for the potatoes?
Hi- give it a try! I havent tried personally but don’t see why not?
This soup ia ah-mazing! Have made a couple times already. I subbed cauliflower for the potato. Yum!!!!!
THanks so much Susan!!!
It would be useful to see notes included on whether this dish can be frozen. I’m about to cook it tonight and have excess celery and wanted to make bulk and freeze.
I think it would freeze well with out adding the sourcream. It can get granular. Perhaps you could add that when you thaw it the next time.
It was so good I have sent it to all my friends and family who like to cook.
Will make again. Very flavorful. Didn’t have enough celery but worked with what I had on hand and it still turned out great. Had to modify a few other ingredients too – since I was short on celery I didn’t add the extra water; used peeled red potatoes; added a small amount of cumin and ground thyme. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing recipe !! I had a big bunch of celery to use up and celery soup sounded strange at first …but it’s solo delicious. Thanks for sharing.
This is such a beautiful recipe!! Have made it several time, thanks for sharing.
Curious how you retain the vibrant green color… I tend to end up with a pale looking soup, delicious, nonetheless.
Adding the fresh herbs help to bump up the color – just don’t overheat them.
Cooking this for the 3rd time, this has fast become a favourite. I love the heat of the cayenne pepper but agree less is more so add half amount first and increase to taste. The nigella seeds really finish it for me and look wonderful.
This soup was delicious! I usually don’t enjoy cooked celery but this soup was flavourful with the perfect mild but noticeable celery flavour. Now I know exactly what to do with the excessive celery I seem to always have in the fridge!
Seriously delicious soup… very flavoursome. Thank you!
Nice
Outstanding! I did increase the liquid and when done used my immersion blender. But to make it even smoother, I put it in the blender on “liquefy”… becomes just like a bisque, perfect!
Very tasty, Very simple. Thanks
It was easy to make and fast to cook. It tasted bland so I added more salt and a big fat squeeze of lemon at the end. It IS celery after all so I didn’t expect bold flavors. I wish I would have added a Parmesan rind to it.
Hummmm- not sure why? Strange.
Everything about this recipe is over the top spectacular. Way to go Sylvia!
I’d leave out the cayenne pepper. Even an eighth of a teaspoon makes it very spicy hot which is not what you usually expect in celery soup.
You know… I’m wondering if some brands are spicier than others?
Cayenne becomes less potent as it ages. Since people use so little, it can be sitting around for a long time. I keep mine in the freezer to preserve its spiciness.
The Cheyenne was too much ,I am sorry I added it
I have never made celery soup before and this recipe was delicious. I used a mandolin to slice the celery as thin as possible and peeled some of the outer stalks so they wouldn’t be too fibrous. I used a scant 1/8 tsp. of cayenne pepper which was just enough spice for me. I used heavy cream because I had some that was expiring but next time will try the cashews.
Perfect – thanks so much for the comment Jeanne!
This soup is absolutely delicious. I tried it out because I had loads of celery and didn’t want to throw it away.
I am a bit of a neophilia so this “35” minute jewel took me over 2 hours!…next time I’m sure I’ll be quicker.
Thank you for sharing this; thanks for the clear, detailed instructions and video. You make it impossible to fail.
Glad you enjoyed.
I am currently receiving chemo. And this is one of the few things that I am able to eat that doesn’t cause much pain. It’s a blessing. Thank you.
I’m glad to hear its soothing you during this difficult time. Big love and hugs to you Dee.
I want to make this lovely soup and wondering if I could use my slow cooker to make it? Thank you in advance.
I think so?
Sounds delicious! I’m wondering though if you are using the ‘regular’ celery or celery root/ bulb?
REgular celery. Instead of potato, you could use celery root ( celeriac)
Thank you for this amazing dairy free option! I didn’t have dill but tossed in a bit more Italian parsley and freeze dried scallion st the end and I LOVE it! Not only is this healthy and delicious but it’s hard to mess up and a flexible base, which I really appreciate.
Delicious, soul-warming recipe. I was happy to be able to use fresh ingredients from my garden to complement the celery we had on-hand. One of our children cannot stop eating it, and she really appreciates the vegan version with cashews. Thank you!
I just made this and it’s lovely! Call it user error – I got a little overzealous/overconfident/lazy when adding the cayenne and I used way too much! I haven’t yet added sour cream so I think that will help cool it down. Are there other ways to tone down the spice besides the cream? Thanks!
Amazing! I had no idea a soup with mostly celery could be so savory and delicious. I used sweet potatoes and threw everything in the instant pot for 10 minutes after sautéing the onion. Added 1/2 cup cashews to the pot (no other cream or yogurt needed), and a dash of cinnamon at the end.