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
My whole family loves this soup! Such simple ingredients make a delicious soup. I didn’t even have to shop for anything since these are all pantry staples. The only change I made was I used whole milk instead of cream since that’s what I had on hand.
Fantastic soup! Small changes I made for the second time: I added the celery at the same time with the onions, giving more time for the celery to break down, and to add more depth of flavor in the soup. I also crushed the garlic, rendered that for 30 seconds until fragrant, then added the potatoes and broth. Otherwise, I kept the steps the same, and boy is it amazing!
Recipe followed to the letter. Soup was delightful. Will go easy on the cayenne pepper next time. Delicious even with the hot kick. Thank you. I look forward to trying your other recipes. Jim McMillan. (Glasgow)
This was great. My celery wasn’t that fresh but it still came out really well. I wanted to make it a little healthier so instead of potatoes I used white beans, which came out great. I also used dried dill instead of fresh, because that’s all I could find, and added fresh parsley at the end for color. I used lemon juice and heavy cream instead of sour cream. I hope to make this recipe again with fresher celery, sour cream, and fresh dill for the true experience. I’ll keep the white beans though 😉
Glad you enjoyed and improvised!
I had a lot of celery going bad and googled recipes to salvage it. This soup did not disappoint! I was honestly shocked it was so good! I was able to puree in my glass blender (removed the top center piece) about 1/3 way full and it worked just fine. Topped with sour cream and it was delicious. Thanks so much for a great recipe. Celery will go bad no longer!
I liked the soup much better without the dairy and dill. I think those two ingredients ruined the taste by making it tangy.
This simple soup was amazingly good!
This was so much better than I thought. I’ve been eating a lot of celery lately bc I had a wrong grocery order delivered and it was all celery. I used a whole stalk, a whole russet potato and quite a bit cayenne since I like things spicy. I cut this recipe in half and I was able to fit it into my 72 oz Ninja easily. Filled up about half way. I blended on a low setting and it was grainy still so I blended it on the highest level for a few minutes and it came out so creamy and smooth. The browned leaves were a little too much for me but everything else was perfect.
Hi Sylvia! This recipe is delicious as is. But, have you tried making this without stock/broth and just using all water?
I haven’t!
Simply spectacular.
This looks delicious – and easy. Can I replace the potatoes with turnips or something else to make it keto-friendly?
Give it a try!
I’ve never been a big fan of celery. Hated it as a child. But this recipe is sooo delicious and hearty that I think I might have to reconsider my relationship with it. 10/10
It wasn’t bad. I made a double batch and only added 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and it was still pretty spicy. I guess I like more textures in my soup instead of pureed so I added more diced potatoes, carrots and ham to the puree and it was much better for my liking.
I’ve made this a couple of times and it’s wonderful. My hubby loves celery, so he gets extra happy when I make this.
This is wonderful! I added Greek yogurt and topped with goat cheese. So yummy and satisfying.
Easiest, most delicious vegan soup I’ve ever made. Thanks again!
Love it! Having it with garlic bread. Yummy
Tastes good! The texture is still a bit grainy for me. I also did not have fresh dill which may be the thing that gives it the pretty green color. Mine came out an unfortunate greyish green which is unappetizing. Nonetheless, an excellent way to use a lot of celery at once.
Blending in the fresh dill and parsley really gives it a burst of color.
I made the celery soup and it was delicious! I added goat cheese instead of the sour cream or heavy cream and it added a very nice tang to it. Will make this again. Thanks for all your creativity!
A fabulous healthy and tasty recipe quick and easy with a multitude of options to fit the kitchen stocks a weight loss program and even a ‘blow out ‘ as a treat !!
Really I’m just tired of recipes that erroneously under estimate prep time and cook time. I won’t use a recipe again once I realize I’ve been duped.
Oh dear. I’m sorry it took longer than it suggested.
Delicious and very nutritious! Will be making often 😋
Rosina
We found this soup to be delicious! Got extra celery in my produce box and I’ll order extra again just to make this. I had Nigella seeds and used them in the garnish: yummy. I added a little extra salt.
Delicious! Followed the recipe exactly as is. I love the vibrant green colour the parsley and handful of spinach add to this. Thank you for this recipe.
Absolutely amazing. Thank you. I’m eating a bowl of this right now.