This easy recipe for Creamy Celery Soup has no cream, making it a low-fat, vegan version of cream of celery soup that’s healthy & delicious.
Serve this delicious recipe with Homemade Garlic Bread for a simple comforting meal.
A Thick, Creamy Celery Soup that’s Healthy and Delicious
Now that the weather is cooling down, it’s time to spend more time in the kitchen! When the weather gets cooler, I want comfort food, and I crave soups in particular!
This phenomenal recipe is a healthy vegetable soup that’s silky, thick and creamy, just like when it’s made the traditional way, but this soup has 90% fewer calories!
To cut calories, I’ve found a way to make beautiful creamy soups that don’t have a bit of cream. The trick – adding a potato which adds to bulk as well as adding a creamy constancy.
Why this recipe works:
- Using large quantities of celery that cooks it in stock with a touch of garlic, makes a soup that is full of flavor without the need of complicated ingredients.
- The use of potato to thicken the soup gives it more body and silky consistency.
- Pureeing the soup with the potato results in a creamy soup without the added fat.
This one is my go-to recipe when I’m craving soup I love how quick it comes together. The only tedious part is chopping up the celery, garlic, onions and peeling one or two potatoes. It’s really is simple to make.
Choosing the Best Celery for Celery Soup
- Choose light-colored, crisp celery with firm, tightly packed stalks.
- Always buy celery with the leaves still attached. The leaves are packed with flavor.
- Celery leaves should be should be a bright, pale green color. They should also be firm, not wilted or browning.
This is a lovely soup. I have friends that absolutely love it even though they don’t normally like celery.
How to make Creamy Celery Soup:
Start with cutting the celery into roughly the same-sized pieces, about an inch – 1.5 inches, don’t worry about precision as the soup is going to be puréed anyway. You just want it to cook evenly. 
In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat.
Add the onion and cook until soft.
Add the garlic and cook another minute.
Add the celery.
Pour in the stock.
Add the salt, pepper, potato, and parsley.
Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.
Cover and lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the celery and potatoes are soft enough that they can be easily pureed (But don’t let them get mushy).
Remove the soup from heat and remove enough stock so that the celery just covered by the remaining stock. Set the reserved stock aside.
Then Remove some of the chopped celery and set aside.
This will be added back into the soup to give it some texture.
Purée the soup with a stick blender in the pot adding the reserved stock little by little until the soup reaches the desired consistency.
If you don’t have a stick blender a food processor or blender would work too.
Add the reserved celery, mix to combine, serve hot and enjoy!
Other Soup Recipes You’ll Love
- Pasta Fagoli
- Potato Leek Soup
- Homemade Lentil Soup
- Yellow Split Pea and Bacon Soup
- Split Pea and Ham Soup
Want something a little different? Try this Best Ever Tom Kha Gai Soup recipe from 40 Aprons
Celery Nutrition Facts
Celery is mostly made up of water (about 95%), making it very low in calories, carbohydrates and fat, but not terribly high in many vitamins or minerals. Celery is a good source of Vitamin K (one cup contains 30% of the daily recommended value of the US FDA).
Celery is a good source of potassium, molybdenum folate and fiber. It also contains small amounts of vitamins A, C, and some B vitamins.
Cook’s Tips:
- To avoid stringy celery, use the more tender celery stalks that are closer to the middle of the head. Lighter colored celery is less likely to have though strings.
- To test if your celery is stringy (which for some can be unpleasant), before cutting the celery, break it in half by hand. If you see the strings sticking out of the break (see photo above), peel the celery to remove the strings.
- To remove the strings from the celery, clean and peel the back of the stalk with a vegetable peeler (for more detailed instructions, you can see this video on YouTube) or just by snapping your celery into sections and pulling out the exposed, stringy ribs.
- Want a low carb variation? Replace the potato with cauliflower. I’ve done it and it works really well.
I truly adore this recipe and would just love to know what you think if you try it. 🙂 And I’d love to know what YOUR low-fat secrets are for healthy eating!
Do you have a secret ingredient or technique? Please share in the comments section below!
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Let's Make Creamy Celery Soup
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
- 2 lbs fresh celery cleaned and chopped (see post for removing strings)
- 1 qt chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 lb potatoes peeled the potato and cut it into quarters
- a good handful of fresh parsley roughly chopped, including stems
- salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Chop the celery into roughly the same-sized pieces, about an inch - 1.5 inches, Don't worry about precision as the soup is going to be puréed anyway. You just want it to cook evenly.
- In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft.
- Add the garlic and cook another minute before adding the celery, stock, potato, and parsley. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.
- Cover, lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the celery and potatoes are soft enough that they can easily be pureed (But don't let them get too mushy).
- Remove the soup from heat. If necessary, using a ladle, remove enough stock so that the celery is just covered. Set any reserved stock aside.
- Remove some of the chopped celery with a slotted spoon (1-2 spoonfuls) and set aside.
- Purée the soup with a stick blender in the pot - adding the reserved stock little by little until the soup reaches the desired consistency.
- Add the reserved celery, mix to combine and serve hot.
Tips + Notes
- If you don't have a stick blender, a food processor or blender would work just as well to puree the soup.
- To avoid stringy celery, use the more tender celery stalks that are closer to the middle of the head. Lighter colored celery is less likely to have though strings.
- To test if your celery is stringy (which for some can be unpleasant), before cutting the celery, break it in half by hand. If you see the strings sticking out of the break (see photo above), peel the celery to remove the strings.
- To remove the strings from the celery, clean and peel the back of the stalk with a vegetable peeler (for more detailed instructions, you can see this video on YouTube) or just by snapping your celery into sections and pulling out the exposed, stringy ribs.
Nutrition Information:
Update Notes: This recipe was originally posted in 2014 but published again in 2018 to include step by step directions, nutritional information, new photos, and a video.
Alison Dent says
I tried this receipe & had a few almonds left over from Christmas so added these, it was delicous. Alas !the only problem was that I forgot to weigh the nuts so will struggle to get exact taste & texture again.
Erren's Kitchen says
What a great idea! I hope next time you make it, it’s the same 🙂
SD says
Delicious. I too added a can of white beans and a bit more liquid to make a hardier dinner..
Erren's Kitchen says
That sounds delicious, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Plant based cook says
This is a tasty soup, and I’ll definitely be making it again as I always find myself with too much celery that is going bad. However, I would make it with 1/2 the amount of vegetable broth (other half water), or a low sodium broth. I found it to be very salty and had to add more potato to cut the salt.
Erren Hart says
This is why I always say salt to taste. I’m so glad you found a way to make it work for you!
Danielle says
Hi! I absolutely love this soup! And I NEVER end up using all of the celery I buy so it definitely comes in handy. Question though, I’ve recently started counting calories and I’m wondering how big the serving size is…I’m assuming 1 cup, but can’t be sure. I have the soup frozen in quart containers so I can’t really figure out an 8th of the recipe. Thank you!!!
Erren Hart says
Hi Danielle, it’s hard to say as it depends on how much liquid is removed before you puree, but about a cup. Glad you like the recipe. It’s a favorite of mine!
Olga says
Made it – loved it! It’s in our regular rotaion, a light, warming soup.
Erren's Kitchen says
I’m so glad you liked it Olga 🙂