My mom: “We have too much celery, do something with it.”
Me: “Like what?”
My mom: “Cream of celery soup.”
Me: “Ewww.”
Time passes…
My mom: “Ohmygoodness this is so yummy. Omnomnomnom.”
Me: “Ohmygoodness this is so yummy. Omnomnomnom.”
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The lessons learned.
- This is exactly what you should do when you have celery that needs to be used up.
- Classic recipes are classics for a reason.
- My version takes the classic flavours and kicks it up a notch by making it a vegan one pot wonder.
When pondering how to make a celery soup actually interesting, I knew that adding cashew cream, was a very good idea. I mean cashew cream, yum. Instead of making the cashew cream separately, I decided, hey, why not make it right in the same pot!
In this recipe you simmer the cashews right along with the rest of the soup. This makes them very soft (the same result as soaking cashews). Then when you blend the soup up, the cashews blend right along with it making cream right in the soup. Insta-creamy soup! I feel so clever right now.
The result is a soup that tastes insanely good. Full of delicious celery flavour, velvety, deeply flavoured, and totally scrumptious. Enjoy as an appetizer, or make it into a meal by serving with a crusty baguette.
This recipe is so quick and easy. Just take your celery and onion and chop them up. Then mince the garlic.
Heat olive oil in a big pot then sauté the celery, onions, and garlic for about 5 to 10 minutes until translucent.
Pour in the vegetable broth and water, then slowly pour in the flour as you whisk, to help avoid lumps. Now toss in the bay leaf, thyme, and raw cashews. Yep, just toss those raw cashews straight in the pot. Now let that simmer for about 15 minutes until the cashews are very soft. Blend it all up, and enjoy your soup!
One pot Vegan Cream of Celery Soup! Simmer the cashews right along with the rest of the soup. This makes them very soft (the same result as soaking cashews). Then when you blend the soup up, the cashews blend right along with it making cream right in the soup. Insta-creamy soup!
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 L vegetable broth (4 cups)
- 1 cup water
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten-free if preferred)
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the celery, onion, and garlic and sauté for about 5 minutes until the celery and onion begin to soften and look translucent.
Add in the vegetable broth and water then sprinkle in the flour while whisking to avoid any lumps. Add in the raw cashews, bay leaf, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes until the cashews are very soft.
Remove the bay leaf, then blend in small batches, being careful not to fill your blender too high so it doesn't erupt. If you don't have a high powered blender such as a Blendtec, make sure to blend very well so that the cashews are completely blended. Return to the pot to heat or serve directly from the blender. Season with salt and pepper if desired and garnish with some celery leaves.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
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Featured Ingredient: Celery. 20 ingredients, 9 Days to go! (uh oh).
Bon Appetegan,
Sam.
Easy to make, well written instructions and fairly easy to tweak to my liking, but way too thyme for my liking. The taste was so overwhelming that it drowned out every other ingredient.
Are you sure that you used dried thyme leaves and not ground thyme? Ground thyme is much more concentrated so you would need way less. Enjoy!
I used my own home grown thyme that I dried.
It is much more flavorful than store bought, so I usually use less than recipes suggest (as I did here) but it totally overwhelmed everything.
I’ll try it again next week and halve the the amount.. or try store bought.
I had to use up some extra celery and decided to give this recipe a shot. My husband and I were both scared of how it would end up, but we were pleasantly surprised. This soup was delicious. I used half a boiled potato instead of flour. I pureed the potato with the other stuff and it turned out great. Also added some tofu for protein.
So happy you enjoyed!
Made this for dinner last night and hubby and I loved it! Replaced cashews with walnuts..and flour with brown rice flour to make it gluten free. I used slightly less water just because I like it thick! It was rich and irresistible! This will make a reappearance in my household!
Wonderful!
Hi. May I use roasted cashews with sea salt in place of raw cashews? Thanks.
Roasted cashews are drier and so they might not blend as well but should still work ok. You just might have some cashew bits in your soup. Enjoy!
Regarding the Vegan Cream of celery soup recipe, the Nutrition panel shows 703mg of sodium. Is this per serving or for the whole batch?
That’s per serving, there are 6 servings in the recipe. Of course, the sodium would change based on the vegetable broth you use and how much salt you add.
Oh My Gosh! Delish and absolutely fuss-free. I was overrun with celery and onions from my Misfits Market deliveries and figured I would give this a shot (since Sam’s recipes always hit the mark). WOW! Who knew celery could be this yummy!!! I guarantee your non-vegan friends and family will be clueless that this is dairy free.
Also, I saved a step and blitzed this up in the soup pot with a stick blender. Definitely a keeper!! Thanks, Sam!
You’re most welcome, Corrine 🙂
I love this soup! My boyfriend requested it tonight but I’m out of cashews. I do have cashew butter! Do you think this might work as a decent replacement? Should I boil it with the celery or add it in before blending? Thank you!
Cashew butter will be a bit greasier and give a different result but I bet it will still taste yummy. I don’t think it would matter too much when you add it, so just whisk it in and enjoy!
Well, this is my favorite soup from now on. I love celery and it is lovely to have always on hand a bowl of this soup, and yes, I have made it with potato flour!!! Thank you!!!
So happy it’s your new fave, Maria 🙂
I was wondering if potato flour instead of wheat (I’m allergic to this) flour would work, thanks
I haven’t tried it, but I imagine it should work ok. Enjoy!
This was so good! Like other commenters, I made a few small tweaks. Instead of cashews, I used a can of cannellini beans, And skipped the oil entirely. I cannot wait to try this with other vegetables. I feel like asparagus ends would lend themselves well to this recipe in place of the celery.
So happy you enjoyed it, Mira 🙂
I can vouch for the asparagus ends. I had a head of celery that was getting wilted, and a bunch of asparagus in the fridge. So, I trimmed up the tough ends from the asperagus and tossed them into the pot.with the celery – yummy. They do add a bit of texture even after a trip through the vitamix, but the resulting soup is delish! Oh yeah, and this time, I tossed in a bit of almond puree that I had in the fridge instead of cashews and threw in a few new potatoes to replace the flour. Soooo tasty!
I made this last week, and it was so delicious!! Today, I decided to make it again, but with broccoli instead of celery. Equally as delicious!! What a great recipe 🙂
Wonderful idea, thrilled you loved it so much, Susan 🙂
I used a lot of white pepper and added nutrition yeast for flavor and half a block of soft tofu to kick up the protein content and add more creaminess. I used my awesome new immersion blender and it was AMAZING. Thank you for the recipe. #veganforlife
You’re most welcome, Brandie! Thrilled you enjoyed it 🙂
Celery soup doesn’t get any simpler or any better than this! Thank you for this perfect recipe. We love it!
Wonderful! Thrilled ou enjoyed it, Sherri 🙂
Hey! I’ve made this a bunch of times, sometimes subbing butternut squash for the celery, and I love it. I add some soy cream to make it even creamier. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!
You’re most welcome, Natalie 🙂
Love this soup. We made a change and used a potato rather than the flour. Works great and wheat free then.
Wonderful!! Thrilled you enjoyed it so much, Kurt 🙂
I really need a vegan cream of celery soup to replace in a recipe calling for the canned stuff! Obviously, the canned stuff is more concentrated – I’m wondering how much of the broth/water to leave out of this recipe to come up with a condensed version that is similar to the cans?
I’m not sure as I haven’t tried it myself, I would skip the water and add vegetable broth as needed. Enjoy!
This recipe is so good ! It was the first time I made and taste cream of celery and I love it ! I will make this recipe again because it’s such a good way to use old celery and not waste it.
So happy you enjoyed!
Thanks for the recipe. I’ve just finished a bowl and I’m feeling very satisfied. I also threw in a couple of carrots, zucchini; omitted flour. Oh, and served it with a couple of spoons of n. yeast. Yum. Hi from Down Under.
Hi Moni! Thrilled you enjoyed it 🙂
I am not a vegan but I absolutely loved this recipe. Also provision for gluten free….Good on you.
So happy you enjoyed it, Val!
Great recipe ! Thank you. I skipped flour and it still turned out quite creamy. I do have a soy creamer on stand by for extra creamy effect. Overall great, easy and healthy recipe ! Cheers
So happy you enjoyed, Irenka 🙂
I first found your recipes on Pinterest. Then I followed your blog and bought your cookbook. I love everything I’ve made so far!
I just made this soup. My non-vegan fam loved it! I used pumpkin seeds instead of cashews, as we have nut allergies in our house. It turned out great!
Haha, wonderful! Thrilled you are enjoying everything, Amy, and I hope you love to cookbook too 🙂
I have made this exactly as is and also with broccoli in place of the celery and BOTH were amazing! Great recipe and definitley kid-approved. Your recipes are always a hit in my house. Thank you!
Aww that’s wonderful, so happy to hear that, Jessica 😉
The soup turned out very good, I’ll never let celery go bad again. Next time I’ll use a lighter broth, my veggie broth was dark and strong flavored. I mixed the water and flour in a jar and added it after the soup was bubbling otherwise followed the recipe. I was also very pleased that my inexpensive Sunbeam blender made it all creamy and smooth. Now I need to find more recipes to use up some of this celery soup! I put half in the freezer. Thank you!
So happy you enjoyed it, Jan 🙂
Loved it! Thank you! Made as written except subbed leftover brown rice for the flour. (Also my vegan bouillon is very strong flavored so I used less stock and more water — I was really glad I didn’t overwhelm the nice celery flavor). The thyme was lovely in it! My husband already ate dinner, but he wanted to try it anyway and then came back for more 🙂
Wonderful! Thrilled you loved it so much 🙂
This looks delicious! I’m just wondering if soaked blanched almonds would work in place of the cashews as I can’t eat cashews.
Thank you!
Yes, they should work wonderfully. Enjoy!
Delicious! I made it with a small yellow potato instead of flour and a shallot in lieu of garlic. Even my picky meat-eater husband liked it.
Awesome!
Can you freeze it? I’m single so it won’t all be eaten at once.
Yes, it should freeze well. Enjoy!
Oh why did I see this now? I have HOURS til home time and all i can think about is the soup! I’ve used a recipe like this but mushrooms instead of celery and it was amazing. The cashew trick is the best vegan trick ever I think!
Hahaha, thanks so much, Amy! I hope you love the soup 🙂
Made it last night. Was an absolute smash hit with everyone – including friends who popped over. Definitely going to be a high rotation recipe. Thanks!
Woohoo!! So happy it was enjoyed, Amy 🙂
I just made this soup and it is amazing! It is one of the best soups that I have ever made! I sauteed the vegetables in one cup of the vegetable broth instead of the oil. I substituted a large potato for the flour. I added a few stocks of chopped celery after blending.
Yay! So happy you loved it so much, Jan 🙂
I am excited to try this recipe! I have a bunch of organic celery that I want to use. I also have some carrots I would like to add. Can you recommend how/when to add them? I’m pretty new to cooking in general, so even though adding veggies is basic, I’m not sure if I need to saute the carrots first or if I can put raw slices into the soup as I cook it… Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!!
Hi Alissa,
I actually wouldn’t recommend adding carrots as the green celery and orange carrots will cause the soup to be a really unappetizing colour! I always recommend for new cooks to follow the recipe as written for best results. Hope that helps!
Thanks! I didn’t think of that haha. I made the recipe as is and it came out very nicely! I will use my carrots for something else ;-).
Oh my! That was delicious! You are a GENIUS – the cashew thing is amazing!
My variations were to add the greens of the celery too (I love greens and it kills me to throw them away) and the potato instead of flour as mentioned in the comments above.
My husbnad – who doesn’t like celery – is licking his second bowl clean.:
Woohoo! So happy you and your husband loved it so much, Lorraine. Hahaha! Love that story 🙂
Are the cashews essential? We have a serious nut allergy in our house and being new to vegan cooking I’m not sure what seeds can be substituted for cashews in recipes.
The cashews are what make the cream part of the soup. You could skip them and instead stir in some coconut milk and it should turn out delicious! Enjoy!
I haven’t tried this recipe yet (though it’s very likely to be made tonight!), but in the past I’ve been able to substitute raw sunflower seeds for cashews or other nuts. It doesn’t work well for us to replace the cashews in Sam’s amazing gooey mozzarella recipe but it’s worked well for everything else! I’ll let you know how it goes with sunflower seeds later tonight hopefully!
This soup is divine. New to vegan cooking, I do usually feel quite daunted but this was just so easy and it tastes amazing. Like some previous posters, I added a bit of potato and used a little millet flour to thicken. Lovely. Thanks this will become a culinary staple in our house.
Yay! So happy you enjoyed it so much, Susan 🙂 Welcome to cooking vegan!
This soup was a hit! Thank you! Can’t believe it was vegan!!!- creamy without the use of soy products
Some mods for added nutrition: I added potato instead of flour, plus white veggies:mushroom, parsnips and fried mushrooms and asparagus as solid floaty bits
So happy you enjoyed it so much, Wakki! 😀
how much potato (and what kind) to sub out for flour? would be interested in doing that. thanks!
Hi Beth, I think I used about two large Yellow/White potatoes. I didn’t write it down! Damn! Sorry about that.
Delicious! Creamy! Dairy-free goodness! Made this for dinner last night, and it was super yummy! Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
Woohoo! So very happy you loved it Laura 🙂
Just made this soup for dinner tonight – it turned out great! We’re gluten free here, and I didn’t feel like using gf flour, so I threw in a bit of cooked quinoa after all the other ingredients were blended. I’ll definitely make this soup again – thanks for the recipe!
Great idea! So happy you loved it Tara 🙂
Great soup!
I just made this and it’s very nice indeed! The only thing I think I will change next time is to add the flour when frying the veg as you need to cook it out a bit.
That said it is still very nice and thank you for sharing.
So happy you enjoyed it Jezza! 😀
Because I try to avoid using flour, I instead chopped up and added six small new potatoes and it awesome. Cheers!
That’s perfect! So happy you loved the recipe Ezra 🙂
I don’t even like celery, but this soup was delicious! Thank you! 🙂
Right!? Surprisingly delicious for me as well. I am so happy you liked it Marianne 🙂
This soup was amazing! Thanks for creating and sharing all those awesome recipes 🙂
Yay! You are most welcome, it is absolutely my pleasure. 🙂
What an amazingly easy, tasty and nutritious soup !
Brilliant recipie and now my favourite soup!!
Awww thanks Pritesh! So very happy you found your new favourite soup!
This looks delish! I have a fairly large celery harvest (ooooops) and need to make batches of something. Can this soup be frozen? If so, I can probably make at least 6 recipes of this. Let me know what you think.
So, I went ahead and made a triple batch. This soup is absolutely amazing and so simple to make! It is my new favorite soup. It was very flavorful and the balance of savory to salt is perfect.. I used my own homemade veg broth which is really intense and probably added to the overall finished taste of this. Thank you!
Oh yay!!!! So happy you love the recipe so much Karen! Homemade veg broth would absolutely make it even better! So glad you found your new favourite 🙂
Hi Karen,
I would think this soup could be frozen no problem at all! 6 batches! Wow! You really do have a lot of celery! Enjoy 🙂
Well that was an incredibly easy and tasty recipe! Thanks Sam. You are becoming one of my favourite cookbooks!! 🙂 I actually used the entire bunch of celery – it was a small bunch and when I cut the six stalks, I wondered what I’d do with the rest of the celery – so I just cut it up and added it too. Also, I made this early in the day; when cooking was done, I let it sit for a couple hours so the cashews would soften further… so I could use my hand-blender and keep it all in one pot. Super simple. Hubby and 23 month old daughter loved it.
Oh, and since I’m whisking-challenged… I just added the water and flour into a jar and shook it until mixed well, then poured into the pot.
Haha, perfect!
Yay! I love that you were able to use up your whole bunch of celery and that the hand blender worked well. Great tip! I’m even happier that I am becoming one of your favourite cookbooks! 😀
What can I say?
I like! This has left me speechless; so simple, (sounds) yummy indeed.
Thank you Sam!
Haha, sounds like a pretty good thing to say to me!!
That looks delicious, and I’ll definitely try it out!!
Thank you Michelle, I hope you enjoy the soup. 😀
I love this! Celery is one of my favorite foods to add to soups, I can’t believe I never thought to make soup out of it. Your mom is a genius! 🙂
Isn’t she? I thought it was a terrible idea, but man did it turn out great! Such a handy recipe for me as I always have celery getting old in the fridge.