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!
Vegan Cream of Celery Soup
Ingredients
- 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
- â…“ cup all-purpose flour, (or gluten-free if preferred)
- ½ cup raw cashews
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- 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
Featured Ingredient: Celery. 20Â ingredients, 9 Days to go! (uh oh).
Bon Appetegan,
Sam.
Patti says
I omitted the flour completely and the soup came out amazing using a Vita-mix blender. Thank you!
saskia says
I omitted the flour (read: I forgot to add it), added a zucchini since I had only 4 stalks of celery. Added some soy cream as well and it turned out great. Will make this again!
Paul says
Very delicious! It reminds me a lot of the celery soup my gramma cooked when I was sick as a child. I loved it with oyster crackers! I have a couple of small suggestions. Flour never really loses it's raw taste unless it's cooked at pretty high heat, like in a cake or in a roux. Next time I would do a kind of roux with some fat. The spicing is nice but could be just a touch more complex. I find that celery has a real affinity for a little warm spice like nutmeg or allspice, maybe even garam masala. Just a wee bit, not enough to even taste, really highlights the flavor!
Jess @ IDTLC Support says
Thanks for sharing your feedback, Paul! We love to hear how everyone adapts to their taste preferences.
Minnie says
What do the cashews do in the soup? Do they act as a thickener? Or make it creamy?
Laura R says
Yeay for fuss-free!
SOOOO Good! I only have a stick blender just now and you hadn’t mentioned using one so I was afraid I was going to have stringy, grainy soup, but it worked fabulously. Even tho I forgot to take out the bay leaf and had buzzed it before I knew. But google says they’re not poisonous just too stiff. (Fixed that )
I’ll make this often I’m sure. Thanks!
Laura R says
Update!
Last night I only had a quarter cup cashews so tried that w a quarter cup sunflower seeds (all I had around). Wasn’t as smooth or creamy but still dang delicious, and celery put to excellent use 🙂
Karin Singleton says
I just hate it when a recipe calls for 2 stalks of celery, and I am stuck with the rest of it I do not like raw celery, so I went on a hunt for a cream of celery soup recipe. I could not have been more fortunate to have stumbled on this site. I am looking forward so making it again, and I may even buy celery just to make it, rather it being an afterthought.
D. Hey says
I did make this recipe and it worked out terrific! Don't have Instagram or Twitter or Facebook accounts, so this is the only way I could let you know you had success in this kitchen too. Only thing I added was a small amount of white pepper. I don't like hot food so I only add enough to give a "presence" in my mouth. Also loved the idea of cooking the cashews with the food! We use cashew cream from time to time but with a powerblender, it works fine. Thanks for your creation!
Carissa says
This is a go- to recipe for me. I use it as half of the liquid for homemade stuffing and it imparts amazing flavor.
Laura R says
Thanks so much for telling us about the stuffing. I love celery-laden dressing and I’m going to try using the soup. Thanks!!
Lily says
Thank you for this recipe! It was delicious and I will be making this throughout winter.
Fr Peter Damian says
This soup was really delicious, and easy to make. Had to make for 20 people--the adjustments were perfect. It was truly a hit. I will make this again. Thanks, Sam.
Jackie Rhein says
Very good soup, and easy to make. I used ground thyme (not knowing there was a difference) and I thought it was great. Thank you.
Abigail @ OhMyVegan says
Such a good recipe!
I loved how creamy it was and I even made adjustments to the recipe. It still turned out so creamy and filling.
Perfect for a rainy day with a thick slice of bread.
Krista says
I made this tonight to use up extra celery I had in the fridge, and it was delicious! Thank you!
Belinda says
Tried this recipe today, first time I’ve every made or eaten celery soup. So delicious! Made it in the Instant pot and then blended in pot with stick blender. Did not add flour as soup was creamy enough for my taste. Thank you, wonderful recipe!
Susan Roman says
We made this a couple times in the spring and I was so thrilled to have found it again. This time I will print it for my favourite recipe binder. Our produce boxes tend to send a lot of celery but we would be happy to have this weekly!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful! So happy you love it, Susan!
Iain says
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.
Sam Turnbull says
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!
Iain says
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.
Doreen says
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.
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed!
David Paul Morgan says
I am happy that the cashews can provide the protein.
I too used grated potato instead of flour for thickening.
There was thyme in my 'oddbox' vegetable box this month too, so that went in 🙂
B. Valentine says
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!
Sam Turnbull says
Wonderful!
Rona Seltzer says
Hi. May I use roasted cashews with sea salt in place of raw cashews? Thanks.
Sam Turnbull says
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!
Sam Turnbull says
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.
Corrine says
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!
Sam Turnbull says
You're most welcome, Corrine 🙂
Dana says
This was absolutely delicious. I used only 2 TB flour and about 1/4 cup cashews and it was very creamy. I used No Chicken Better Than Bouillon to make the broth. I also threw in a few small carrots about 1/4 cup coconut milk. It was really so delicious.
Sam Turnbull says
Amazing!