Cream of celery soup from scratch is way better than the condensed kind from a can! Simple ingredients like butter, celery, milk, flour, and seasonings combine for a rich, creamy soup perfect for casseroles or on its own.
Growing up my family attended many potluck dinners typically held at our church after Sunday services. I loved to socialize with all my friends and of course sample each of the many desserts – after all, I was a kid and was NOT thinking about moderation or healthy real food choices!
I think I would still enjoy a church potluck… but it might have to be minus the food! And not because I am worried about my waistline, but thinking back to those potlucks, nearly every dish was a casserole.
What is so wrong with a casserole?
NOTHING. I love creamy dishes and layered bakes! But let’s be honest. The casseroles most people are serving start with canned cream of soups – Yikes!!
On our journey to eating real food, canned cream soup had to go away PERMANENTLY! And so many people think that when you toss these cans that are full of preservatives and chemicals, you have to say goodbye to casseroles.
I have good news for you.
This cream of celery soup recipe is a perfect replacement for canned condensed cream of celery soup.
You can have any casserole with cream of celery soup you desire, and it will taste a million times better. And it will only take a few extra minutes, I promise!
CREAM OF CELERY SOUP
Not only is this celery soup recipe a perfect base for all your casserole favorites, it’s also:
- Quick. This recipe comes together in just a few minutes.
- Easy. Using simple, real food ingredients with real flavor, it doesn’t get any easier.
- Versatile. Use it as a replacement for most other canned cream soups or eat it as is for a rich creamy meal.
- Better for you. Skip the additives, high sodium, and preservatives in the canned version.
- Simple to substitute. Whether you’re dairy-free, gluten free, or vegan, you can make a few simple swaps to fit with what you need.
HOMEMADE CREAM OF CELERY SOUP RECIPE INGREDIENTS
Here’s what you need for the homemade cream of celery soup recipe.
- Butter. Making a creamy celery soup is kind of like making a roux, and you need some fat to start with. Butter gives you a rich, creamy finished soup.
- Celery. You want it tiny, diced into the size of rice grains (you can use a grating disc in your food processor for this or mince it by hand). Save the celery leaves for making chicken broth!
- Flour. All-purpose flour helps to thicken the celery soup recipe.
- Seasonings: Salt + black pepper + celery salt. Celery salt is a mixture of ground celery seeds and salt. If you want a low-sodium cream of celery soup, skip the celery salt and use crushed celery seeds instead.
- Milk. The higher the percentage of fat in your milk, the thicker and creamier your creamy celery soup will turn out. I like using whole milk in mine but use whatever you have on hand. Heavy cream or dairy-free milk works too!
- Stock. I typically use Chicken Stock for my cream soup replacements, but vegetable broth works too.
Psst! If you’re going to add salt, I highly recommend Ava Jane’s Kitchen. You may think all salt is created equal, but unfortunately, 90% of the salt produced around the world contains microplastics (gross, right?). Ava Jane’s Kitchen is an exception. Their salt is 100% microplastic-free, and it’s SO GOOD! Plus, you can get a free 8oz. bag of sea salt (just pay shipping and handling!)
This recipe of celery soup can be adapted to fit your dietary needs and preferences.
- Dairy Free: Use olive oil instead of butter and dairy-free milk like Homemade Almond Milk.
- Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free flour or cornstarch instead of all-purpose flour. You’ll only need 3 Tablespoons of either instead of the full ¼ cup.
- Vegan: Use vegetable stock along with the dairy-free substitutions for a completely vegan option.
HOW TO MAKE CREAM OF CELERY SOUPS RECIPES
Step 1. Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed stock pan over medium heat. Add diced celery stalks, salt, celery salt, and pepper. Sauté until the celery begins to soften, stirring occasionally – about 5 to 7 minutes.
Step 2. Add flour to the pan and stir to coat. Cook for 1 additional minute.
Step 3. Add milk and broth, whisking to incorporate the flour into the liquid. Bring to a boil and whisk well until the mixture is quite thick – anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and enjoy it as is or use it in your favorite celery soups recipes!
If you like, you can blend the soup using an immersion blender or blender (be careful when blending hot liquids!) for a smooth and creamy celery soup.
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 4-5 days. You can also put this soup in the freezer for up to three months. I like to use these bags. Pulling a bag of cream soup from the freezer is just about as easy as pulling a can from the pantry!
This recipe makes the equivalent of one 10.5 oz can of cream of celery soup.
HOMEMADE CREAM OF CELERY RECIPES
You can use this celery soup recipe as a base in all your favorite recipes using cream of celery soup.
- Soups and Stews
- Gravies and Cream Sauces
- Casseroles like my Easy Green Bean Casserole or a tuna casserole
- Pasta like my Vegetable Pasta Primavera or my Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta Bake
- Pot Pies or Shepherd’s Pies would be great options as well!
Plus, it would be delicious served alone for lunch with a slice of Homemade Bread for dipping!
FITTING CREAM OF CELERY RECIPES INTO A REAL FOOD LIFESTYLE
Does a real foodie even eat recipes with cream of celery soup like casseroles?
Sure!
Eating real food is a lifestyle. We’re not on a diet here, folks!
What we can do is make sure that our creamy celery soup recipes and casseroles are made with real food ingredients, AND that we’re accurately tracking what we eat so that we can stay in line with our nutrition goals.
I’ve got you covered with the real food ingredients.
As for tracking, figure out what’s in your favorite casserole and what portion you’re actually eating. A free app like My Fitness Pal can help with this.
Look at the macro data – do you need to add more protein to your plate? Take a smaller serving to lower the total carbohydrates? Keep the fat where it is but fill your plate with fresh fruits and vegetables so that you actually feel satisfied with the amount of food you’re eating?
You have plenty of options for including your favorite casseroles in your real food lifestyle.
Want to learn more about macros, nutrition goals, and accurately tracking what you eat? Grab my free guide here to start achieving your real body goals by eating the foods you love.
CELERY FOR SOUP FAQS
Can I make cream of celery soup gluten-free?
Yes, this recipe is easily made gluten-free! Just swap out the all-purpose flour for gluten-free flour or cornstarch. Use 1 Tablespoon less (so just 3 Tablespoons total instead of ¼ cup). You may notice a slight difference in texture.
Is there a difference between condensed soup and cream of celery soup?
The word ‘condensed’ means it is a soup that is made with a minimal amount of liquid and generally has a thick texture. This recipe is rich and creamy but isn’t really a ‘condensed’ soup like the canned version. Consider it more of the “condensed soup plus some of the liquid you would add to it” version.
What is a good substitute for cream of celery soup?
If you are unable to use cream of celery soup, or you don’t like the taste or texture of celery for soup, you can always substitute my Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup, or my Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup. They will all taste delicious in your favorite celery soup recipes.
MORE HOMEMADE SOUP RECIPES
- Cream of Chicken Soup
- Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Red Lentil Vegetable Soup
- Homemade Tortilla Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken Detox Soup
- Chinese Noodle Soup (AKA Kung Fu Panda Soup)
- Instant Pot White Bean and Sausage Soup
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Sign up for my FREE Fight Inflation Workshop and learn simple strategies to save money, even with rising food costs!Cream of Celery Soup
Cream of celery soup from scratch is way better than the condensed kind from a can! Simple ingredients like butter, celery, milk, flour, and seasonings combine for a rich, creamy soup perfect for casseroles or on its own.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 “can” (10.5 oz) 1x
- Category: Soup & Salad
- Method: Stovetop / Whisk
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter (58g)
- ½ cup milk (125g)
- ½ cup stock (vegetable or chicken) (120g)
- ¼ cup celery, diced into size of rice grains (you can use a grating disc in your food processor for this) (25g)
- ¼ cup flour (all purpose or gluten free) (30g)
- ½ tsp salt (3g)
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp celery salt
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed stock pan over medium heat. Add the diced celery, celery salt, sea salt, and pepper. Sauté until the celery begins to soften, stirring occasionally — about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the flour to the pan and stir to coat. Cook for 1 additional minute.
- Add milk and broth, whisking to incorporate the flour into the liquid. Bring to a boil and whisk well until the mixture is quite thick – anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and enjoy it as is, or use it in your favorite recipes!
Notes
- Place in an airtight container in the refrigerator for three to four days.
- You can put this soup in the freezer for up to three months. I like to use these bags.
- This recipe of celery soup can be adapted to fit your dietary needs and preferences.
- Dairy Free: Use olive oil instead of butter and dairy-free milk like Homemade Almond Milk.
- Gluten-Free: Use gluten-free flour or cornstarch instead of all-purpose flour. You’ll only need 3 Tablespoons of either instead of the full ¼ cup.
- Vegan: Use vegetable stock along with the dairy-free substitutions for a completely vegan option.
What do you recommend for a substitute for Cream of Potato Soup?
It would depend on the recipe Anne. What are you using it for?
I don’t use anything but almond milk; no one ever knows.
Just found out my child is lactose intolerant. Can I use a something like almond or rice milk in a cream of something soup? I’m new to the whole lactose intolerant diet
Yes you can Sbb! Almond milk would likely work best in these recipes – just follow as written and substitute!
I learned to make what was called “white sauce” in Home Ec about 54 years ago. Forgot all about it until I learned to make a roux to make gravies and chili con queso (like at Casa Olé. The hubs is sensitive to a lot of seasonings and preservatives they put in the commercial cream soups. I feel like I have found a gold mine. I’m making enchilada casserole, rice and bean for Christmas Day and I’m tickled that I don’t have to buy cream soups now. Thank you so much!
You’re so welcome Cecelia!
I just found you today looking for a mushroom recipe. It looks yummy and light. I was also wondering about the flour.
Can you tell me why the Cream of Mushroom recipe only has 2 Tablespoons of flour and all the other recipes use 1/4 Cup (4 Tablespoons)?
Is there a typo?
Hello. I notice for all the other cream of soups I would need to wisk the melted butter and flour together but not for the cream of mushroom? I just want to make sure I’m doing it right. Should I follow the recipe as you have it or wisk the butter and flour together first?
How much is one can?? 10 oz?? Living in Denmark, I have no clue what qualifies as a “standard” can 😀
These look so good! And healthy! Thank you for sharing.
I am curious if anyone has tried making more and freezing? I would love to have some ready to use anytime.
Thanks! 🙂
Thank you for reminding me these soups can be made at home and we all can control what goes into it. Commercially made anything has too much salt for me.
From one crumb saver to another, thank you for sharing your cream of soup recipes. I’m delighted to find them, as I no longer buy canned soups of any kind. They all look delicious. I’ve shared this page as my Recipe of the Day on Facebook and Twitter and now follow you in my reader as well.
Thank you for the compliment Kathryn, and for following us!
great idea! the cream of mushroom looks especially good to me.
One last thing.
This will freeze as all that is in it is liquid, beans and bouillon. You can also make shelf packets, in zip bags, then put the bags in a Mason Jar. You could even use a O2 packet or vacuum it in a food saver.
Or you could use the one cup measurements, mix the bean flour and the bouillon (crush it if it’s a cube) together, measure it and then let the rest of us know how much it made. Then we could simply make any size Mason Jar full, mixed together well and then measure it out as we need it.
I keep any type of flour I’ve ground in the freezer in zip bags inside a #10 can. That way, you keep the nutrients intact longer. Once something has been ground or broken open, then the vitamins in it start to age a lot faster than when it’s kept whole.
How long do you think this would keep in my fridge? I’d like to make it ahead of time to use on thanksgiving, to avoid having a ton of things to make at once.
You could probably make this earlier in the week Jordan. Personally, I’d do it the weekend before and call it good. 🙂
I make a “cream of…soup”, but instead of a roux, I use white beans that I make into a flour – I’ve used my blender, food processor, or the best option (only because I already have one) a wheat grinder or spice grinder (for small amounts). And it only takes minutes to make. Basically, you bring your liquid to a boil, add in the bean flour, cook for 3-5 minutes, and it’s done. If you’ve used a blender/food processor, you’ll want to then reblend the soup to make it more creamy as sometimes, those two methods don’t grind the beans into a good flour, so the second blending gets the little pieces that didn’t break up, broken up.
So this soup would then be gluten-free/grain free. And if you don’t use milk in it, it’s Milk free.
You can use water with bouillon, veggie, chicken or beef stock, milk, tomato juice, etc.
You can also just use some canned veggies, bring to a boil, add the bean flour, cook, then puree (or leave whole) and have a quick soup. Some canned meat (I have chicken and ham that I’ve pressure canned) or left-over meat can also be added.
Pretty much instant soup and in the quantities you need.
OH, and if you grind pinto beans, you can have “refried” beans in 3 minutes – with out added fat if you don’t want any fat. (Bacon grease…mmmmmmm – hey, don’t judge me, I’m from the south!) And the ground pinto flour can also be used to make brownies that do NOT taste like beans!
Chickpeas would probably work for hummus, and black beans for black bean dip.
I lost about 15 years of My Documents 6 months ago, so ALL of my back ups, recipes, etc are gone. I’m moving soon and my bean book is packed up. (thankfully, I’m only moving about 1/2 mile from where I am, but it’s a bigger apt.) Look on my blog as I think I placed the recipes for instant bean “cream of…” on it.
I’m very excited to try these recipes, especially since they don’t contain a huge amount of sodium! Just like other readers, I’d really like to freeze these recipes. Have you tried this? I’m not sure how to make a large batch with a roux.
I made the cream of chicken tonight for my Chicken Tortilla Soup that calls for 2 cans canned soup. It was so good! Super easy and tasty. Will not use canned cream of chicken ever again! Thanks 🙂
I love the look of these recipes. I really miss cream of mushroom soup since going gluten-free as I haven’t managed to find a GF equivalent, and although I’ve found a GF cream of chicken, it’s a bit expensive. If I make up batches of these, can I freeze them to either defrost and cook to eat just as the soup itself, or to defrost and use in other recipes?
I make mushrooms soup without roux and it works just fine… I use a ton of mushrooms, so that gives it a nice thickness. Good luck!
Do you ever make huge batches and freeze in “can” portions in Ziplocks?
I’m going to try freezing some in big protions. i think it’d be just fine 🙂 it’s even worth preserving 🙂 it uses less freezer space, and in case of a power outage, then there is less food waste 😀 just get some mason jars, or a canner 🙂
I use pint-sized jars, and can it. (PRESSURE CANNER! No shortcuts; they can kill you.) To make it, I put cooked diced chicken, or celery, or cheese, diced butternut (delicious!) and a bit of black pepper. To make mushroom cream soup, I use mushrooms that are either already canned, or I pre-can them, because they’re tricky, and botulism is a horrible way to die.
So what you do is make the cream base above, then in a sterilized standard mouth jar (wide doesn’t seal as well, and isn’t as safe) I put 1/2 cup of diced chicken or whatever I’m making, and fill the jar according to the Ball Blue Book. We’re at high altitude here, so I’m not really paranoid, I’m just careful.
Canning of thickened product by any method is NOT recommended by either USDA or Ball. All of their canned soup recipes are “chunky” veg and proteins in a thin broth. Blending, adding flour and cream, etc to turn into a “cream of” all happens AFTER storage and opening – i.e. just before serving.
Yes! What you said.
AM I understanding correctly that you can the recipe with milk and broth and butter?
Please don’t can this unless you can find an approved version from the National Centre for Home Preservation or other reputable source. People think you can can anything you find a recipe for. Not so. You can make people violently ill or, worse, kill them. It’s not worth the risk. Even if your Grandmother or best friend did it. It’s like playing Russian Roulette. This one might be OK and the next one deadly. Please don’t do it.
This is when you need a dehydrator or freeze dryer, which will work with thickened recipes.
Yes!! We got a freeze dryer last year… it’s awesome!! I can put almost anything in it (except pesto/ high oil content), and it preserves beautifully. Seems expensive, but totally paid for itself the first year. We have a harvest right.
I’ve been making homemade cream of soup for ages! (I actually started when I ran out of canned soup and needed some NOW! After realizing how easy they were to make I haven’t bought a single can since!)
I’ve not had a lot of luck with creamed cheese soup, though, so I’m excited to try your version!
Thank you!
This is great! I can make these with gluten-free flour, which will be so helpful for us! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
You bet. I have made them with a gluten-free flour mix before and it does work. I would add slightly less (by a tablespoon of the gf flour) Now you can enjoy those creamy dishes gluten-free and preservative free!
Thanks for GF modification. We are adding a Dtr in law to family who is GF so needing to revamp our recipes. Thanks for the help so we can make her feel 100% welcome.