Celery is one of those humble vegetables we often overlook, but it’s a true kitchen staple offering much more than crunch. Whether you’re sipping it in a juice, sautéing it for a soup base, or chopping it into a fresh salad, celery brings flavor, nutrients, and versatility to your meals.
Why You’ll Love Cooking with Celery
- It’s packed with vitamins and minerals like vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium, and folate.
- Low in calories and high in water content, making it a hydrating and healthy snack.
- Adds a fresh, herbal flavor and satisfying crunch to a wide range of dishes.
- Budget-friendly and widely available year-round.
Health Benefits of Celery
- Supports digestion: Celery is full of insoluble fiber, which promotes regularity and gut health.
- Hydrating: With more than 90% water content, celery helps keep you hydrated.
- Anti-inflammatory properties: Rich in antioxidants and plant compounds like flavonoids and polyphenols.
- Naturally low in sodium: Great for people watching their salt intake but still want flavor.
- May support heart health by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol in some studies.
How to Use Celery in Cooking
Celery is incredibly versatile. Here’s how to make the most of it in your kitchen:
Raw Celery
- Serve with dips like hummus or vegan ranch
- Add to salads for a crisp bite
- Use in green juices or smoothies for a refreshing flavor
Cooked Celery
- Start soups, stews, or sauces with a soffritto or mirepoix base (celery + onion + carrot)
- Stir into stir-fries, casseroles, and pasta dishes
- Add to rice or grain bowls for texture and nutrition
Celery Leaves
Don’t toss those leafy tops! They’re full of flavor and perfect for:
- Garnishing soups
- Mixing into salads
- Making pesto or chimichurri-style sauces
Difference between eating celery and drinking celery juice
Eat celery: Its high dietary fiber content provides numerous benefits. This fiber is essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system, as it helps regulate intestinal transit and promotes a feeling of fullness. Additionally, chewing celery stimulates saliva production, kickstarting the digestive process right from the beginning.
Drinking celery juice: When you drink celery juice, mainly if you have run it through a juicer, you remove much of the fiber. However, you are also concentrating the nutrients, making them more accessible and faster for the body to absorb.
Home Cook to Home Cook Tips
- Cut just what you need: Keep the rest of the stalk whole to retain freshness.
- Freeze celery: Chop and freeze for cooking purposes (not great raw after freezing).
- Use the base: The root end of the celery bunch can be planted in soil to regrow! Or you could save it to make vegetable stock.
How to wash celery
Instructions
- Separate the stalks from the base.
- Rinse each stalk under cold running water, rubbing with your fingers to remove debris.
- Use a veggie brush for any stubborn dirt.
- Optional: Soak in a bowl of cold water with a splash of vinegar for 5–10 minutes to kill bacteria.
- Dry with a clean towel or salad spinner before chopping.
Notes
- Wrap it in a kitchen towel and store it in the fridge. This helps it breathe without drying out.
- Or, for ultra-crisp stalks, store it in a jar of water in the fridge (change the water every couple of days).
information
Nutritional information of this recipe is only an estimate, the accuracy for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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I’m Ale Graf, a Mexican living in Texas and the creator of AleCooks and Piloncillo&Vainilla. I share easy, family-friendly recipes—some Mexican, mostly plant-based—that can be enjoyed all day, every day. My focus is on recipes that bring people together around the table, making mealtime simple, delicious and meaningful. I’m also the co-author of Yo Cocino Latino, and my recipes have been featured in numerous online magazines and publications.
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