Celery is a vegetable that we don't often give much thought to. It's not often the star of the show, but like onions and carrots, celery is one of the building blocks of flavor in many recipes and techniques. It's integral to French mirepoix and Creole's holy trinity, and you'll find it called for in almost every soup or stock recipe. Celery is a behind-the-scenes helper that builds flavor in many of our favorite dishes, even when we don't know it's there.
Why Substitute Celery?
Since celery isn't as flashy as some of its peers, it's easy to forget to grab it at the grocery store– it's always just kind of there in the crisper drawer, so it might slip your mind when making the weekly grocery list. Other times, the produce department at your local store may be out of celery, and who wants to make a second trip?
Maybe a spur-of-the-moment craving hits, and you have most of the ingredients for your favorite soup on hand, plus a few extras, but no celery. Regardless of the reason, if you've found yourself without, there are a few easy replacements that can keep dinner on track.
Best Celery Substitutes
Fennel
In recipes that call for raw celery or in celery salads, the best substitute is raw fennel bulb. Fennel and celery have a very similar texture and crunch. When shaved thinly, they hold up nearly identically in raw applications. Their flavor is somewhat similar, though fennel has a light licorice flavor and doesn't have as much water as celery.
For salads and other raw celery dishes, use the same amount of raw fennel as celery. Fennel can also stand in for celery in cooked recipes; especially well in soups and stews. Just like raw recipes, swap in the same amount of fennel bulb as celery.
Leeks
When cooked, celery and leeks share a similar fibrous and slightly soft texture. Leeks impart a light onion flavor that celery doesn't have and tend to be a bit stringy. This swap works best in soups or recipes likestuffing, where you would typically find an oniony flavor along with the celery.
Leeks are a great alternative if you like the texture celery brings but aren't a fan of the flavor. For this swap, use one large leek per two stalks of celery in a recipe. Reduce the onion by half to account for the added flavor from the leeks.
Get the recipe: Bread and Celery Stuffing
Onion and Celery seed
Cooked diced onion and cooked diced celery are very similar in texture. So if you're looking to replicate that consistency with a slight celery flavor, pair onion with celery seed. This combination works exceptionally well in blended soups like butternut squash or loaded potato soup where celery and onion are already working together, and they're supporting characters to other, bolder flavors. Substitute half an onion and a teaspoon of whole celery seed (or half a teaspoon ground) for every two stalks of celery in a recipe.
Celeriac
Celery root, a.k.a celeriac, is a root vegetable that tastes just like celery. If you've never had celeriac, it has the same flavor as celery but the texture of a potato. It doesn't sound appealing, but it's actually delicious; its texture makes it perfect for roasting along with other root veggies in place of celery. It also works as a great substitute in recipes that call for celery and potato, like celery and potato soup, or anywhere you want the flavor of celery.
This is also a great hack if you want to reduce the milk or cream in a recipe, cooked celeriac blends to an ultra-creamy texture and can easily replace the dairy in creamy soups or help veganize recipes like scalloped potatoes while adding a hint of celery flavor. Whether blending or roasting, replace three stalks of celery with half a large head of celeriac.
What Is Celery Salt?
The most important thing to know when substituting celery is that there's no perfect swap. The end result will taste slightly different and that's okay. You might even find you like the new version better. Experimenting with new flavors in a tried and true recipe can make them even tastier, especially when using new ingredients.
Raw: For dishes where celery contributes a crisp, refreshing crunch, substitutes like cucumber, jicama, radish, green bell peppers, green apples, and water chestnuts are excellent choices. Rainbow chard stalks have the same texture and flavor as celery stalks.
Fennel. In recipes that call for raw celery or in celery salads, the best substitute is raw fennel bulb. Fennel and celery have a very similar texture and crunch.
Combining dill with regular salt (in a 1:2 ratio) is a terrific sub for celery salt as dill is in the same family as celery. Grind the dill seeds and mix one teaspoon of this with two teaspoons of salt.
Its mild flavor and high water content are reminiscent of celery, and you can actually substitute green bell peppers for celery in a mirepoix. Try it with carrot, onion, and green bell pepper and see what you think! You can use green bell pepper to great effect in stir fries and salads, too.
A lightweight and simpler alternative to Celery is Python-RQ (http://python-rq.org). It is based on Redis alone as a provider of both task queue and result backend. It is intended for those applications where complex task dependencies or task routing is not necessary.
Simply put, celeriac is the root of a celery plant. It has an earthy taste with a slight hint of celery flavor. The texture is close to a turnip or potato. Celeriac isn't just tasty, it also has some great health benefits.
For a celery leaf substitute, consider using celery stalks, parsley, cilantro, dill, or carrot tops. These options all make a perfect substitute. Each brings its own flavor profile, allowing you to tailor the substitution to your specific dish.
The consensus seems to be either to just omit celery entirely or substitute with one of the following: fennel, parsley, parsnips, leeks, turnips, celeriac, bok choy (add at end of cooking!), chard or just more onion/carrot. Broccoli is a no-no because it's not aromatic and will just disappear into mush.
Lovage tastes like celery, with undertones of parsley and hint of anise. It's mild enough to use with fish and poultry, but has just enough spice to make it interesting.
Lovage is mainly grown for its leaves, which taste rather like celery, but sweeter, with a hint of parsley and aniseed. Harvest the young leaves regularly, so more are produced. Use them fresh, finely chopped in salads, soups and stews, and to complement potatoes and eggs.
Celery features fibrous strands along its length, and has a mild, herbal aroma. Its distinctive, slightly sweet flavor is indispensable in many savory dishes, and it is often sauteed with other aromatics like carrots and onions.
Leeks are a great substitute for celery even though it has an onion flavor. They're fantastic in soups and stews, stir-fries, Mirepoix, or in Holy Trinity.
If you're looking for a substitute that can provide a similar crunch and mild flavor to celery, green bell pepper is an excellent option. It can be used in salads, stir-fries, and soups to add texture and a pop of color to your dishes.
“Celery stalk,” in American English, is commonly used to mean one piece/rib/stick of celery. Consider the proportion of ingredients when deciding if the author of the recipe meant a rib or the whole bunch. The next time you are planning a snack or a meal, be sure to consider celery.
Some members of the family Apiaceae, including carrot, celery, fennel, parsley and parsnip, contain polyynes, an unusual class of organic compounds that exhibit cytotoxic effects.
Introduction: My name is Pres. Lawanda Wiegand, I am a inquisitive, helpful, glamorous, cheerful, open, clever, innocent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/9421258-bread-and-celery-stuffing-Rita-1x1-1-38e7dd6fa8a44db0900e6c7794e56e00.jpg "4 Swaps for Celery That'll Fix Any Dinner Dilemma (1)")
