Homemade Cream of Celery Soup is so much better than the canned variety. It’s the perfect addition to these Easy Chicken Casserole Recipes and is a must for Easy Chicken Divan with Curry.
Make a bulk batch this week to have your casserole and eat more healthfully, too. You’ll be so surprised at how easy to mix up and freeze this recipe is.
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If you’ve got any casserole recipes in your repertoire, the chances are good that more than a few of them call for canned cream of something soup. And for good reason.
Our grandmothers, or whoever invented said casseroles, knew that using a canned soup in casseroles instead of making a homemade white sauce would save time.
Unfortunately, those canned soups taste like metal. And they’re loaded with salt, sugar, fat, and preservatives typical in commercially processed foods to make them taste better.
Thankfully, you can make your own cream of celery soup better from scratch and for less money!
Why Make This
It’s a perfect substitute for the canned. This recipe for Homemade Cream of Celery Soup is perfect for cooking and using in recipes that call for canned cream soup.
It’s easy. It comes together quickly on the stove and is perfect for freezing.
It’s simple to make a lot at once. Make a bulk batch and freeze the soup in 2-cup portions. It will be easy to substitute it in your favorite recipes that call for cream of celery soup.
Ingredients
butter – You need some fat to make your roux. I like to use butter, but you can substitute your favorite cooking oil or plant based butter if you prefer. You can also use margarine or lard, but the flavors will be very different.
flour – Flour is what helps thicken the cream soup. I use unbleached, all-purpose flour, but you can also use a gluten-free blend as well. I’ve tested this recipe with Cup 4 Cup Multi-purpose GF Blend and it worked fine.
milk – You can use any fat content milk you like or even heavy cream if you’re living the high life. Plant based milk can also be used, such as almond or coconut milk, keeping in mind that the flavor will be altered slightly.
broth – Use the broth you typically use for cooking, either vegetable or chicken. Making homemade Vegetable Broth or Chicken Stock will likely keep down the costs.
fresh parmesan cheese – This adds a little salty creaminess. You can also use romano or asiago if that’s what you have.
chopped celery (or dried celery flakes) – This is what makes this soup cream of celery. See below for other variations.
salt and pepper – Homemade cream of celery soup will taste a lot less salty than the canned versions. Add more to taste according to your preferences.
Variations
There are a number of cream of soups on the market, commercially. Usually they’re full of preservatives and excess salt and fat. You can make a number of homemade cream soups based on this basic recipe.
- cream of mushroom soup: substitute chopped and sautéed mushrooms for the celery.
- cream of chicken soup: substitute finely chopped cooked chicken for the celery and use chicken broth instead of vegetable.
- cream of potato soup: substitute finely chopped cooked potato for the celery.
- cream of bacon: substitute finely chopped cooked bacon for the celery.
- cream of broccoli: substitute finely chopped cooked broccoli florets for the celery.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and cook until the mixture bubbles.
- Whisk in the milk and the vegetable broth, stirring constantly to incorporate the roux with the liquid
- Stir in the celery and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir in the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Use in your recipe or chill completely before storing in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to use.
Freezing Instructions
You can definitely freeze homemade cream of celery soup. In fact, I highly recommend it. Canned cream of celery soup is so popular because opening a can saves time over making a fresh sauce.
You can have the best of both worlds — a homemade sauce and convenience — when you make a bulk batch of the creamed soup and freeze it in 2-cup portions. This size is the equivalent of a can.
How to freeze homemade creamed soups:
- Prepare the soup as directed in the recipe.
- Divide it into 2-cup portions, using Soupercubes or your favorite pint container.
- Chill the containers until very cold.
- Store the containers in the freezer until ready to use. If you’re using Soupercubes, once the soup is frozen, you can pop the cubes out of the molds and transfer them to a freezer bag for space-saving storage.
To use the frozen soup: thaw in the refrigerator or microwave and whisk well to recombine. Proceed with your recipe.
FAQs
I have frozen soups and sauces in glass canning jars as well as plastic containers. Take special care as breakage can occur!
If you’re going to use glass jars, leave the lids off, allow for extra headspace (about 1-inch), and make sure the jars don’t touch anything else in the freezer. Give them plenty of elbow room. Once the soup is frozen solid, lightly twist the caps on.
Remember that your mileage may vary. Breakage may still occur.
Yes! While this recipe (as written) calls for flour, you can substitute a gluten-free flour blend for the flour. Just be sure to whisk constantly to eliminate lumps.
Yes, use a plant butter or cooking oil, a plant-based milk, and vegetable broth.
Recipe Costs
We always assume that making it at home will cost less money than buying it elsewhere. This is often, but not always the case. Let’s see how much the homemade soup really costs, shall we?
This homemade cream of celery soup is made from some basic ingredients, ingredients that when bought at regular, non-sale prices break down as follows:
- butter – $0.46 ($3.69/lb)
- flour – $0.04 ($2.69/5-lb bag)
- chicken stock – $0.81 ($2.19/32 oz)
- milk – $0.09 ($3.09/gallon)
- celery – $0.19 ($1.99/stalk)
- Parmesan cheese – $0.16 ($1.88/6 oz)
- salt – $0.01 ($2.99/26 oz)
- pepper – $0.01 ($3.79/4 oz)
A homemade version, made with purchased chicken stock will run about $1.77, compared to $1.59 for a commercial canned soup. However, chicken stock is something you can make for practically free, at which point, you can get the cost down to 96 cents!
I’m sure that you can find canned cream of celery soup on sale for cheap. However, I promise you this is better and totally worth the upgrade in cost.
How to Save Even More
Lower the cost of making a homemade soup even more by doing the following:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. Whether it’s buying butter, parmesan cheese, or commercial chicken broth on sale, I buy more than I need in the immediate future. Sales cycles last about 6 weeks, so I try to buy enough to last me that long. Same goes for items like butter and flour. I stock up on these when I find good prices.
- Make your own chicken stock. A huge vat of homemade chicken stock costs just pennies and tastes amazing.
More Great Soups You Can Make
Homemade Cream Of Celery Soup
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth or chicken stock
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 rib celery chopped (about 1/4 cup)
- 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese (shredded)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- In a saucepot over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and cook until the mixture bubbles.
- Whisk in the chicken stock and the milk until smooth. Add the celery and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens to a sauce consistency, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir in the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Use in your recipe or chill completely before storing in an airtight container in the freezer until ready to use.
Notes
- cream of mushroom soup: substitute chopped and sautéed mushrooms for the celery.
- cream of chicken soup: substitute finely chopped cooked chicken for the celery and use chicken broth instead of vegetable.
- cream of potato soup: substitute finely chopped cooked potato for the celery.
- cream of bacon: substitute finely chopped cooked bacon for the celery.
- cream of broccoli: substitute finely chopped cooked broccoli florets for the celery.
Nutrition
This post was originally March 2, 2011. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Sue Gerstenecker
I tried this recipe because I’m cutting back on salt and canned soups are supposed to be the worst! I make my own broth based soups, but haven’t tried cream ones. I made this as cream of mushroom and it was so good I’m never buying canned again. I just need to make a quadruple batch to have some on hand for casseroles.
Jessica Fisher
Yay! So glad you saw success! Thanks for leaving a review, Sue.
House Elf
Do you *really* just put raw celery in there? If so, do you cook it longer? If yes, how long?
Jessica Fisher
Thanks so much for your question! Recently we converted all the recipes to recipe cards, and it looks like this one needed some clarification. Yes, the celery is fresh and yes, it cooks just fine. I’ve edited the recipe for clarity. Please let me know if you have more questions.
Mary
Made the wonderful cream of celery tonight to go in the curried chicken casserole. Wow!! Delicious!! Question on the celery…do you sauté yours before adding it to the soup? I did not since it was going in the casserole but wondered if I should when we’re just having the soup. Thanks for such a great recipe!!
Jessica Fisher
Nope, you can just add it uncooked. Weird, I know, but it works. So glad you enjoyed it.
Lynn from NC Outer Banks
I’ve made other cream of recipes but I think that the touch of parm from your recipe may be just what others are lacking. It looks really good in the picture and I’m looking forward to trying this when I next need a cream soup. Thank you.
Also, had trouble joining your IG preps yesterday (Tues) and today (Wed). Caught yesterday’s replay but would like to listen live. Is anything different? Missing it!
Jessica Fisher
I’ll look forward to hearing what you think once you make it.
IG live allows you to type in questions that I can answer right then. I’m not doing them this week, though.
Gwen Jones
What a great alternative to canned! All I needed to do was add a bit more thickener for this to work in my recipe. Thanks so much!
Darlene Berger
Hi, so can I make this soup and put it in a jar like I would can green beans for instance, or does it have to be frozen.
Jessica Fisher
It will need to be frozen.
Nicole
I’ve been wanting to try cooking healthier and came across your recipe. What type of chicken broth do you use? I typically get chicken broth in a can, but that is not so great. What do you suggest for broth? Thanks!
Jessica Fisher
When I buy chicken stock, I usually get the boxed variety from Costco. Otherwise, I make my own. It’s really easy to do. The process is the same for turkey stock as with chicken.
Shona
Just made this…super easy and amazingly good. So good in fact that not all of it made it into the freezer container! I’m going to make more and stash it in the freezer for an emergency meal. It would be great in the winter with cheese and crackers.
Jessica Fisher
So glad you liked it! It is really yummy just for soup. 😉
Mary H.
This recipe is FANTASTIC! I did exactly what you said (even doubled the recipe) and it came out perfect! The amount was perfect to substitute one can of cream of celery. Thank you!!!
Mary H.
What I meant to say is the original recipe is equivalent to 1 can. Lol! I needed two cans, so I doubled it. Great recipe!!!
Michelle
Do you think thois could be modified for a crockpot? Add mlik at end? Thanks (:)
Jessica Fisher
I don’t think so. It’s so easy and quick, there’s really no reason to.
Rachel
Do you ever make a larger batch and just freeze in portions that you would need for recipes?
Jessica Fisher
Yes, I’ve made up to 8 cups of this for a variety of recipes.
Stephanie @ Stephanie's Az Kitchen
I know this post is an older one… but I would like to know more about freezing this for make ahead things. Do you freeze this in freezer bags like a sauce? Does it separate it (milk being one of the components)? How long is it good for?
Jessica Fisher
Yes, freeze it in 2-cup portions. I’ve never had it separate. Good for a month in a regular freezer, longer in a deep freeze.
Marelie
Hi, My name is Marelie. Im a new blogger, I have just linked with you. Im no.78. Thanks
Loy
Thought you would like to know that you can get “free” celery flakes, just by leaving the celery leaves in a shallow container on the counter for a couple of days whenever you use celery. Turn them from time to time. They will dry and can then be put in a covered container to store. Just crumble into soups or stews for added flavor.
angie
Your photo looks delicious. We’ve been eating much healthier this year and I have a few favorite comfort recipes we haven’t had in some time because of the Cream of… soup it calls for. I’m going to have to take the plunge and try this! Thanks for the recipe.