Chunky Vegan Celery Soup

Celery soup is way too underrated. Celery in general is, since it gives such a bland flavor on its own, but combined with carrots and onions is one of the most common flavor bases for many amazing meals. This thick and creamy celery soup may remind you of its distant cousin, potato soup, as its filled with chunks of other great vegetables. Celery is also a pretty cool superfood. No one talks about it, but celery has some amazing anti-inflammatory powers. Just read this post by Medical Medium, who boasts the healing power of celery so much that he suggests drinking a glass of celery juice every morning! So try this comforting, creamy and delicious vegan soup and get in your healing greens for the day.

This post also includes an easy bread spread recipe, and a variation of the celery soup and celery juice in the recipe notes at the bottom. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients (Serves two):

1/3 cup raw cashews

4 sticks of celery (about 1/2 stalk)

1 and 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 small yellow onion (1/2 cup chopped), chopped small

1 clove garlic, minced

2/3 cup vegetable broth

1/4 cup lentils

1 small yellow potato, (about 1/2 cup chopped) peeled and chopped small

2 medium sized carrots (about 1/2 cup chopped) peeled and chopped small

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 tbsp vegan butter

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

sea salt to taste

Optional (to serve with):

4 pieces sour dough or french bread (vegan, or gluten free bread if needed)

Vegan butter

1/4 cup pine nuts

1 tbsp onion mix (from soup)

1 tbsp fresh Italian spices (I used basil, oregano, parsley, thyme and rosemary)

1-2 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tbsp water

salt and pepper to taste

How-to:

1. Put on a pot with cashews and celery to boil, about 10 minutes.
2. Sauté the onion in 1/2 tbsp olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes, and add the minced garlic another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally so nothing burns.
3. Set aside 1 tbsp onion mix and 1 celery stick. You will use the onion mix for the bread spread, and the celery will be cut into chunks later.
4. Blend cashews, rest of onion and garlic, and rest of celery with 2/3 cup vegetable broth and a pinch of salt until smooth and creamy.
5. Boil lentils and chopped potato for 4 minutes, then add the chopped carrots to the lentils another 4 minutes, then add 1/4 cup pine nuts last 2 minutes. Chop the last celery stick small.
6. Add vegan butter and last tbsp olive oil to a pot over medium heat. Add the blended soup mix back to the pot to reheat. Add in chopped celery, lentils, potatoes, carrots, pine nuts, nutritional yeast, salt, oregano, and onion and garlic powders. Mix until heated all the way through while preparing bread. Mix in more vegetable broth and water if you want the soup to be more liquid in consistency.
7. Spread sour dough with vegan butter and broil bread for two minutes each side on high.
8. Pulse pine nuts, onion, garlic, Italian spices, olive oil, nutritional yeast and water until it makes a chunky paste while bread is broiling.
9. Spread pine nuts paste on one side of each bread and broil another 2 minutes. Serve with soup and enjoy.

Notes:

• When I say “chop small” I mean small enough that you could take a bite of soup with lentils, carrot, potato and celery and not feel overwhelmed trying to swallow!
• You could skip making this soup chunky all together! Just the blended celery, cashews, vegetable broth and onion mix along with salt, pepper and oregano tastes delicious as a cream of celery soup! At step 4, just blend everything and the extra stick of celery, add back over the heat and stir in vegan butter, salt, pepper and oregano until combined and heated throughout. Top with a drizzle of olive oil and pine nuts to enjoy.
• With my left over stalk of celery I usually make breakfast the next morning! First, I make a celery juice version like medical medium suggests! I don’t have a juicer, so what I do is blend 2-3 pieces of celery with 1 green apple or 2 kiwis with some water, then I pour it into a mason jar through a cheese or milk cloth to get out all the pulp, although you could drink it with the pulp for some added fiber. Then, if I have 1 or 2 pieces of celery left I cover them in peanut butter once I finish my juice.