Homemade Celery Salt

This tasty homemade celery salt recipe takes advantage of the celery leaves by drying them out then grinding them with salt. It's easy and full of flavor!

Whenever I needed celery for a recipe (looking at you, chicken and sausage gumbo!) when I was first on my own and cooking in my own kitchen, I’d cut the leaves off and chuck them. After all, the recipe called for stalks of celery, which I assumed, naively perhaps, did not include the leaves. 

Then we moved overseas and in many countries celery was hard to get. Often imported from colder climates, it was also expensive. I learned to not only use the whole bunch, with leaves, but to chop and freeze any leftovers in a snug bag for future recipes. As long as you are going to sauté the chopped celery for a soup or stew, frozen works perfectly. 

Another great use for those leaves which make them (and their flavor) last a long time is homemade celery salt. Store-bought celery salt is made with celery seeds, which have a very strong flavor. Celery salt made with the dried leaves is a bit more subtle but the celery flavor it definitely prominent. And if, like young me, you were throwing out or composting the leaves, now you can feel good about using the whole plant!

Homemade Celery Salt

If you don’t have flakey sea salt, you can substitute regular salt but use half the amount or your celery salt may be too salty. I use a clean coffee bean grinder that I reserve for spices for this job but you could use a mortar and pestle or a blender. This recipe makes about 2 tablespoons of celery salt.

Ingredients 

1 cup celery leaves tightly-packed, 56g

1 teaspoon flakey sea salt (like Maldon) 

Method

Pick the leaves from the celery, leaving the stalks behind. Use both the outer dark leaves and the pale inner leaves. Rinse the leaves two or three times in a salad spinner, then spin them dry. 

Lay the leaves out on a clean towel then roll it up. Unroll and leave to air dry for at least 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 200°F or 93°C degrees. 

Line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner and arrange the celery leaves single layer in the pan. 

Bake 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking time so that the leaves dry evenly. Remove from oven and cool. 

Transfer to your coffee/spice grinder and add the salt.

Process until finely ground. Make sure it’s completely cool before storing in a sealed container or spice shaker.  

This homemade celery salt is excellent for any recipe that calls for celery salt. It’s also a tasty topping for boiled eggs and cream cheese filled celery sticks. Isn't it a pretty color?

Enjoy!

It's Sunday FunDay so today my friends and I are playing like Sesame Street. This post is brought to you by C for Celery! Check out all the celery recipes below. Many thanks to our host, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Apple Celery Soup from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Bacon, Celery, & Pecan Stuffed Celery from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Celery and Kale Paratha from Cook with Renu
• Celery Steak from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Gin and Celery Tonic from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Homemade Celery Salt from Food Lust People Love
• Pulled Chicken & Celery Sandwiches  by Sneha's Recipe
• Slow-Roasted Celery from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Stir-Fried Shrimp with Chinese Celery from Palatable Pastime

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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