Learn how to make celery salt with fresh celery to enjoy the fresh taste of herbs all year long. You can use this as a substitute for salt and add amazing celery flavor to your recipes.
When the garden harvest gets out of control (let’s be honest, come August, this just happens!), it’s easy to let some produce go to waste.
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Instead of losing this food, preserve it quickly! Making homemade celery salt is the perfect way to use garden produce that would otherwise wither away.
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Why I Love This Recipe
Making celery salt keeps that nice bright flavor of the fresh herb. Unlike dehydrated herbs (learn how to dehydrate your herbs here), herb salts taste like fresh herbs straight out of the garden.
I use this method of preserving herbs with many of my fresh garden herbs.
What Ratio of Celery to Salt
The ratio of celery to salt we’re using in this recipe is four parts celery to one part salt (4:1).
You can make a celery salt that is more salt-heavy with a slight celery flavor (which would be a 1:4 ratio of celery to salt), but for this recipe, we want the celery to be the star.
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How to Store Celery Salt
Because we’re using a larger ratio of herbs to salt, this does need to be stored in the refrigerator, it is not shelf stable.
How Long Will Celery Salt Last?
When stored correctly, celery salt will last from 6 months to a year. If you see signs of mold or any off smells, throw it out.
One time, a jar of basil salt got tucked away in the back of my refrigerator and found a year later. It was still perfectly good to use and tasted as fresh as the day I picked the basil from the garden. (You’ve got to try my basil salt recipe!)
Ingredients Needed
You only need two ingredients to make homemade celery salt: celery leaves and salt!
- Celery leaves – Fresh-cut celery leaves from the garden are great, but store-bought celery leaves will work as well.
- Salt – I like to use Redmond Real Salt (which I buy in bulk). Use coupon code “Pioneering” for 15% off at checkout.
How to Make Celery Salt
- Using garden sheers, snip off celery leaves and place them into a large colander.
- Rinse celery leaves under cold water and dry them off using tea towels or paper towels until completely dry.
- Roughly chop celery leaves.
- Pack leaves into a measuring cup and press down for an accurate measurement.
- Place celery leaves and salt into the food processor in a 4:1 ratio (four parts celery leaves to one part salt).
- Turn the food processor on and blend until everything is combined.
- Remove any large pieces (or continue blending until evenly chopped).
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Can You Turn Celery Seed into Celery Salt?
You can use celery seed to make celery salt, just like you can use dried herbs to make herb salts. However, the flavor will not be as bright as this fresh homemade celery salt.
To make celery salt with celery seed, simply grind up the celery seed and mix one part celery seed with two parts salt.
This celery salt will be shelf stable, and you can store it in an airtight jar in your pantry.
Can I Use This Method With Other Herbs?
Yes! This method can be used with other fresh herbs. I have a recipe for homemade basil salt here, but get creative!
What fresh herbs do you wish you could enjoy in the wintertime when those herbs are no longer growing in your garden? Turn them into salt!
More Posts You May Enjoy
- Homemade Basil Salt (3 Different Ways)
- Homemade Spice Mixes & Herb Blends
- How to Dry Fresh Herbs at Home
- How to Prune Herbs For Maximum Growth
- How to Grow an Herbal Tea Garden
- How to Use Herbs At Home
How to Make Celery Salt
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup celery leaves roughly chopped
- 1/8 cup salt
Instructions
- Start with fresh, washed and dried herbs.
- Roughly chop celery leaves.
- Pack leaves into a measuring cup and press down for an accurate measurement.
- Place celery leaves and salt into the food processor.
- Turn the food processor on until everything is well blended and incorporated.
- Remove any large pieces or continue blending until evenly chopped.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Store celery salt in the refrigerator (this recipe is not shelf stable).
- Celery salt will last for up to a year when stored in the refrigerator.
- You can use this recipe for any fresh herbs, just use the ratio of 4:1 (four parts herbs to one part salt).
I assumed that this article was going to talk about using Celery Salt as a preservative as itself. At least Celery Powder can be used to preserve meat. From wikipedia- “Celery powder is a dried, ground concentrate prepared from fresh celery that is used as a seasoning and as a food preservative in organic meat products. Several commercial preparations exist, and it can also be made using a food dehydrator. Some celery powders are prepared from celery juice.”
I made a basil salt tonight with the ratio of 4:1 basil to salt (1 cup basil chopped to 1/4 cup kosher salt). Followed the celery salt recipe exactly and am very happy with the taste! It’s labeled and in the refrigerator for future use. Thank you for the recipe earlier this week.
I’m SLOWLY starting to preserve food and herbs and am enjoying the “journey.” I have a bumper crop of basil right now (actually threw 3 packages of seeds in a 3’ x 12” space since my first planting died and said “Just grow!” Go figure…) and have made pesto using the recipe on the Costco pine nuts package. It is delicious. I have also frozen basil in ice cub trays in water and olive oil.
I want to now make cutting celery salt, rosemary salt and parsley salt.
Thank you for all your inspiring emails, classes, videos, etc.! I’m starting to have fun!
I live in the south with a lot of humidity and I tried to make homemade garlic salt and it became hard as a rock. I did use Redmond’s. Do you think this would happen with the celery? I have always heard to add rice to your salt to keep it from clumping but that did not work. Any advice?
Can I use dehydrated celery leaves for this recipe? I have a ton from the garden and I love celery salt.
I wonder if you dry this in the oven that then it will be shelf stable. What are your thoughts on that?
This looks fabulous! Question… I don’t have a food processor. Would a mortar and pestle or a blender work, as well?
Thank you! New to your site and very thankful to have found you!
I am curious why this would not be shelf stable? Dried herbs aren’t refrigerated. I have been making lots of herb salts this year for gifting and fundraisers. Beet-Ginger, Lovage, Orange-Rosemary, Pineapple-Jalapeno, Red Wine-Peppercress, Nasturtium, Peach-Basil, Garden Greens, Lemon-Rose are just the beginning of flavor explorations! I’ve read that they are good for up to a year at room temperature. Thank you!
The celery leaves are not dehydrated in this recipe, thus the final product is not stable for an extended time.
I think the confusion exists because in the explanation prior to the recipe it states towel drying the washed herbs but in the actual recipe it says dried herbs which is confusing to people who have jumped straight to the recipe. Perhaps you could insert the word “Towel” dried in the recipe itself to clear up the confusion! Most people see dried and they think dehydrated!