How to Freeze Celery the Right Way

Key Takeaways

Blanching chopped celery before freezing helps preserve its bright color, texture, and flavor for up to one year.
For best results, freeze celery in small, chopped pieces—this speeds freezing, saves space, and makes portioning easier.
Frozen celery works best straight from the freezer in soups, stews, and sauces—its texture won’t hold up for raw dishes.

Celery lasts well in the refrigerator if properly stored, but what if you have too much or are short on space in the crisper drawer, or need to save celery to use later—a lot later? That’s when you need to know how to freeze celery. You might not be aware that you can freeze this crunchy vegetable, but you can. However, frozen celery is not the same as fresh, so you need to know how to freeze it properly and how to use it afterwards.

With a stash of celery in your freezer, you'll be ready for soup season and for making mirepoix, that flavorful base used in all kinds of recipes.

Nichole Towell, senior director of marketing at Duda Farm Fresh Foods, a grower of celery and other produce under the Dandy brand

How to Prep and Freeze Celery

Freezing celery is pretty simple, but there is one extra step that Nichole Towell, senior director of marketing for Duda Farm Fresh Foods, a grower of celery and other produce under the Dandy brand, recommends. Blanching celery before freezing it preserves the green color and its texture—and makes it last longer, she says. And all that blanching means is cooking a food briefly, then stopping the cooking by submerging it in ice water.

Towell explains it is better to freeze chopped celery rather than whole stalks because the celery will freeze faster (reducing the size of ice crystals and therefore minimizing textural damage), it’s also easier to freeze in smaller pieces (and takes less space), and can be portioned more conveniently for your needs.

Freezing Celery With Blanching

Rinse: Separate the celery stalks and run them under cool water to remove any dirt and debris.
Chop: Using a cutting board and a sharp knife, trim the ends of each stalk and cut into your desired size.
Blanch: Bring a pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl with a mixture of ice and water. When the water boils, add the celery and cook for no more than 1 minute. Use a spider strainer or slotted spoon to immediately transfer the celery to the ice bath to stop the cooking.
Dry: Drain the celery and spread it on a flat surface. Pat it dry with paper towels or a clean dish towel.
Pre-Freeze: Transfer the celery to a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Chill until completely frozen.
Store: Transfer the frozen celery to airtight containers or freezer-safe bags.

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Freezing Celery Without Blanching

Follow the same steps, but skip the blanching process. Dry off the chopped celery and proceed directly to the pre-freeze step.

How Long Frozen Celery Lasts

When blanched, frozen celery can last up to one year. Without blanching, celery will last in airtight containers in the freezer for up to two months maximum.

Using Frozen Celery

“Celery is about 95 percent water, so when frozen, the water inside its cells forms ice crystals,” says Towell. Thawing celery after ice crystals have formed does change the texture, making it less crispy than when it is fresh.

Towell recommends using frozen celery without thawing it in soups, stews, sauces, casseroles, or stir-fries. There is no need to thaw it before use—when thawed, the celery is still not suitable for raw applications like salads.

If you do thaw the celery, Towell suggests using it in green smoothies or juices, mashing it into cold dips, and stirring it into savory muffin batter.

How to Thaw Frozen Celery

If you need to thaw celery, there are two effective ways and one more that Towell does not recommend:

Refrigerator: This slow and gentle approach takes the most time, but it works well if you remember to do so the night before. Simply place the frozen celery in a sealed container and let it defrost in the refrigerator overnight (depending on how small the celery is cut, a few hours might also do the trick).

Cold water: Place the frozen celery in a sealed bag and submerge it in cold water for 30-60 minutes.

Not recommended—the microwave: This is the quickest method; celery is warmed on the defrost setting in a microwave-safe bowl in 15- to 30-second bursts. As it has the potential to leave the celery mushy and unevenly thawed, Towell does not use this method.

If you thaw celery, be sure to drain it over a sieve or colander before using, since excess moisture that forms during the process can change the texture of the recipe you’re making.