This celery salt recipe has two ingredients, I don't make celery salt as often as I used to. These days I'm just as likely to reach for celery seeds—all the flavour, none of the sodium, particularly in soups and stews where the salt content is already doing its job. But there are moments when only celery salt will do. A Bloody Mary. A cauliflower cheese. A coleslaw that needs something it can't quite name.

And when I do make it, I make it properly. The commercially produced version typically contains sodium nitrate as a preservative and silicon dioxide or calcium silicate as an anti-caking agent. Mine contains two ingredients: celery leaves and Maldon sea salt.

It takes patience more than skill. Low and slow is everything.

Homemade Celery Salt – The Flexible Chef

Homemade Celery Salt Recipe - What You Need

Just two ingredients:

• Leaves from one bunch of celery — leaves only, not the stems
• An equal quantity of Maldon sea salt or other good flaky sea salt

That's it. The ratio is equal parts dried leaves to salt by volume once the leaves are crumbled. Don't measure before drying — the leaves lose a significant amount of moisture and weight in the oven.

Two ingredients, no additives – homemade celery salt – Casa Adora

How to Make Your Celery Salt Recipe

1. Wash the celery leaves thoroughly, shake off the excess water, and pat well with kitchen paper. The drier they go into the oven, the better.
2. Spread in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking tray. Don't overlap — they need air circulation to dry evenly.
3. Place in a preheated oven at 80–90°C. Low and slow is essential. Any hotter and the leaves turn brown and bitter—and bitter celery salt is not something you want in your Bloody Mary.
4. Dry for 45–90 minutes depending on the moisture content of the leaves and the reliability of your oven. If your oven runs hot – and many Spanish ovens do – crack the door slightly with a wooden spoon.
5. They're ready when they crumble cleanly between your fingers. Discard any that don't; they'll bring unwanted moisture into the jar.
6. Crumble the dried leaves into a jar, add an equal volume of flaky sea salt, put on the lid, and shake well.

This celery salt recipe keeps well for several months in a sealed jar.

What to Use Celery Salt For

Wherever it feels right, honestly. It's one of those instinctive seasonings – you develop a sense for it.

That said, a few places where it earns its keep:

A Bloody Mary is non-negotiable. The rim, or stirred in. Celery salt is as essential to a Bloody Mary as the vodka.

Cauliflower cheese — a pinch in the sauce lifts it considerably. Cauliflower and celery are natural allies.

Coleslaw — adds a savoury depth that plain salt doesn't quite achieve.

Soups and stews — though these days I'm more likely to reach for celery seeds here, particularly if the dish already has enough sodium. Same flavour profile, no extra salt.

Eggs — scrambled, fried, or in an omelette. Try it once and you'll keep doing it.

Grilled or roasted vegetables — scattered over before or after cooking.

The jar sits on the shelf at Casa Adora and gets used when it gets used. That's the honest answer.

A Note on Celery Seeds

If you want the flavour of celery without the salt, celery seeds are worth keeping alongside the celery salt. I use them in soups, stews, and anything where the dish is already well seasoned. Same distinctive savouriness, none of the sodium. Between the two, you have a lot of flexibility — which is, after all, the point.

Find more recipes and food adventures here. Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures – The Flexible Chef