Celeriac. Pen name: Celery Root. Wondering how to cook celery root? That gnarly round-ish root might have you stumped, but it is very versatile and flavorful, and celery root recipes are countless! I have been cooking it for years, and feeding it to Pablo since he was a baby (see baby puree recipes with celeriac here).
Here are our 10 favorite recipes for celeriac!
1. Celeriac Soup
This Sunchoke Celeriac Soup is one of my favorite recipes for celeriac of all time.
You can also easily add celery root to any pureed soup, it’ll add a subtle flavor and bring a fun twist to any soup.
The basic model for most of our homemade soups is: Sauté either onion (1 medium) or shallots (2) or leeks (1) (or a combination thereof) in olive oil, then add cubed Yukon potatoes, other vegetables, broth, some salt, boil til all veggies are soft. Puree in Blender. (If adding green leafy veggies, add them at the end for a few minutes.) Following this model, you could use 2 Yukon potatoes, 1 celery root (cubed as well), and acorn squash, butternut or pumpkin, carrots, sunchokes, broccoli.
Try this simple Pumpkin Celeriac soup with a coconut base and spiced with cardamom (which happens to be vegan and dairy-free), it’s delicious!
Celeriac and truffle are a match made in heaven, I highly recommend a splash of truffle oil or a sprinkle of truffle salt on your soup.
2. Celeriac Mash
Add a celery root to your potatoes for mashed potatoes! It cooks about the same amount of time as regular potatoes (maybe a touch longer, cut it a bit smaller than your potatoes). Here’s one of many recipes for celeriac mash 🙂
3. Put celery root in a salad
One of celeriac’s famous champion is Mr. Ottolenghi! I love his recipes, and this one is inspired by his cookbook which I love, Plenty. This lentil salad with celeriac and hazelnut dressing is addictive, believe me!
Also check out his apple and celeriac salad.
4. Make Celeriac Fries!
Find the recipe HERE. This is my latest experiment with celeriac! It’s a nice change from potato or sweet potato fries. I don’t have an air fryer yet – they are all the rage, apparently, but I bet that would work out well for those fries. I simply baked my Celeriac French Fries in the oven, and they were delicious.
5. With eggs, in spanish tortilla (tortilla de patata)
Here’s my recipe for tortilla de patata, with potatoes and parsnip, which you can easily substitute with celery root. You probably won’t need a whole celeriac, unless it’s small. Put the equivalent of the size of a potato.
6. Celeriac “slaw”, aka French “celeriac remoulade”
This is a dish every French child eats at school regularly! It’s grated celeriac along with a mayonnaise-base dressing. Makes a nice side-dish, the way coleslaw might. You could choose to mix it in with cabbage in traditional coleslaw, or you mix it with shredded apples and carrots.
Quick recipe: Make the dressing with 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 TBSP Dijon mustard, salt & pepper. Grate your celeriac, drizzle it with the juice of one lemon, and incorporate the mayonnaise-mustard dressing.
7. Roast Celeriac
You can roast it whole following this easy recipe. It’s a nice side, and I think I’ll have to try roasting it over a campfire the way I roast pumpkins, next time we go camping! Here’s a video guide on how to do it.
8. Make a fancy vegetarian entree!
Another Ottolenghi recipe shared here, these Celeriac Steaks with Café de Paris Sauce make a crowd-pleasing, impressive entree for a special night!
You can even watch M. Ottolenghi himself make it right here.
9. Make potato galettes / celeriac latkes
If you can grate them, you can make paddies and fry ’em! Use our favorite recipe for potato latkes, which we use every Hannukah, and substitute half the potatoes or all with celery root.
10. Smother celeriac in cheese and cream
That’s always a valid option, isn’t it? You can make an easy celeriac “gratin” bake by slice it (you can mix with potatoes, or not). Follow the same recipe as for this sunchoke gratin dauphinois. These two vegetables taste very different, but can often be substitued.
There you have it! Recipes for celeriac (aka celery root) for every occasion and every mood! Do you have any other recipes you like? Any questions? Comment below!
