Chinese Celery substitute

Best substitute

Western Celery, Inner Ribs Plus All the Leaves

1.5 : 1 by weight

Best for stir-fried squid and seafood

Different texture

The key thing to understand is that Chinese celery is used as an aromatic herb, not as a vegetable. Its job is a concentrated green celery perfume plus a slight pleasant bitterness, and it comes in pencil-thin stalks with lots of leaves, so you use a small handful the way you would use a herb rather than a cup of diced ribs. Ordinary Western celery is the substitute, but you have to use it correctly: take the inner ribs and, crucially, all the leaves, slice everything thin, and use about one and a half times the weight, because it is much milder. Celery leaves alone are the closest match of all. If you have no celery at all, flat-leaf parsley plus a pinch of celery seed reproduces the aroma surprisingly well.

Other chinese celery substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Celery Leaves Alone
Different texture
Use the same amount by volume, loosely packed
The closest thing to Chinese celery in flavour, because the aroma of leaf celery is essentially concentrated celery-leaf aroma.
What changes
Same green pepperiness, same faint bitterness. What you lose entirely is the crunch, so this is the right answer for soups, pickle brines and finishing a stir-fry, and the wrong one when you need something to bite.
Best for
soups and broths, finishing stir-fries, pickle brines, salads and herb plates
Add them in the last thirty seconds of cooking or stir them in off the heat. Boiled for any length of time they turn drab and taste dull and hay-like.
3Flat-Leaf Parsley Plus a Pinch of Celery Seed
Different texture
Use the same amount by volume parsley, plus ⅛ tsp celery seed per cup
The no-celery-in-the-house answer and better than it has any right to be.
What changes
Parsley supplies the fresh green herbal body and the celery seed supplies the unmistakable celery aroma, which is chemically the same family of compounds. Together they read clearly as leaf celery. Missing is any crunch and the bitterness is different, more grassy than sharp.
Best for
soups, stir-fries, fillings and meatballs, when the shop has no celery
Crush the celery seed lightly between your fingers first to release the oil. Go easy, since celery seed is powerful and a heavy hand tastes soapy.
4Celery Seed Alone
Taste and texture differ
Use ¼ tsp for every 2 stalks of Chinese celery
Pure aroma with nothing else attached, useful in a braise, a pickle brine or a meatball mixture where you only need the smell.
What changes
It is more intense and slightly more bitter and medicinal than fresh leaf celery, and it cannot supply any of the fresh green lift or texture, so a stir-fry seasoned only with celery seed will taste correct but flat.
Best for
pickle brines, braises and stews, meatballs and fillings, long storage
Add it early in a braise so it has time to bloom, but late in a pickle brine off the heat. A quarter teaspoon is a lot; taste before doubling.
5Leek Greens or Fennel Fronds
Different taste
Use the same amount by volume
Neither tastes of celery, and both do the structural job in a stir-fry: slim green pieces that stay slightly firm and add fresh aroma.
What changes
Leek greens are sweeter and oniony, fennel fronds distinctly aniseed. Use one of these when the texture and the green presence matter more than the specific celery note, and pair it with a pinch of celery seed if you have it.
Best for
stir-fried squid and seafood, stir-fries generally, soups
Slice leek greens very thin and give them a minute longer in the pan than you would give celery, since they are tougher. Fennel fronds go in at the very end.
6Lovage, if You Grow It
Different texture
1:2, use half as much
Botanically the closest relative and a genuine flavour match, just far stronger.
What changes
Lovage tastes like celery turned up to double volume, with more of the bitter and a faint yeasty depth. Use half as much or it takes over completely. Almost never sold in shops but common in kitchen gardens, so worth knowing if you have a plant.
Best for
soups and broths, braises, pickle brines
Use young leaves. Older lovage leaves get very bitter and can make a soup unpleasantly medicinal even in small amounts.

What is Chinese Celery?

Chinese Celery is Chinese celery, sold as leaf celery, kintsai or Asian celery and called can tay in Vietnamese, is a thin hollow-stemmed leafy celery with far more aroma and bitterness than the thick pale Western kind.

Cooking tips

Chinese celery cooks in a fraction of the time Western celery needs, because the stalks are hollow and thin. In a stir-fry it goes in for the last minute, and in a soup for the last two, which is a real change to make if you are swapping in thick Western ribs.
Use the whole plant. Leaves, stems and even the thin roots all go into the dish, and the leaves carry most of the aroma, which is the opposite of how most people treat Western celery.
It is genuinely more bitter than Western celery and it is supposed to be. If a dish tastes too sharp, a pinch of sugar or a splash of oyster or fish sauce balances it better than using less of it.
In the classic stir-fried squid with celery, the celery has to stay squeaky. Cook the squid, remove it, hit the celery for forty-five seconds in a screaming hot pan, then combine off the heat.
Chinese celery wilts within a couple of days. Stand the bunch in an inch of water in a jar in the fridge like a bouquet of herbs, which buys you nearly a week, and use the leaves first.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use regular celery instead of Chinese celery?

Yes, with two adjustments. Use about one and a half times the weight, since Western celery is much milder, and keep all the leafy tops, because that is where the aroma lives. Slice the inner ribs thin on an angle so the pieces are slender like Chinese celery stalks, and cut the cooking time short so they stay crisp.

What is the difference between Chinese celery and normal celery?

Chinese celery has pencil-thin hollow stalks, lots of leaves and a much stronger, more bitter, more herbal celery flavour. Western celery has been bred for thick, pale, mild, watery ribs eaten as a vegetable. In practice Chinese celery is used like a herb in small handfuls and Western celery is used by the cupful, which is the main thing to correct when substituting.

Can I leave Chinese celery out?

In a soup or a braise, yes, and you will lose a layer of green aroma but the dish still works. In stir-fried squid with celery, or Vietnamese pickles where it is one of two or three ingredients, no, because it is a defining flavour rather than a background one. In those cases use Western celery with the leaves on rather than omitting it.

Is Chinese celery the same as leaf celery or kintsai?

Yes, all the same thing. It is sold as Chinese celery, leaf celery, cutting celery, kintsai or khan choy in Chinese shops, can tay in Vietnamese ones, and sometimes just as celery in a bunch that looks nothing like the supermarket version. Any recipe using those names wants the same slim aromatic bunch.

Is celery root or celeriac a substitute for Chinese celery?

Not for this purpose. Celeriac is a dense starchy root with a mild celery flavour, good for mashing and roasting and useless for adding fresh green aroma or slender crunch to a stir-fry. If celeriac is what you have, use it for body in a soup and add celery seed for the aroma.

Related substitutes

More vegetables & aromatics substitutes

Chinese Celery substitute

Other chinese celery substitutes

2Celery Leaves Alone

3Flat-Leaf Parsley Plus a Pinch of Celery Seed

4Celery Seed Alone

5Leek Greens or Fennel Fronds

6Lovage, if You Grow It