Celery
Peak season in the Midwest · down 26% this week
This vegetable is harvested somewhere in the country all year, so it has no single local-harvest peak, and it is sold in stores year-round. This week it's peak season in the Midwest — buying it in season usually means better quality and, as the regional prices below show, a lower price.
Per a typical 110g serving, scaled from the per-100g figures in USDA FoodData Central (Celery, raw).
- 1 SouthwestCheapest $0.83/ea
- 2 Southeast $0.98/ea
- 3 Midwest $1.49/ea
- 4 Northeast $1.50/ea
- 5 Northwest $1.62/ea
Buying celery in the Southwest saves about 49% versus the Northwest this week.
- How to pick a good one
- Tight, upright stalks that snap rather than bend, with fresh green leaves still attached. The leaves wilt first and are the clearest freshness signal. Avoid heads that splay open or have rubbery outer ribs.
- What a good price looks like
- A head runs $2 to $3.50 and is stable year-round. Celery hearts cost roughly double per pound for the tender inner portion, which is worth it only for eating raw. Because most households use it two ribs at a time, the practical saving is in using the whole head rather than in the shelf price.
- What you actually get
- A head is about 1.5 lb and gives roughly 6 cups chopped — far more than most recipes want, which is why half a head so often goes soft in the drawer. Two ribs make about a cup diced. It keeps two weeks wrapped tightly, longer if you stand the base in water.
- How to store it
- Refrigerate wrapped in foil rather than plastic — it lets ethylene escape, and celery stays crisp for weeks instead of days.
- In the kitchen
- Peel the outer ribs with a vegetable peeler if you are eating them raw — the strings are the reason people find celery unpleasant, and they come off in one pass. The pale inner heart is tender and sweet and needs nothing. Celery leaves are a herb, not rubbish; they taste like a stronger version of the stalk and belong in stock, salads, and stuffing.
- Getting the most out of it
- The leaves are edible and taste more strongly of celery than the stalks, so use them like a herb rather than binning them. Celery is a third of the aromatic base of most soups and stews, and limp stalks are perfectly good for that even when they are past raw eating.
- Mexican Macaroni SaladRecipe by The Recipe Critic~$0.66 / serving 7 in-season
- The Peanut Butter Lunch BoxRecipe by Budget Bytes~$0.84 / serving 3 in-season
- Chicken and Lime SoupRecipe by Budget Bytes~$0.92 / serving 7 in-season
- Ham and Potato SoupRecipe by Budget Bytes~$0.93 / serving 4 in-season
- Chicken Corn Chowder with BaconRecipe by Spend With Pennies~$0.95 / serving 5 in-season
- Bolognese RecipeRecipe by Budget Bytes~$1.02 / serving 5 in-season
See all 761 recipes with celery →Filter by diet, time, budget, and macros.
Price from the USDA National Retail Report. Nutrition per typical serving, computed from USDA FoodData Central.
Celery — FAQ
When can you buy celery in season?
This vegetable is harvested somewhere in the country all year, so it has no single local-harvest peak, and it is sold in stores year-round. This week the Midwest has celery marked peak season.
What's the price of celery right now?
As of the week of September 4, 2026, the price of celery in the Midwest is $1.49/ea, down 26% from last week. It's cheapest in the Southwest at $0.83/ea.
How many calories and how much protein are in celery?
A typical 110g serving of celery has about 15 calories, 0.8g protein, 3.3g carbohydrates, 0.2g fat, and 1.8g fiber, per USDA FoodData Central.
What can I make with celery?
SeasonSort indexes 761 recipes that use celery, each with its cost per serving computed from this week's prices — starting from about $0.03 a serving. The cheapest are listed on this page, with a link to the full filtered list.