Lovage Substitutes: Celery, in the Right Form for the Job

Out of lovage? Use celery, in whichever form matches the part of lovage your recipe calls for: leaf, stalk or seed. Lovage tastes like strong, sweet celery, and CooksInfo says it tastes even more of celery than celery does.¹ So you’ll usually need more celery leaf than the lovage called for, and a pinch of celery seed helps close the gap.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

CooksInfo names celery leaves as the swap for lovage leaves and celery seed for lovage seed, but gives no amounts.¹ The one Attributed figure here converts between two forms of celery, not between lovage and celery.

Why celery works

The two plants share a family and a class of aroma compounds, the phthalides, which give each its characteristic smell.²³ That shared chemistry fits what cooks say: lovage tastes like celery, only stronger.¹

If lovage leaves are going into a cooked dish

1. Celery leaves, plus a pinch of celery seed

CooksInfo names celery leaves first. Katzer notes that celery leaves often get cooked into soups or sauces to improve the taste, and that every part of the celery plant is strongly aromatic. Lovage is the stronger of the two,¹ so you’ll need more celery leaf than the lovage called for. A small pinch of celery seed helps close the gap. Katzer says the seeds have “a similar, but much stronger aroma.”²

Where it falls short: celery leaf is milder and lacks lovage’s sweetness, so the dish will taste of celery, not lovage.

Ratio (Method): Start with about twice as much chopped celery leaf as lovage, add a small pinch of celery seed if the dish needs more depth, and taste. CooksInfo notes that long cooking destroys lovage’s flavor and suggests adding the leaves at the last minute.¹ Add celery leaves toward the end too.

2. Celery seed alone

No fresh celery? Celery seed can carry the celery note in a soup or stew. The Spice House, writing about the reverse swap, says to use 2 tablespoons of minced celery tops for every 1/2 teaspoon of celery seeds.

Ratio (Attributed, seed to leaf): Work out how much celery leaf you’d have used for the lovage, then apply The Spice House’s conversion: 1/2 teaspoon of celery seed for each 2 tablespoons of celery tops.⁴ McCormick says celery seed’s pungent, somewhat bitter flavor goes a long way,⁵ so start at the low end and taste.

3. Celeriac (celery root)

Celeriac is the root form of celery, and like the leaves it suits soups and sauces. Peeled and diced, celeriac adds celery flavor and body to a soup or stew. It won’t help a raw dish.

Ratio (Method): Add a small piece of celeriac to the pot with the other vegetables, then taste and adjust next time.

4. Maggi seasoning

Lovage’s German name is Maggikraut, and its Dutch name is Maggiplant. CooksInfo reports that some people find lovage tastes like Maggi sauce.¹ You can run that resemblance in reverse: a few drops of Maggi can give a broth some of the savory depth lovage brings. We didn’t find a source on whether Maggi products contain lovage.

Where it falls short: there’s no fresh green note, and it’s a seasoning sauce, so check the label and adjust the salt.

Ratio (Method): Add a few drops to the finished broth and taste before adding more.

If raw lovage leaves are the point

In potato salad, egg dishes or a green salad, chopped lovage is the fresh herb you taste, not a background flavor.

1. Celery leaves with flat-leaf parsley

Use the pale, tender inner celery leaves, and add a little flat-leaf parsley for green freshness. Parsley is mildly aromatic, so it brings freshness, not the celery note.

Ratio (Method): Start with about twice as much of the mix as the lovage called for, mostly celery leaf, and taste.

If lovage stalks are being cooked as a vegetable

Lovage leaves and stalks are eaten as a vegetable. Celery stalks are the obvious stand-in, and CooksInfo says lovage stalks hold their flavor longer in cooking than the leaves do.¹

Ratio (Method): Use about the same amount of sliced celery stalk as lovage stalk, and expect a milder celery flavor.

Fennel, for texture only

Fennel stalks give you a similar crunch, but not the same flavor. Fennel’s anise smell and sweet taste come from anethole,⁶ which heads in a different direction from celery. Use fennel only where an anise note suits the dish.

Ratio (Method): If you use it, replace no more than half of the lovage stalk with fennel and make up the rest with celery.

If the recipe uses lovage seed

CooksInfo says lovage seeds can be used as celery seed in cooking,¹ and the swap works the other way too.

You’ll often read that commercial celery seed and celery salt are really made from lovage seed. We found no source showing this. McCormick’s celery salt label lists salt and celery seed.⁷

Ratio (Method): Start with the same amount of celery seed as lovage seed and taste. If you use celery salt instead, cut back the other salt in the recipe.

Dried lovage

Got dried lovage? It’s a weak stand-in for fresh. CooksInfo says lovage doesn’t dry well and recommends freezing it instead.¹

What isn’t known

• None of the sources we found say whether Maggi seasoning contains lovage.

Related

• Lovage
• Celery leaves and celery leaves substitutes
• Celery seeds, celery seed substitutes and celery seed uses
• Celery salt and celery powder
• Parsley and fennel seed

Footnotes

1. “Lovage”, CooksInfo, updated 2020. cooksinfo.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Gernot Katzer, “Celery (Apium graveolens)”, Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩ ↩²

3. Mohamadi et al., “Essential Oil Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Levisticum officinale Koch. at Various Phenological Stages”, Journal of Medicinal Plants, 2017. jmp.ir · Peer-reviewed ↩

4. “Celery Seed Substitute”, The Spice House, 2018. thespicehouse.com · Merchant ↩

5. McCormick Whole Celery Seed, product page, McCormick. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩

6. Purwaningsih et al., Foeniculum vulgare, Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

7. McCormick Celery Salt, label ingredients, via Stop & Shop product listing. stopandshop.com · Merchant ↩

Also drawn on

• Lovage (Britannica Editors; revised by Melissa Petruzzello), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com
• Parsley, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com