How To Dice Celery 101 | Tips + Steps

Here’s a quick tutorial to help you learn how to dice celery with a sharp knife. It’s an important part of knowing kitchen skills, and celery is a common ingredient for many savory dishes.

For how to dice celery the easiest, fastest way, you’ll need fresh stalks of celery, a sharp kitchen knife, a cutting board, water for rinsing the celery, a clean kitchen towel for drying the celery before you cut it, and a container for keeping the diced celery.

Let’s take a look at how to dice celery by hand. It’s easy and fairly quick, but you’ll want to take your time around a sharp knife until you get comfortable.

What does it mean to dice celery?

Dicing celery means to cut it up into small pieces. The size of your pieces can vary, but if you cut them the same size as gaming dice, for example, they’d be about ½-inch square. The reality is, you can “dice” celery to be small, square pieces that are as large or small as you’d like.

You wouldn’t dice celery if you want to cut celery sticks into 3- or 4-inch sections for filling with peanut butter or for dipping into a Mexican dip, though.

Ways to use diced celery

Once you have finished learning how to dice celery, you can add it to lots of recipes. While some people prefer very small dices in their tuna or chicken salad, some people prefer larger diced celery. 

Celery has a very distinctive taste, so keep that in mind when you go to take a bite. Do you want that bite to be very celery-forward, or do you want it to have a milder taste? Also remember that cooked celery becomes soft and more mild flavored the longer it cooks. This is ideal when you want all the vegetables in your recipe to be soft, like in a soup or stew, If your celery will not be cooked, like when you add it raw to tuna salad, a very small dice will add a bit of salty celery flavor without taking over every morsel. 

Let’s take a closer look at dishes that use different sizes of diced celery.

Add larger dices of celery (1/2-inch) to:

• Crockpot vegetable soup
• Chicken and dumplings
• Beef stew
• Seafood chowder

Add medium dices of celery (1/4 inch) to:

• Stir fries
• Vegetable fried rice
• Chicken pot pie

Add smaller dices of celery (⅛ inch) for:

• Mirepoix
• Tomato sauce
• Tuna salad or chicken salad
• Homemade stuffing

To dice celery, follow these steps:

1. Start by selecting fresh celery stalks that are firm and crisp. Look for stalks that have a vibrant green color and tightly packed leaves.
2. Rinse the celery stalks under cold water to remove any dirt or debris. Pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel.
3. Trim off the leafy tops and the wide, whiter base of the celery stalks. Discard any discolored or wilted parts.
4. Slice the celery stalks into smaller sections, about 2 to 3 inches in length. This will make it easier to handle and dice.
5. Take one section of celery and place it flat on the cutting board. Hold it firmly with one hand, making sure to curl your fingers inwards to protect them.
6. With the other hand, use a sharp knife to make vertical cuts into the celery. Start from one end of the celery section and work your way towards the other end, keeping the cuts evenly spaced.
7. Depending on the desired size of the dice, you can make the cuts closer together for smaller pieces or farther apart for larger pieces. Aim for uniformity in size to ensure even cooking.
8. Once you have made the vertical cuts, rotate the celery section 90 degrees and make horizontal cuts. Again, keep the cuts evenly spaced and consistent in size.
9. Continue dicing the celery sections in the same manner until you have diced all the celery stalks you need for your recipe.
10. Gather the diced celery and transfer it to a bowl or container. You can now use the diced celery in your recipes or store it in the refrigerator for later use.
11. You can store diced celery for about three days. Keep it covered and cold, and look for browning around the edges. When you see brown edges, the diced celery is becoming soft and is starting to go bad. Discard brown or moldy pieces of celery.

Here’s a video from the Culinary Institute of America to demonstrate another way for how to dice celery:

The bottom line

Dicing celery is a fundamental technique in many culinary preparations, adding a crisp and refreshing texture to dishes like salads, stir-fries, soups, and more. By following these steps, you’ll be able to dice celery with ease and precision, enhancing the flavor and presentation of your culinary creations.

More About Celery

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• Budget-Friendly Celery Appetizers
• How To Cut Celery Sticks
• How To Freeze Celery