Celery
Vegetables · Other Vegetables
The green serve of celery is smaller than anything you would actually put on a plate. A quarter stalk, 5 cm long and about 10 g, rates green; one whole stalk, 50 g, is rated red, with mannitol rising from 0.08 g to 0.4 g. On a low FODMAP diet celery is a garnish rather than a vegetable.
Last updated 3 September 2026Serving sizes for celery
A quarter stalk (5 cm, 10 g) rates green. One whole stalk (50 g) is rated red.
Tested serving sizes
| Serving | Amount | Main FODMAP | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/4 stalk (5cm) | 10 g | Mannitol 0.08 g | |
| 1 stalk | 50 g | Mannitol 0.4 g |
Breakdown for 0.2 stalks
Is celery low FODMAP?
Mannitol does the work here. The quarter stalk carries 0.08 g of it, comfortably under the 0.2 g mark where mannitol starts counting against a portion, plus 0.02 g of fructans and nothing from the other four groups. Take the whole stalk and the mannitol quadruples to 0.4 g, twice that mark, while fructans reach 0.1 g. There is no amber step in the data. Celery moves from green to red across four bites, and nothing in between has been measured.
Celery and IBS: what to know
The trouble with celery is rarely a deliberate serve. It is the celery you did not count: stock, soup bases, stuffing, tuna salad and coleslaw all start with it chopped small, and a single stick of crudités is already the amount rated red. Celery juice is the extreme version, since a glass takes most of a bunch and delivers the mannitol with none of the fibre or chewing that would slow it down. If soups reliably upset you, the celery in the base deserves suspicion alongside the onion.
Gut-friendly ways to eat celery
For crunch in a salad or a lunchbox, cucumber and radish do celery’s job with none of the mannitol, and fennel bulb sliced thin gives the same fibrous snap with an aniseed edge. For the flavour rather than the texture, celery seeds are rated green and carry that savoury, slightly bitter note into stocks, rubs and potato salad. If you want the real thing in a dish, dice one quarter stalk very finely through a pot that feeds four, so no single plate collects more than the green amount.
Frequently asked questions
How much celery can I eat on a low FODMAP diet?
Only two points have been measured. The green one is a 5 cm piece weighing 10 g, roughly a quarter of a stalk; the red one is a single whole stalk at 50 g. Nothing in between has been tested, so half a stalk is a guess rather than a known safe serve. In practice that makes celery a flavouring you dice small, not something you eat in sticks.
Is celery juice low FODMAP?
No. A glass of celery juice takes far more than the small piece that rates green, and juicing strips out the fibre that would normally slow the mannitol down. Whatever else is claimed for the habit, a daily celery juice is one of the heavier polyol loads you can hand an IBS gut. Peppermint tea is the gentler morning drink.
Does cooking celery make it low FODMAP?
No. Heat leaves mannitol intact, so braised, roasted and raw celery all count the same at the same weight. Mannitol is water-soluble, which cuts the other way in a stock: simmering celery moves it into the liquid, and straining out the pieces leaves it in the broth you are about to eat. A low FODMAP stock avoids the problem entirely.
Is celeriac the same as celery?
No, and this guide rates them differently: celeriac is rated green, while a single celery stalk is red. Celeriac is a variety grown for its root, and the mannitol figures on this page do not describe it. If you want that celery note in a mash, soup or gratin without the portion problem, celeriac is the better route.
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