Vegetable broth recipe (vegetable stock)
Vegetable broth recipe – Easy to make with vegetables that you probably have on hand. This is basic homemade vegetable stock recipe.
Not only this but all the recipes are best when homemade rather than store bought one. When it comes to store bought vegetable broth or stock, there are quite a few cons. First, all the brands don’t taste that great when compared to homemade.
Secondly, they are little expensive. While you can make it at home with very cheap price. Third, the flavors depend on mostly flavor enhancers like MSG, natural flavors, salt, sugar and more. When you make it at home, you will get all the flavors from the vegetables you have used.
So clearly, homemade is the best in terms of taste, flavor and hygiene.
There is a difference between broth and stock. Technically, broth is made by simmering meat for hours. While Stock is made by simmering the bones. When it comes to the vegetables, broth and stock both are same, since there are no bones included.
Here I am sharing the method of making vegetable broth. You can choose what you want to add in your version. Here are the basic things you need to keep in mind.
- Onion, carrot, garlic, celery are the base ingredients which you cannot skip. These gives the depth of flavors.
- You can use few stalks of fresh herbs (very small amount) like cilantro, parsley.
- Do not use vegetables that give strong flavors to you stock. e.g. peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, leafy vegetables, turnip, tomatoes.
- Never use potatoes. because they absorb the flavors.
How to make vegetable broth recipe (Step by Step Photos):
1) First prep all your veggies (onion, carrot, cabbage, celery and garlic). Wash/rinse them well. Then chop them roughly into big chunks.
2) Now take a big saucepan or pot. Add water, all the chopped vegetables and whole spices (bay leaf, black peppercorns and cloves).
3) Turn the heat on high and bring it to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat to low-medium or keep it on gentle simmer. Gentle simmer meaning the surface of the water should just barely be bubbling.
4) Let it simmer for 30-40 minutes. After that turn off the stove. You will notice the water is infused with vegetable goodness.
5) Now using the strainer, strain the broth/stock. Discard all the veggies (those do not have much flavors left). Or you can compost them.
6) Let it cool down completely.
Then store this vegetable stock in a jar in refrigerator or freeze them for longer period of time.
Shelf life: Once its cools, store in a glass jar or plastic container. In the refrigerator it stays good for a week. In freezer it stays good for 2-3 months or more. If freezing the stock, I would suggest to freeze them in small portions, so whenever you make soup you can thaw as needed.
Serving suggestion: This vegetable stock or vegetable broth is used while making any kind of soup recipes to make the soup more flavorful. It can be used for cooking rice, quinoa instead of water.
Notes:
- I never add salt while making broth. So I can control the salt intake and add it as needed while making soup.
- You can throw in vegetable scraps like carrot peels, spinach stems or any herb stems, celery leaves, broccoli stems, cauliflower stems and so on. Keep one container in the freezer, keep gathering the scraps. Once you have enough use in the recipe. But please make sure that scraps are washed very well before freezing because you don’t want dirt in your vegetable broth.
- Always start with cold or room temperature water. Never use warm or hot water. Let the temperature slowing increase. It helps to extract more flavors from the veggies.
- Always keep it on simmer, never boil otherwise you will loose delicate flavors.
- If you want light flavored broth you can dilute it with more water or start with more water. if you want more concentrated flavors, start with less water.
Vegetable broth recipe (How to make vegetable stock at home)
US measuring cups are used (1 cup = 240 ml)
Ingredients
- 1 medium or 1 cup Red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 small or ½ cup Carrots, roughly chopped
- ½ cup Cabbage, roughly chopped
- 3 inch piece or ¼ cup Celery, cut into ½ inch pieces
- 2-3 cloves Garlic
- 1 Bay leaf
- 5-6 Black peppercorns
- 2-3 Cloves
- 5 cups Water
Instructions
- First prep all your veggies (onion, carrot, cabbage, celery and garlic). Wash/rinse them well. Then chop them roughly into big chunks.
Making vegetable broth recipe or vegetable stock recipe:
- Now take a big saucepan or pot. Add water, all the chopped vegetables and whole spices.
- Turn the heat on high and bring it to a boil.
- Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat to low-medium or keep it on gentle simmer. Gentle simmer meaning the surface of the water should just barely be bubbling.
- Let it simmer for 30-40 minutes.
- After that turn off the stove.
- Now using the strainer, strain the broth/stock.
- Discard all the veggies (those do not have any flavor left). Or you can compost them.
- Let it cool down completely.
Hi Kanan,
Thanks for the recipe. I always have one concern when I make broth and that is what todo with the veggies after we have strained them. Throwing them away seems too much of wastage.
The veggies have done their job. All the flavors are went in the broth, so you are left with no-flavor, tasteless veggies. You must throw it in garbage or compost them.
Think other way around and you won’t feel guilty of throwing stuff or wastage. I know many people think that it is a wastage. But actually it is not. You are throwing the the solid (cannot be used anywhere else) and you are going to consume nutrition and flavors in form of broth. After all we are eating veggies for their nutrients to build good. healthy life.