Homemade Vegetable Broth (from Food Waste)
Take your home cooking to the next level by making your very own batch of fragrant vegetable stock. Savory, light and so easy to make, my simple French-style recipe is a great way to turn your veggie waste into the perfect base for soups and stews.
In This Post
Why Homemade Vegetable Stock is a Game-Changer!
I absolutely love the process of making my own homemade vegetable stock. These days, there are so many additives in stocks and they are often too salty or full of fillers and unnatural ingredients.
It’s so much healthier to make your own, if you have time, of course. Plus, it’s a great way to use up veggie waste in your kitchen.
Key Ingredients for a Perfect Vegetable Stock
In professional kitchens, the tops, bottoms and leaves of veggies all go into a large pot when cooking vegetable stock. Here’s what I use in my recipe:
- Vegetables: I always use the classic mirepoix: carrots, celery, onion and leeks and then I just add pretty much every other vegetable I have in the fridge like cauliflower or broccoli stems. You can even add the green, cauliflower leaves from the head and so on.
- Herbs: I recommend using fresh herbs, if possible. Thyme, bay leaves, rosemary and parsley (including the stems) are all great. Rosemary is a bit strong so just add a little.
- Spices : Whole peppercorns are essential and I also like to add a few other spices like cloves, fennel and coriander seeds for an extra layer of flavor.
The full ingredients list with quantities can be found in the recipe card.
Recipe Card
Homemade Vegetable Broth (from Food Waste)
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Ingredients
- 1.5 lb vegetables leftovers roughly chopped (carrots, celery stalks, celery root, shallots, leeks)
- 2 onions 1 white, 1 red, cut the red onion into quarters with the skin on and the white onion in half (optional: char it in a dry pan)
- 2 whole garlic cloves left unpeeled
- 2 tablespoons dried mushrooms left whole (e.g. porcini / cepe or shiitake)
- 2 tsp white and black peppercorns
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 3 whole cloves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 parsley stems
- 1 drizzle olive oil
- 8 cups cold water equivalent to 2 liters
- 2 tsp of salt
Instructions
- Char the onion (optional): Cut the white onions in half, place them cut side down in a dry skillet over medium-high heat and let them cook without moving them. Once the surface becomes dark brown to almost black, remove it from the pan. This adds color and a subtle smoky flavor to the broth.
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot. Sauté all the prepared vegetables for a few minutes to bring out their flavor.
- Pour in 8 cups of cold water. Add the charred white onion (if using), the herbs (thyme, rosemary, bay leaves), the spices and dried mushrooms.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. Simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours (or longer for a deeper flavor). Add the salt and let cook until it dissolves.
- Strain the broth through a fine-mesh strainer or chinois.
- Pour the clear broth into a jar.
Notes
5 Tips for Perfect Vegetable Stock
While making vegetable stock is absolutely simple, these are my tips for getting excellent results:
- Always start with cold water: Bring it slowly to simmer. This method gives you the best chance at clear and deeply flavored vegetable stock.
- Use your kitchen vegetable waste: Specifically the skins, tops, leaves and bottoms. As long as they are 100% clean. These will give your vegetable stock a delicious taste.
- Char your onion: For a good color and flavor, char your onions, cut side down, in a dry pan until dark and caramelized.
- Red onion for color: It’s just an easy little trick of mine to get a beautiful color.
- Salt at the end: I always season at the end and never at the beginning. This is because the vegetable stock will reduce and become more concentrated towards the end.
- Simmer don’t boil: Simmer your vegetable stock gently for clarity and the best flavor. The longer and slower you simmer it, the better the flavor outcome.
Vegetable Stock vs Broth: What’s the Difference?
When it comes to meat-based preparations, the difference between stock and broth is pretty clear. A stock is intensiver in flavors and is made primarily with bones which are rich in collagen. A broth, on the other hand, is generally made with meat rather than bones. It’s lighter, more delicately flavored, and seasoned so it can be enjoyed on its own, like a soup.
For vegetable stock and vegetable broth, there isn’t traditionally such a strict distinction and in French we call both “bouillon“.
However, I like to make one distinction. To make my vegetable stock to be richer and deeper than my vegetable broth and achieve that extra depth and a more “meaty” umami character, I add dried mushrooms, which bring richness and that savory quality we usually associate with meat stocks.
What to Cook with Vegetable Stock
Vegetable stock is incredibly versatile and a staple in my kitchen, for sure. There are so many recipes that have me reaching for my homemade vegetable stock:
- Soups
- Stews
- Grains: I use it often mixed to water to cook rice, risotto, quinoa or polenta dishes to give them more flavors.
Here are a few recipes if you’re looking for inspiration to use this vegetable stock recipe:
- All Soups
- Creamy Cauliflower Soup (Low Carb)
- White Bean and Tomato Stew
- Finnish Salmon Soup (Lohikeitto)
- French Onion Soup
- Lemon and Parmesan Risotto
- Oven-Baked Polenta Fries (Easy & Crispy)
- Zesty Quinoa Salad
FAQ: Vegetable Stock
Vegetable stock is a flavored liquid made by simmering vegetables, herbs and spices in water. It forms the base for soups, stews, risottos, sauces and grains, adding tasty depth.
I prefer not to add super strong flavored veggies like turnips or radishes that can overpower the flavor and turn the stock bitter. I also don’t use potatoes which can thicken or cloud it. Also, beetroot don’t work due to their color.
Not always. The peels from onions, carrots and garlic add flavor and color. Just make sure vegetables are clean and free of dirt or blemishes.
