An Easy Homemade Vegetable Broth Recipe that is delicious, cheaper than store-bought, and takes less than an hour to make. You can use it for soups, stews, chili, and so on.
Have you heard the expression “everything homemade is better”? I have, and I totally agree with it. That’s why every time I have a chance, I make my own tomato sauce, my own salad dressing, and my own chicken and vegetable broth.
It’s economical, it’s quicker to make and it tastes really good. On top of that, it’s so easy! It’s one of my go-to pantry staples (see this post on my 18 Healthy Pantry Recipes). All you need to do is chop up all the vegetables, cover them with water, add some herbs, and simmer. And there you have it: delicious vegetable broth that tastes better than store-bought. Plus, you have more control over the amount of salt that’s added and any weird ingredients that some brands add to their broth.
Making this recipe, you’ll have enough broth to make your soups, chili, stews, casseroles, and rice for weeks to come. Another staple I’ll be making this week is my Instant Pot Meat Sauce Recipe! Stocking up my fridge with these staples is my go-to on the weekends.
Some tips to make this Easy Homemade Vegetable Broth Recipe:
- Use approximately the same amount of vegetables to water. Fill a pot halfway with vegetables and then cover them with a couple of inches of water is a great amount. Your stock will have a nice amount of flavor.
- You can also add scraps of onions, carrots, and celery to the stock. Whatever you have (like when you make my Easy Roasted Vegetables Recipe), collect the scraps in a freezer bag, and when you have about 2 cups of vegetable scraps, use them to make your broth. It’s a great way to not waste food in your kitchen.
- Do not simmer your vegetable broth for less than 45 minutes because your stock will lack flavor.
What ingredients are in vegetable broth?
- Olive oil
- Cloves garlic
- Onions
- Celery
- Carrots
- Tomato paste
- Water
- Bay leave
- Parsley and thyme
- Salt and pepper
Does vegetable stock go bad?
Yes, it does. So, keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 6 months.
What veggies are good for stock?
For a great vegetable broth, you need vegetables with neutral, savory flavors. Such as garlic, onions, carrots, celery, and/or mushrooms. You can also use leeks, shallots, or parsnips. Whenever I make my Mushroom Cauliflower Rice Skillet, I save some mushrooms and cauliflower for the stock.
What should you not put in vegetable stock?
Unfortunately, not every vegetable is good for making vegetable broth. Tomatoes, asparagus, and cabbage are not considered great veggies to make vegetable broth. Either starchy vegetable since they can make the vegetable broth very gummy. Beet is another vegetable that can overpower the taste of vegetable broth, and zucchini and green beans can make vegetable broth taste a bit bitter.
Want something sweet to make this weekend along with your vegetable stock? Try my Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Easy Homemade Vegetable Broth Recipe
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 large onions roughly chopped
- 4 ribs celery roughly chopped
- 3 carrots chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 8 cups water
- 3 dried bay leaves
- A few sprigs of parsley and thyme
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven or stockpot, heat olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the garlic, onions, celery, and carrots. Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Add tomato paste and cook for one more minute.
- Add the water, bay leaves, parsley, and thyme. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.
- Strain the vegetable broth into a large heat-proof bowl or pot.
- Use immediately or let the broth cool down. Once has cooled, transfer it to freezer bags and store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. (Pour about 2 cups of vegetable broth in the freezer bags).
Tips
- Make sure the ingredients you use for the stock are fresh. While it's easy to save odds and ends throughout the week to throw into a stock, it's best to double-check the ingredients.
- Avoid adding starchy vegetables or strong-tasting vegetables to the stock as starchy vegetables will lead to a gummy broth and strong-tasting vegetables will overpower the broth.
- Feel free to use this homemade vegetable broth in place of any recipe calling for a vegetable broth.
- To store: Store the vegetable broth in the fridge for 5 days in an airtight container such as a mason jar.
- To freeze: Freeze vegetable broth for up to 6 months.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
Samsundar Katwaru says
Your recipe are great and easy to follow.
Olivia Ribas says
Thank you so much 😉
Susan Lund says
The other day, I was about to follow a recipe for potato-leek soup which called for four cups of stock or broth, either chicken or vegetable. Didn’t feel like going to the store just for a carton of the usual weak-tasting broth, and since I always have celery, onions and carrots on hand, decided to try this recipe (it seemed the simplest and quickest of the scores of available recipes). Wow. So deeply flavorful! I wanted to just eat it immediately, maybe add some noodles. But I held off, saved it in the fridge and made the potato-leek soup the next day. Utterly amazing. Four days later, I’m making up another batch of this vegetable broth today. The first time, I added a small amount of roughly chopped mild-tasting radish greens I had on hand. Didn’t have tomato paste the other day, so subbed a scant tablespoon of homemade ketchup (made the ketchup one day when I was out and needed it for a meatloaf! Just tomato sauce, vinegar and less sugar than the recipe called for). Anyway, today I have tomato paste! But folks, it’s fine to improvise your vegetable broth! (If using it as a base for a mild flavored recipe, don’t use any cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli or brussels sprouts as forewarned on this site.) Don’t know how I got to be as old as I am without having made a simple vegetable broth before; have made many soups from scratch though, but now with a pre-made broth, it’ll be much quicker to throw something together.
Sipping this broth, you feel your body saying Thank You for this nutrition, and for the flavor!
P.S. If using this as a base for another recipe, go light on the salt and pepper, since you’ll be adding more seasonings then. Tale it from someone who over-peppered the potato soup just a tad. But it still rocked.
Olivia Ribas says
So happy that you liked this recipe and it was helpful for you, Susan. I appreciate a lot your comment and for being here 😉
Susan Lund says
PPS – typo at the end of my lengthy comment. I meant “TAKE it from someone who…”
And sorry about that big block o’ text. Submitted by accident before adding paragraph breaks. Ah well.
Susan Lund says
post-post-post script (oh brother):
If my long, glowing comment is still up here, I forgot to mention I only made a half-recipe the first time, since I only needed 4 cups of broth. From now on I’ll be making the full recipe, as I’m sure I’ll be slurping up half of it before the day is out. And I didn’t have any bay leaves. Doesn’t matter.