Easy Vegetable Broth Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What not to put in vegetable broth? ›

Herbs add the “umami” to the soup, in my opinion. I went with fresh thyme, parsley, and rosemary and a bay leaf for good measure. And for even more depth of flavor? Tomato paste and nutritional yeast!

Onions, carrots, and celery are always the base of a good vegetable broth. Add any leftover vegetables and herbs that need to be used up, and will add flavor.

Vegetables to Avoid When Making Vegetables Stock

Starchy vegetables like potatoes and turnips will make for a gummy, cloudy vegetable stock. Beets overpower their aromatic counterparts. Zucchini and greens beans become bitter when slowly simmered for as long it takes to make this stock.

Some vegetables just don't taste great in a stock! Cruciferous vegetables will get funky tasting, and seemingly mild vegetables like zucchini, green beans, and bell peppers can get bitter if simmered for too long.

If it tastes bitter to you, there are a couple of ways to fix that. Consider adding one to four tablespoons of unsalted butter. Add one at a time, melt it in, cook for two minutes and taste.

Turnips and radishes. While you can toss in the tops of most produce, there are some root veggies she recommends leaving out. "Stay away from some of those really bitter root vegetables, like turnips and radishes," says Jawad. They can ruin the balance of your stock, making it come out very bitter.

Water. This simple swap should suffice in most recipes that call for broth. To give H2O more depth, you may want to compensate by adding more spices like salt, pepper and bay leaves to your recipe and a tablespoon or two of olive oil to mimic the richness of broth.

Chicken Broth Ingredients

Celery, carrots and onions: This veggie trio is known as mirepoix. It adds depth and makes up the aromatic base of broth. Feel free to use vegetable scraps if you have them on hand. Herbs and spices: Bay leaves, dried rosemary, dried thyme and peppercorns add subtle flavor to the broth.

Is it cheaper to make or buy broth? ›

If you're thinking about buying ingredients just to make stock, then bouillon, especially dry, is definitely more cost-effective. But if you're willing to save scraps (and have someplace to keep them until you have enough), then making your own is basically free. Depends on how you value your time.

Homemade vegetable broth allows you to get more use out of your vegetables. It can save you money, and save you a trip to the grocery store. As a bonus, your homemade broth will taste delicious and you can control the amount of salt and other seasonings.

Speaking of boxed vegetable broth… These ingredients are good, but the flavor is nowhere near a homemade version. Fresh always has the most flavor! My homemade recipe makes 10 cups, so it's more than two store-bought boxes combined!

Vegetable broth contains a rich source of important nutrients to help our body function optimally, It aids in nutrient absorption and increasing our brain and body functions.

Consider adding other vegetables and herbs to the stock, like mushrooms, eggplant, asparagus trimmings, corn cobs, fennel stalks and trimmings, bell peppers, pea pods, chard stems and leaves, celery root trimmings, potato parings, marjoram stems and leaves, and basil stems and leaves.

Add bright, fresh flavor to vegetable broth

Just warm up the broth, toss in some parsley, cilantro, tarragon, sage, thyme, or a combination, and let the broth steep like tea for several minutes before fishing the herbs out. Don't boil fresh herbs in broth, though, or they could make the stock bitter.