Easy Vegetable Stock

Nothing compares to homemade vegetable stock or broth.  The flavor is much more pronounced, you can add whatever you want to it to enhance different flavors, and it’s honestly just boiling vegetables.  Easy, delicious, and makes your house smell wonderful?  Sign me up…

Something to know about making your own vegetable broth or stock is that the base is always onions, carrots, celery, and garlic.  Those ingredients are non-negotiable.  Add chicken to this and you would have a chicken stock, but since we don’t do that around these parts, we will stick with the vegetables.  From there, I add bay leaves, a bunch of parsley because I love the flavor, black peppercorns, and salt.  Then I top it with water, bring it to a boil, reduce to simmer and cover it and let it cook for about 40 minutes.  Go easy on the salt in the beginning because as it reduces, the salt will get more pronounced because the water is evaporating.

You all have probably been told to save your ends of your vegetable trimmings to make a stock out of.  It’s not a bad thought, I just don’t do it.  I want to maximize the flavor of my broth so I use whole vegetables.  Another thing I do differently is I add the water last.  I throw everything into a dry pot and crank the heat up so that the onions, carrots, and celery, caramelize on the bottom on the pot.  I like to do this to get some of the flavor out of the vegetables first.  Then, when I add the water, it deglazes the bottom of the pan and gets those delicious darkened bits of vegetables off the bottom. This method also contributes to a darker color.  If you wish not to do that, boil your water first, and then throw in all the vegetables.

Other options to add to the pot are dried mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, or other herbs like thyme or rosemary. What you don’t want to add are more bitter vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, things like that.

Taste the liquid often while doing this.  If you feel it has enough flavor, turn the heat off and let it sit, if it’s missing something, try adding some more salt.   Enough salt is key to make this come together. Once the flavor is to your liking, put a strainer over a large pot and strain the vegetables while catching the liquid.  Store in a container in the fridge for about 5 days or freeze until use.

Use this as a base for your soups, sauces, marinades, whatever you wish.  I tend to save it for more special occasions because it just cannot compare to store bought.   Let me know what you guys think.  I hope you love it!

If you make this recipe please be sure to tag me and leave a comment @plantiful_grub on Instagram and Facebook.

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Easy Vegetable Stock

Make this when you have a few hours. The longer you let this simmer, the more flavorful it becomes. This completely beats buying it from the store and makes the house smell wonderful.

Prep Time

5 Minutes

Cook Time

40 Minutes

Servings

cups

Ingredients

• 3 whole onions quartered
• 2 whole carrots cleaned and chopped
• 2 stalks celery cleaned and chopped
• 3 whole bay leaves
• 1 head garlic cut in half
• 1 tablespoon peppercorns black
• 6 cups water
• 1 bunch parsley stalks too
• 2 tablespoons salt

Prep Time 5 Minutes Cook Time 40 Minutes Servings cups Ingredients 3 whole onions quartered 2 whole carrots cleaned and chopped 2 stalks celery cleaned and chopped 3 whole bay leaves 1 head garlic cut in half 1 tablespoon peppercorns black 6 cups water 1 bunch parsley stalks too 2 tablespoons salt

Instructions

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium heat. First, prepare all the ingredients.
2. Make sure the produce is clean but do not remove the skins of the onions or garlic. Quarter the onions, chop the carrots and celery and halve the whole head of garlic.
3. To the dry pot add the onions, celery, and carrots and 1 tablespoon of salt. Let these cook in the pan allowing for browning. This browning helps bring extra color and flavor to the stock.
4. Once everything starts to brown a bit, add the garlic, and cook a bit more. Then add the water, bay leaves, peppercorns, and parsley. Stir and make sure everything is combined and cover with a lid.
5. Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and let it cook down. At this time, keep the lid on. You will start to smell all of the excellent aromatics as they cook and bring flavor to the water.
6. After about 30 minutes, remove the lid from the stock and taste. The vegetables should be a darker color now and not nearly as vibrant. You are infusing the water with all of the nutrients from the vegetables. Give the broth a taste. If it tastes flavorful, add some salt, stir, and let cook for another 5 minutes and then strain. If it's super bland, let it keep cooking.
7. Strain into a container and store in the fridge. Use this for anything you wish to use vegetable stock for. Some of my favorites are gravies and soups.