By Arielle Weg-Zager
I use a lot of vegetable broth. I’m a vegetarian, so broth is an easy ingredient to add a little extra flavor to my meals. From cooking rice or quinoa to making soups and thinning out sauces, I use it everywhere. I’ll use a splash of broth to deglaze a pan or even add it to a roasting pan to make my veggies extra tender. But the more I added cup after cup to my dishes, the more I realized how important it was to use high-quality broth. I wanted something I could sip from a mug on a cold day, on its own, to bring the fullest flavor to my dishes. That’s when I got the idea to make my own homemade broth.
While I still keep a box of broth stashed in my pantry, this past year I started experimenting with making my own homemade broth—and it was a game-changer. The homemade version is deep in flavor, I can season it however I like, and best of all—it’s essentially free! Not only am I saving money by doing this, but I’m cutting down on my food waste and elevating all of my cooking
Here’s how I do it: Every time I cook, I keep a bowl handy for any veggie scraps. I give everything a good rinse and leave all the peels, ends, stems, and cores in the bowl. When I’m done cooking, I add the carrot peels, onion skin, celery tops, parsley stems, and anything else to a freezer-friendly zip-top bag. Once I have a few bags filled, it’s time for broth.
Next, I add all the veggie scraps to a slow cooker or large stock pot on the stove and cover with water, leaving an extra inch of water above the veggie line. Think of the broth like it’s tea. You’ll want to “steep” the vegetables in the water until the water turns a deep brown and takes on the flavors of the vegetables. I usually let the water come to a boil and start checking the color and flavor at the 30-minute mark. Once it tastes good to me, I strain out the solids, season it, pack the liquid in deli containers, and stash them in my freezer.
For slow cooker instructions, you can check out our recipe for Slow Cooker Veggie Broth here. You can also find other variations, like Chicken Bone Broth or Turkey Bone Broth, which are great options for using up leftover bones before tossing them away.
Pro Tip: While most vegetable scraps work well in this recipe, some lend different flavors that may be more or less to your preference. I found I loved tomato cores for sweetness and mushroom stems for rich umami, but some cruciferous vegetables, like cauliflower stems, brought a bit of a bitter flavor I didn’t love. Keep notes on what veggies you use in each batch until you perfect your mix!
Arielle Weg-Zager is the digital editor of SavoryOnline and has been writing about food, nutrition, and health for over 8 years. She collects cookbooks and loves nothing more than cooking elaborate meals for her friends or exploring the local restaurant scene.
