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Plants Not Plastic

Homemade Vegetable Broth (with Scraps)

Making your own vegetable broth using vegetable scraps from your kitchen is easy, healthy and free! It also tastes so much better than store-bought that once you've tried it, you'll never go back.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 4 cups
Ingredients Equipment Method Video Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups veggie scraps [see notes]
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme sub 1.5 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or ~1 sprig)
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • 1/4 tsp whole peppercorns
  • 1 quart water
  • 1/2 tsp salt optional
  • splash of white wine or apple cider vinegar optional [see notes]

Equipment

  • mesh sieve/strainer
  • 3+ quart stock pot

Method
 

  1. See notes for details on picking veggies and prepping to make this broth.
  2. Peel garlic cloves and smash them lightly with the flat side of your knife, so the cloves are cracked and somewhat flattened.
  3. Cook either stovetop or Instant Pot per the directions below.
  4. Scoop the largest pieces into a fine-mesh sieve and squeeze out the liquid using a spoon or the bottom of a ladle. Then strain the remaining liquid through the sieve.
  5. Use right away in a recipe of your choice or store in fridge for up to a week, or portion and store in the freezer for up to three months.
  6. Enjoy!
Stovetop (recommended method [note#1])
  1. In a 3 quart or larger pot, saute the veggie scraps, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns for 5-7 minutes to soften.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
  3. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes, then uncover and simmer for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
Instant Pot
  1. Sauté the veggie scraps, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns on the Sauté setting for 5-7 minutes to soften.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and set Instant Pot to high-pressure, manual for 5 minutes. When the timer goes off, let it natural pressure release for at least 20 minutes (if not for the entire time), before releasing any remaining pressure and removing the lid.

Video

Notes

  1. I recommend stovetop because while Instant Pot may save you some time, the entire point of a broth is to provide additional flavor to other recipes. This flavor development comes with additional cook time! But I have included the Instant Pot method if you are in a pinch and can't take the extra 30+ minutes for stovetop.
I store my veggie scraps from weekly veggie prep in a large mason jar in the freezer, and then move it the fridge the day before I want to make my stock. If you happen to be doing a lot of prep for something and end up with a bunch of scraps, you can make your stock straight from fresh scraps, but it also comes out great using older, frozen scraps (though it won't be very aesthetic-looking).
You want to aim for equal ratio of savory and sweet veggie scraps. Things like carrots, bell pepper, parsnips, beets, corn cobs, and old roasted vegetables fall into the sweet category, where onions, leeks, mushroom stems, spinach or squash fall into the savory category.
Other things to keep in mind:
  • Anything red, like red onion skins, red chard, beets, etc. will tint the stock purple, so reserve these veggie scraps for dishses where color isn't a concern.
  • Starchy foods like potato and potato skins will turn the stock gummy, while cabbage, cauliflower, collards, crobboli, Brussels sprouts, kale and even zucchini skins may add unwanted bitterness, and personal preference will tell you whether carrot tops are a desirable addition.
  • If I didn't have onion scraps in my savory bag, I would personally add a little bit of rough chopped raw yellow or white onion to the mix - onion is such a classic base in recipes that, for me at least, it feels necessary in a vegetable stock.
  • The white wine or vinegar will add some acidity and depth to the stock. If you're using wine, add it in a couple minutes after starting to saute your veggies and make sure the alcohol smells cooks off before adding the rest of your ingredients.
This recipe is easily scalable, and I will typically triple the recipe - this is the amount of space I have in my veggie scrap container in my freezer.
While you're the habit of not wasting, you can also keep the liquid from most canned veggies to use as a liquid base for other recipes - corn, beans and tomatoes all have great liquid that can be used to add additional flavor to some of your other dishes!