Easy Vegetable Broth Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What not to put in vegetable broth? ›

Ingredients for Vegetable Broth

Celery, carrots, leek, and onion form the aromatic base of this vegetable stock, and dried mushrooms are the powerhouse ingredient, providing savoriness, richness, and color.

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.

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.

While you can use a lot of vegetables in stock, you can't use all of them, because some vegetables—particularly cruciferous ones like broccoli and cauliflower—will make your stock bitter or otherwise unpalatable (read: farty).

Making vegetable stock costs virtually nothing.

You're using ingredients that you already have in the fridge, so, really, it just costs a little bit of your time to make a flavorful stock. Be mindful of the costs associated with adjunct flavors like salt, pepper, bay leaves, and other spices.

Vegetable broth contains iron that helps to stimulate the formation of red blood cells, helping to avoid anemia, increase energy levels, and avoid tiredness. Homemade broth helps to manage body metabolism, optimizing nutrient absorption, and resulting in a lighter feeling.

But if you keep an eye on sodium levels, both broth and stock can be healthy. Taub-Dix notes that stock is often considered healthier than broth since it tends to be slightly higher in protein and other nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, than broth.

Carrots, onions, garlic, celery, peppers, mushrooms, and tomatoes are just some of the vegetables you can add to your bone broth to give it added flavor and nutritional value.

"If your broth is lacking in savory richness, try adding roasted onion, tomato paste, mushrooms, seaweed, soy sauce, or miso. These ingredients add umami flavor and depth to broth," she says. The choice of ingredient depends on the recipe, though.

What vegetables are good for a vegetable stock? ›

Vegetable stock is the liquid produced by simmering aromatic vegetables in water. Often made with a base of onions, celery, and carrots, vegetable stock can also incorporate leftover vegetable bits and pieces. Or try making an Asian vegetable stock with shiitake mushrooms, miso, and kombu.

Foods in the Brassica family, such as collards, are too strong for stock/broth and can impart a bitter taste. Corn doesn't add a lot of flavor and can make the stock/broth cloudy. Excellent for making stock/broth. Avoid bitter greens and members of the brassica family (kale, cabbage, Bok Choy).

Not only can you build your own flavor with homemade stock, you also have control over how much salt is added. Store bought stocks are often very high in sodium. While the reduced sodium varieties are a better option if you're watching your salt intake, even those can still have a lot of sodium.

Broth is traditionally made by simmering meat in water, often with vegetables and herbs. This flavored liquid is then used for a variety of culinary purposes. In the past, the term “broth” was only used to refer to meat-based liquids. Today, however, vegetable broth has become very common.

However, do not add onions, carrots, celery or herbs to your initial pot of simmering bone broth. Instead, enjoy the pure, rich flavor that comes from just the bones, fat, connective tissue and any small amount of meat that may still be on the bones; it is not something that needs or wants amending.