Hi everyone! I feel I have to share this recipe for vegetable broth with you today. I use it myself all the time. It is easy to make out of your vegetable waste. Homemade veggie broth that will cost nearly nothing since you have collected vegetable scraps in your freezer!

homemade vegetbale bouillon; vegetable scraps simmer

How to get to work? Easy! Instead of throwing away your vegetable scraps, you save and freeze them until you have enough to make your own homemade vegetable broth.

This no waste vegetable broth is so easy to make, requires just 1 pot and your saved vegetable scraps. And if you have an herb garden even better!

How to make no waste vegetable broth?

So here is what I do to make this broth. I save a bag of my scraps in the freezer (onion and garlic ends and skin, tops and peel of carrots, zucchini, leftover herbs like rosemary and thyme etc) and when it is full I make a big batch of vegetable broth. Which I then save in small batches in my freezer again so I always have broth on hand.

On top of my scraps I add bay leaves and cloves to give the broth that extra layer of flavor. And for more depth of flavor I add some tomato paste to bring this vegetable broth to the next level.

vegetable consomme ingredients sauteing in a stock pot

First I start with sautéing the vegetables to get them a bit softer. This also gives more flavor to them. You can even add leftover roasted vegetables (so just add those to your freezer bag whenever you have leftovers). Then I add water, salt, pepper, herbs, some cayenne or even ground chipotle to spice it up.

Simmer for at least an hour (I usually go for 2). Now just strain your broth and let it cool off. Divide it into smaller portions to freeze or use it straight away.

I hope you love this as much as I do. It is:

so intensely flavorful – easy to make – healthy – versatile – and yummy

This broth is the perfect base for soups and sauces, like roasted tomato soup (use this broth and my oven roasted tomato sauce), tortilla soup, roasted bell pepper soup or my beetroot apple soup. I also use it to make beans.

No waste vegetable broth

Use your left over vegetable scraps to make this delicious broth!

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Total Time 1 10

Course Soup

Cuisine gluten-free, vegan

Servings 10 1-cup servings

Calories 40 kcal

Ingredients

1 Tbsp avocado or coconut oil
1 onion (with skins // roughly chopped)
4 cloves garlic (with skins // chopped)
4 medium carrots (with skins // roughly chopped)
4 stalks celery (roughly chopped)
3-5 tsp sea salt (plus more to taste)
1-2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (plus more to taste)
2 lt. water (= 8½ cups)
1 handful fresh parsley
1 handful fresh thyme* (or frozen from leftovers)
1 handful fresh rosemary* (or frozen from leftovers)
2 whole bay leaves
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4-5 Tbsp tomato paste (or even more to taste)

Instructions

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, heat up oil. Then add onion, garlic, carrots, and celery (and/or other leftover veggies). Add 1/2 tsp each sea salt and black pepper and stir to coat. Sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened and slightly browned.
Add water, parsley, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, 3 tsp sea salt and black pepper and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper and increase heat to medium high until the mixture comes to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and add tomato paste (add less for less intense flavor, or more for more robust flavor!). Stir to combine and cover with the lid cracked.
Continue cooking for at least 1 hour 30 minutes, preferably 2 hours. The flavor will deepen the longer it cooks.
Near the end of cooking, taste and adjust flavor as needed, adding more herbs for an earthy flavor, salt for saltiness, (cayenne) pepper for a little spice, or tomato paste for depth of flavor. In total, I added about 3 tsp sea salt and 1 tsp black pepper and 1 tsp of cayenne pepper and all of the suggested amount of tomato paste.
Let cool slightly before pouring over a strainer into another pot. Then divide into smaller portions to freeze. Let cool completely before sealing. Store in the refrigerator up to 5 days or in the freezer up to 1 month (sometimes longer).

Notes

*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with avocado oil, all of the recommended salt, pepper, cayenne, tomato paste and with half of the vegetables because they are strained.

*Vegetables in the ingredient list can be changed up. Use whatever you have in your freezer from leftovers and add more if needed/wanted.

*You can sub 1 tbsp dried thyme or rosemary per small handful fresh herb.

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