DIY Vegetable Stock

This is a good way to use up extra herbs and vegetables and the end product is a delicious broth you can use to make soup, stew, risotto, rice and many more recipes.

DIY Vegetable Stock

When making stock you can even use vegetable scraps that you would normally toss in the compost or green bin. Just be sure that they are clean!

Some thrifty folks collect their vegetable scraps and surplus herbs in a bag in the freezer until they have collected enough to make broth.

This recipe is from a blog called Jennifer’s Kitchen. You can read more about how to make your own stock at this link.

Ingredients

  • 2 large yellow onions or sweet onions diced
  • 2 medium carrots diced or sliced
  • 2 stalks celery diced or sliced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic cut into very small pieces
  • 1/2 cup fresh herbs chopped
  • 2 cups clean vegetable scraps optional
  • 1/3 cup diced tomatoes fresh or canned or 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 11 – 13 cups cold water
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon dulse or nori
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt – or to taste
  • 1 leek and/or parsnip optional, diced

Instructions

  1. In a soup pot, sauté onion, carrots, and celery in oil over low to medium heat until onions begin to look translucent. (If using leek and/or parsnip, sauté now as well.)

  2. If vegetables are beginning to stick to pan, add more oil or a tablespoon or so of water. Continue cooking until onions begin to brown. Stir often.
  3. Once onions are lightly browned, add garlic and sauté for 1 additional minute.
  4. Add remaining ingredients, except dulse or nori, thyme, and salt, and slowly bring to just under the boiling point over medium heat. (Adjust heat depending on your stove. The key is to slowly heat the mixture to ensure optimal flavor extraction from vegetables.)
  5. Reduce heat and simmer for approximately one hour.
  6. Add dulse or nori and thyme in the last 20 minutes of simmering.
  7. Add salt to taste.
  8. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
  9. Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth.
  10. Keeps in refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in freezer for several months.

Recipe Notes

The original recipe calls for parsley but I like using thyme, sage and basil, too. You can experiment with adding small amounts of herbs like rosemary, dill, oregano and cilantro, as well.

You can use a mix of fresh and dried herbs and feel free to use more than a 1/2 cup if you like.

If you have previously de-stemmed the herbs you only need about 3 Tablespoons.

If the herbs are still on the stem you can just throw in a generous handful without de-stemming first.