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This homemade vegetable broth recipe turns out so hearty, rich, and savory that you can sip it on its own. It’s so much better than store-bought!
After trying our recipe for vegetable broth, you will never want to buy boxed broth again! It’s simple to make, takes much less time to make than chicken stock, and packs in so much flavor.
This soothing and delicious veggie broth is perfect for all of your recipes. It’s also so flavorful that you can sip it like tea or bone broth. It’s simple to make, and I’m confident you’ll love it.
Key Ingredients
- Onion, Carrots, and Celery: This classic trio forms the aromatic base of the vegetable stock.
- Tomatoes: They add both rich flavor and a beautiful color.
- Garlic and Dried Mushrooms: These develop even more flavor. I love dried shitakki mushrooms, which I find in my local grocery store in the same aisle as international ingredients like specialty soy sauces.
- Herbs: I go heavy on the herbs, using fresh parsley, thyme, and bay leaves.
- Vegetable Scraps: This is the perfect time to use up those scraps you’ve been saving in the freezer, like kale stems, leek tops, carrot peels, and mushroom stems.
- Salt and Filtered Water: I love sea salt for this, and make sure to use filtered water for the best flavor.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Vegetable Broth
Tip 1: Roast your vegetables. For the most savory and satisfying broth, roast the onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, and garlic until nicely browned. This simple step intensifies the stock’s flavor and adds color.
Tip 2: Don’t leave out the tomatoes. Tomatoes add sweetness, color, and umami to this broth. Tomatoes are naturally high in glutamate, which means they contribute to that “fifth taste” or umami. Simply put, umami makes things taste good, adding that super delicious quality. Using tomatoes makes it rich and crave-worthy.
Tip 3: Use dried mushrooms. Even though we didn’t add any bones or meat to this recipe, we still wanted some “meatiness” in the stock. Mushrooms are the solution. Just one ounce of dried mushrooms transforms this veggie broth from merely okay to something you wonder if it’s even vegetarian.
Tip 3: Use it in your favorite recipes. This is perfect anytime a recipe asks for broth (even if it’s asking for chicken broth or beef broth). I often use it to make the soup recipes on Inspired Taste, like this potato soup, French onion soup, butternut squash soup, lemon turmeric lentil soup, and this veggie tortellini soup. It’s also great for cooking rice or quinoa. Use it in my quinoa recipe or to make this cilantro lime rice.
Tip 4: Sip it like tea. This veggie broth has so much flavor, it’s lovely in a mug and sipped like tea. Any time I’m under the weather, I crave this broth. It’s so comforting. I highly recommend making a double batch of our broth and freezing some for a rainy day! It’s magic.
The Best Vegetable Broth
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This homemade vegetable broth is hearty enough to enjoy alone as soup and perfectly replaces boxed stock in your favorite recipes. Roasting is the secret to rich and hearty veggie stock. When seasoned well, we find this veggie broth just as satisfying as bone broth.
Think of this as a guide, and feel free to add any vegetable scraps in your fridge or freezer. Leeks, turnips, or mushroom scraps are all excellent. For even more richness, we add dried mushrooms, which pack a punch and add a “meatiness” to the stock.
Makes 10 cups
You Will Need
1 pound onion, 2 medium (450g)
1 pound carrots, 5 medium (450g)
1/2 pound celery, 4 to 5 (225g)
1 pound tomatoes, 3 medium (450g)
4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 ounce dried mushrooms such as shiitake or porcini (14g)
Half a bunch of fresh parsley
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 to 2 cups vegetable scraps from fridge or freezer, optional
1 teaspoon sea salt, optional
12 cups water, preferably filtered (2.8L)
Directions
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- Roast Vegetables
1Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Set aside a large, rimmed baking sheet or a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish for roasting the vegetables.
2Peel the onion and roughly chop it into 1-inch chunks. Scrub the carrots and celery and cut them roughly into 1-inch chunks. Rinse the tomatoes, and if they are large, half or quarter them.
3Add onion, carrots, celery, tomato, and garlic to the baking sheet. Toss with olive oil and roast for 15 minutes. Stir the vegetables and roast for another 15 minutes. Stir once more and roast until the vegetables are nicely browned and the tomatoes are caving in, another 10 minutes or so.
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- Make Vegetable Broth
1While the vegetables roast in the oven, cover the dried mushrooms with 1/2 cup of cold water and set aside for 5 minutes.
2Spoon the roasted vegetables into a tall stockpot. Add 1 cup of water to the baking sheet or pan, then stir it around, scraping up as much of the browned bits stuck to the bottom as possible. Pour over the vegetables in the stockpot.
3Add the parsley, thyme, bay leaves, vegetable scraps, and salt (if using).
4Add the partially rehydrated mushrooms, and then pour the water they sit in through a fine mesh strainer to catch any grit. Add the strained mushroom water to the pot with the vegetables.
5Cover with 11 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, for 45 minutes.
6Strain broth and use immediately, refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. When using, taste the broth and adjust the seasoning with additional salt or, if you are okay with using it, a few dashes of fish sauce.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Dried mushrooms alternative: If you can’t find dried mushrooms, you can add mushroom scraps or chopped mushrooms to the onions and carrots when they roast. Dried mushrooms will taste stronger, but this will still make a delicious broth.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have omitted salt since you will need to add to your tastes.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1 cup
/
Calories
70
/
Protein
2 g
/
Carbohydrate
10 g
/
Dietary Fiber
3 g
/
Total Sugars
5 g
/
Total Fat
3 g
/
Saturated Fat
0 g
/
Cholesterol
0 mg