How To Make Nearly Free Vegetable Broth

Why did I wait so long to make this nearly free vegetable broth from the frozen veggie scraps I already have? Many of the recipes for homemade broth call for fresh vegetables. I always thought… why would I waste full fresh veggies on broth? Right?

Then one day, I looked at the frozen bag of kitchen compost in my freezer (handy tip for avoiding smelly under the sink compost) and EUREKA! We were already collecting veggie scraps BUT not giving them a new life! Along came a new staple for us. And it’s:

Sooo much tastier than store-bought
Practically free
Ready in 30 minutes
And so so satisfying!

Watch my video tutorial below!

Best Vegetable Scraps To Use For Broth

So how do you make vegetable broth from your veggie scraps? Start by collecting the ends, peels, and stems from your tastiest vegetables and herbs. Store those scraps in a large freezer safe bag or container.

Best Vegetables To Use

Think sweet and herby:

• Carrot tops and peels.
• Herb stems.
• Corn cobs.
• Squash ends and skins.
• Bell pepper tops.
• Trimmings from the ends of green beans, eggplant, zucchini, celery, sweet potato, mushrooms, garlic, and yellow onion.

Vegetables To Avoid

• Beets will turn your broth red.
• Too many onion skins can turn your broth deep brown or red.
• Too many cruciferous vegetable scraps (broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage etc.) can make your broth bitter.
• Potato skins can give the broth an earthy/”dirty” taste.
• Too many tomatoes could affect the colour.
• And too many woody ends of asparagus are sometimes avoided. I usually divide them between two bags so I don’t have too many in one batch of broth.

Boil For 30 Minutes

When you have a bag or container that is full of enough vegetable scraps to fill a large stock pot move on to boiling your broth.

• Pour your vegetable scraps into a large pot.
• Cover with water.
• Bring to a boil.
• And reduce the heat to a simmer for 30 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and allow to cool.

Straining And Storing Homemade Vegetable Broth

All that is left, is to strain and store your vegetable broth. You can do this in any way that makes sense for you and what you have in your kitchen but I follow these steps:

• I use the lid of the pot to hold the vegetable scraps back and I pour the broth into a large bowl. The drained scraps can then be discarded (or composted).
• To strain the broth, I place a sieve over a glass measuring cup and pour (or ladle) the broth through the sieve.
• The spout of the measuring cup makes it easy to then pour the broth into a large kombucha bottle I have saved for storing my broth in the fridge.

Homemade vegetable broth can be stored in the fridge for up to one week. For longer storage it is best to freeze your broth.

Make Veggie Broth Ice Cubes!

This was a game changer! The best way to freeze your broth if you won’t be using it right away is to use ice cube trays.

• Pour your broth into an empty ice cube tray and freeze into cubes!
• Once frozen, transfer the cubes to a freezer bag or container (if you are like me and don’t have endless ice cube trays).
• Finally, you may want to label them so someone else in your household doesn’t get a surprise when they go for the ice cubes!

I also like to use silicone muffin molds. These are larger so I can pour ¼ cup of broth into each one. The frozen broth is easy to remove from the silicone molds and then I store them in a freezer safe bag or container. This takes away any guess work surrounding portion size. If a recipe requires only ½ cup of broth I know that I only need two frozen cubes.

Are The Savings Worth It?

You may be thinking: “broth is cheap, it’s more convenient to just buy it”. And yes, you’re right.

BUT… we have found that the savings really do add up! We often save $4-$6 Canadian per soup recipe! If you are someone who often makes homemade soup or you like to cook your quinoa, couscous, or rice in broth… I guarantee you will notice savings!

When we started pricing out our soup recipes we couldn’t believe how much the savings pile up. Our Comforting Easy Noodle Soup takes 8 cups of broth. That’s over $6 of savings! Even if the broth is on sale, we find that it’s still worth it.

So, start saving your veggie scraps and making your endless supply of easy, practically free vegetable broth! Let me know in the comments below if it’s a habit that sticks for you too!

Make sure to browse all of our delicious soup recipes and start using that homemade vegetable broth!