Have you ever wondered how to make homemade vegetable broth from scraps? It starts by saving your vegetable scraps in the freezer until you have enough to start a batch of vegetable broth.
Vegetable broth is a common ingredient in a lot of recipes, and something that’s always in my kitchen because you never know when you are going to want to make a quick batch of garden vegetable minestrone soup.
Recipe Highlights
- It’s an easy and economical recipe
- Homemade veggie broth made with veggie scraps is earth-friendly, since you are using the vegetables twice.
Here is What You Will Need
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This is an overview of the ingredients and steps to make this recipe, scroll down to see ingredient notes and substitutions as well as a printable recipe card with exact measurements and complete cooking instructions.
Ingredients
- Three to four cups of reserved vegetable scraps from your freezer such as mushrooms, sturdy greens or chopped vegetables.
- Garlic
- Carrots (in addition to the scraps)
- Celery
- Onion
- Water
- Tomatoes
- A few springs of fresh herbs
Equipment
- Soup Pot
- Strainer or cheesecloth (to strain the liquid from the vegetables).
- Mason Jar (to store the broth).
Here is how to make homemade vegetable broth
The first step to making homemade vegetable broth from scraps is to save up carrot ends and peels, ends of celery, onions, mushrooms, and any other mild-tasting vegetable. Once you have a bag full of scraps (about 3 to 4 cups), it’s time to make some vegetable broth.
Add 8 cups of water to a large stockpot and place the vegetables plus one small onion and one to two diced tomatoes into the pot. Cover the pot and cook it on low heat for approximately 2 hours.
Once the vegetables have cooked slowly, remove them from the heat and allow them to cool off; pour the vegetables into a strainer over a large bowl and strain the vegetables pressing down on them to squeeze the liquid out.
Total Estimated Time to Make This Recipe: 2 to 2 ½ hours
How to Store and Freeze Veggie Broth From Scraps
Refrigerate your veggie broth in the refrigerator for three to four days. I like to store them in a mason jar, but you can use any type of glass refrigerator container.
Freeze homemade vegetable broth in a freezer-safe container or pour it into an ice cube tray for single-serving portions. Once the broth has frozen into cubes, store them in a plastic bag in the freezer for up to 6 months
Thaw out your frozen vegetable broth overnight in the refrigerator, or place the container of broth into a container of warm water to quickly thaw it out.
Answers to your homemade vegetable broth questions
Vegetable broth is used to add flavor to soup, casserole and sauce recipes such as: Vegetable Minestrone Soup, Sausage and Kale Soup with White Beans, Tuscan Vegetable Soup with White Bean Balls.
Onions, carrots, garlic, and celery are essential. If these aren’t in your collection of scraps peel a few carrots for dinner and add the peels to the scraps. Cut off the tops of celery and add them too. Always add a few cloves of garlic, and a small onion to the frozen scraps, and chopped tomato is optional. Other good vegetable scraps to save are mushrooms, summer squash, leek, mild tasting herb stems.
When it comes to vegetables, broth and stock are the same things. Stock is made with bones and since there are no bones in vegetables, vegetable broth and stock are one and the same.
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Don’t forget to save the veggie scraps in these recipes for broth!
How to Make Homemade Vegetable Broth From Scraps
Make your own veggie broth by saving your vegetable scraps in the freezer until you have enough to start a batch of vegetable broth.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, sliced
- 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 tomato chopped (optional)
- A few springs fresh parsley, thyme and a bay leaf
- 8 cups filtered water
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 3 to 4 cups of vegetable scraps or
- 1 to 2 cups of chopped carrots
- 1 to 2 cups of chopped celery
Instructions
Add all of the ingredients into a stock pot and cover
Cook on low for 1 ½ to 2 hours
Drain the vegetables through a strainer pressing out as much liquid as possible
Season with salt and pepper to taste
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 cupAmount Per Serving: Calories: 100Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 173mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 9gSugar: 9gProtein: 5g
Nutrition information is provided by an online calculator and is meant to be used for informational purposes only. Even though I try to provide accurate information, these figures should still be considered as estimates.
This is one of my favorite frugal recipes I make. I always have a gallon size ziploc baggie in the freezer, so I can save my veggie scraps to make broth. It taste so much better than the store bought stuff.
It is good to get into the habit of saving your vegetable scraps for broth. I always save my scraps for my chickens and if I make broth first they still get the scraps, just cooked.
Fresh veggie stock is THE best! A+ for zero waste!
This is so smart and such a great way to reuse veggie scraps that would otherwise be thrown out! I don’t have a compost bin so I always feel bad about throwing away the ends and peels. I’ll start saving up my scraps! Thanks for participating in our Earth Day event! ❤️
Valentina You will be surprised at how quickly those veggie scraps pile up
Nothing beats homemade, especially homemade broth! Your vegetable broth looks delicious and easy to make! I can’t wait to try it.
I need to get better about using my veggie scraps to make broth. I’ve done chicken and ham before but never veggie. That’s changing soon!
Such a fabulous way to use all my veggie scraps, thank you! Great flavors!
So much better than the store bought one! It is healthier, more delicious and budget friendly.
I am going to have to give this a try. I have never attempted because I thought it was going to be such a challenge. However, you make it look simple and worth a try.
Thanks Jacquelyn it really is easy to make!
I love how easy and healthy this recipe is! 🙂
Thanks Stacey!
Using scraps to make homemade broth is such a good idea! Love this post.
Thanks Joni!
We make broth very frequently but it’s usually chicken or beef based. Thanks for inspiring me to try this flavorful alternative; I love using homemade broth in so many dishes!
Having great broth on hand is a must, and store bought veggie broth just doesn’t cut it!
This is such a lovely and helpful information. Thank you very much for the same. Homemade is the best option ever. This is surely flavorful.
It’s so easy to just grab chicken broth by default but often veggie broth has more flavor. I never knew how to make my own so thanks for this!
It is such a good idea to save your vegetable scraps and make broth with them! I bet that would make such a yummy broth, and different each time!
Yes Aleta it is different each time!
This is just so smart! I need to start making my own immediately.
I just did something like this in my Instant Pot and it was awesome. So great using up scraps rather than just hucking them away!
I have always wanted to make my own vegetable broth, but I was always too lazy. But you make it sound so good!!
I love saving scraps for broth like this!
Such a great idea to use up scraps into broth! I love it!
Everyone should know how to make broths. They are easy but there are a few tricks and tips to make them really good. You give those tips and tricks that will make an excellent vegetable broth. Broths like this are so useful!! We never use water when we could use broth.
I absolutely love making homemade broth. It’s so easy to make and a great way to use up scraps. Yours looks so gorgeous and the coloring is incredible!
Homemade is always better, you know exactly what went into that recipe. Not always, but whenever I rememebr I too make my homemade vegetable stock and freeze it.
Thank you for sharing such an economical way to prepare broth. I cook it pretty often so very happy to have another great recipe handy.
Love making veggie broth from my veggie scraps! Really appreciate this post and your clear explanations and pics! Thanks so much for sharing :).
Good basic recipe. I cook for a lot of potlucks, and there are increasing numbers of vegetarians involved. I’ve made my own meat stock for years, it’s time to load the stockpot with veggies. Also it’s good to know what not to use, as my tendency would be to pitch in cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli and pepper scraps along with everything else.!
How about mushrooms?
Hi Maryanne, Yes you can use a few mushrooms in the vegetable broth!