Description
Best Homemade Vegetable Stock has a rich, savory flavor that makes you think meat, even though there isn’t any.
Ingredients
Scale
- 8.5 lbs of fresh vegetables and vegetable scraps (should include onions, garlic and mushrooms)
- 1 (28 oz) can of whole peeled (or diced) tomatoes ( or 2–14 oz cans)
- 24 cups (6 quarts) of water
- 2 Tablespoons sea salt
- 2 Tablespoons of coarse black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 3–4 bay leaves (If you have no other herbs, these are essential.)
- 4–5 Tablespoons of mixed fresh herbs (or 2–2 1/2 Tablespoons dried)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Veggies I used today in addition to my frozen scraps. These with my scraps comprised the total 8.5 pounds of veggies.
- 1 large red onion and 2 smaller red onions, quartered
- 1 large white onion, quartered
- 1 large yellow onion, quartered
- an old rubbery zucchini
- 1/2 a tomato we had used for slicing several days ago
- half a bag of wrinkly baby bell peppers
- half a jalapeno with seeds
- wilted remnants of a bag of fresh spinach
- 1 1/2 lbs carrots (mix of older baby carrots and 1 lb of whole new carrots)
- old celery root and 4 fresh ribs, rough diced
- 1 lb of baby bella mushrooms
- 2”knob fresh ginger, unpeeled and quartered
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 7 or 8 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 sprigs fresh sage
Instructions
- Rough chop all the veggies and put them in a LARGE (at least 16 quart) stock pot [affiliate link]. If your stock pot is smaller, cut this recipe in half. If half the recipe won’t fit in your current stock pot, you need to invest in a great stock pot as an essential kitchen tool. I use mine, at least once a week and often, even more. It’s a great item to add to your Christmas or birthday wish list if you don’t have the cash to invest, right away. But get a good one. Something solid. Mine are hard core, heavy duty stainless steel and will literally be passed down to my kids and probably my grandkids, even with all the use they get. I have a *16 quart and a *12 quart that I purchased in 2003. They’re still going strong!
- Add the canned tomatoes, salt, pepper, garlic, bay leaves and other herbs.
- Pour 24 cups (6 quarts) of water over everything. Veggies will be showing above the water and that’s fine. As this cooks, the veggies will cook down and shrivel as they release their own liquid. You don’t need everything submerged right now.
- DON’T ADD the yeast or vinegar until the end, after the broth has been strained.
- Turn the heat on high to get the water to come to a boil.
- Once it’s boiling, reduce it to medium-low (On my stove, that’s 4 out of 10.) You don’t want it to stay at a hard boil, just to continue to bubble and simmer. Now, go about your business and enjoy your day. Your house is going to start smelling like someone’s Grandma invaded and is cooking you a sumptuous meal from the “old country”. The aroma will be intoxicating! Enjoy!
- If you pass the kitchen through the day, check your water level. You’re going to allow this to simmer a minimum of 8 hours, so starting first thing in the morning is a good plan. Try and keep the water level about at the same level as when you first began. It will definitely drop some over time. So, if you’re passing and it seems a little low, you can add some more water. I added an additional 5 cups of water about 4 hours in.
- After 8 hours, place a strainer over a large pot and strain what’s left of the vegetables out of the stock. They will look like a sad, pile of brown mush. All the goodness has cooked into your vegetable stock! Discard the spent veggies.
- Stir the nutritional yeast and apple cider vinegar into your strained stock.
- Taste the stock and additional salt if it’s needed.
- Transfer to containers for the fridge or freezer. The stock will be good in the fridge for about a week and up to six months in the freezer.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Category: Soups
- Method: Slow Cook
- Cuisine: American