How to Make Vegetable Stock

Learn how to make vegetable stock at home! Vegetable stock will save you so much time and money! Made with a little bit of love and full of taste, this easy veggie stock will ramp up the flavor of any dish you make. 

Vegetable Stock

Store-bought stocks can be an expensive ingredient to have on hand these days.

Vegetable and chicken stocks taste so much better when made at home, and they can amp of the flavors of so many dishes including soups, stews, rice, and simple dishes, like this tomato risotto recipe, seem rich, creamy, and delicious.

Making your own vegetable stock at home will save you time and money because it's made from leftover vegetable scraps that you would otherwise throw away as well as everyday ingredients that I guarantee you already have in your pantry at this very moment.

Allow me to explain! 

Vegetable Stock Ingredients

Way back in the day when I was in culinary school one of the first things we learned was that nothing went to waste.

We were taught to collect vegetable scraps i.e. carrot peels, garlic & onion skins, celery leaves, bell pepper hearts, and stems from fresh herbs in order to reuse them in either the compost pile or for making homemade vegetable stock.

Making your own stock couldn't be simpler, will only take about an hour and a half of your time. You'll end up with so much more veggie stock than you ever would have gotten from the store.

How to Make Vegetable Stock

Take a gallon-sized freezer bag, write the date on it, and start collecting vegetable trimmings throughout the week/month as you're preparing your family's meals.

Peel an onion? Throw the skins into the bag. Remove the outer leaves of some Brussels sprouts? Throw them in the bag. Chop some garlic? Throw the skins in the bag. Grate some ginger? You guessed it, throw the leftovers in the bag!

Keep the bag of scraps in your freezer, once the bag is full, throw everything into a pot, cover the veggies with water, add some salt & pepper and a few bay leaves then simmer for an hour and strain.

That's it!

Now, you'll obviously want to be a little careful and make sure to remove any loose dirt or stickers from your vegetables. Nobody wants dirty vegetable stock, and I also highly suggest you at least have carrots, onions, and celery a.k.a. mirepoix a.k.a. the flavor makers, for the stock, but those are the only thingsyou have to worry about here.

A lot of other recipes I've seen claim you can't use certain vegetables or you need to add fancy schmancy ingredients that nobody has ever heard of (what in the crap is umami?!?) or you need to roast the vegetables first, but, for the love of all things, ain't nobody got time for that.

Leftover vegetable & herb trimmings simmered with bay leaves, olive oil, and salt and pepper is all you need to make a quick and easy homemade vegetable stock that will add a dash of goodness to any dish you make.

Vegetable Stock Recipe

Amber Forbes, Slim Pickin's Kitchen

Learn how to make vegetable stock that can be used to amp up the flavor in a variety of dishes including rice, soups, stews, risotto, and more.

Print Recipe Save Recipe Saved Recipe!

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Soup, Stew, Stock

Servings 24

Calories

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 gallon sized bag full of leftover vegetable trimmings carrots, onion, celery, mushrooms, leeks, garlic, bell peppers, etc.
• 2 Bay leaves
• 11-13 cups water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

 

• Collect vegetable trimmings and freeze until the gallon bag is full.
• Add the scraps and bay leaves to a large stock pot, top with enough water to fully submerge the veggies, drizzle with olive oil and salt & pepper.
• Bring to a simmer and cook for as little as 45 minutes and up to 1.5hrs. NOTE: There is no need to cook for longer, but you can if you want!
• Using a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth, strain the juices from the veggie scraps. Discard all leftover veggies.
• Allow mixture to cool to room temp, then divide evenly between 24 muffin tins or plastic freezer containers and freeze until ready to use.
• Enjoy!

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