How to make a nutritious homemade version of store-bought vegetable stock and broth using leftover veggie scraps! If you haven’t already, start saving your veggie cut-offs in a sealed container (preferably stainless steel rather than plastic) in the fridge. A wide variety of veggies will boost the nutritional goodness.

This is a great plastic-free, zero-waste, highly nutritious alternative that helps minimise food waste!

Before we get started in making this highly nutritious veggie stock – if you like what you’re seeing, subscribe to my email newsletter at the bottom of the page to keep up to date on the latest recipes, DIYs, gardening and health tips I share!!

Homemade Vegetable Stock

To make some veggie stock from vegetable scraps, begin by collecting some veggie cut-offs in a sealed container and keep stored in the freezer until you have enough to make your veggie stock with! (It takes me a month or two before I fill up a big container).

Ingredients:

• Organic veggies scrap cut-offs (can be things like onion skins, garlic, turmeric, chilli, ginger peels, carrot tops, mushroom stems, leeks, celery tops, coriander and other herb trimmings, the ends of kale, etc.)
• 12 cups filtered water
• 1 tbsp peppercorns
• 1 tbsp sea salt

Optional:

• 2 tbsp ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tbsp paprika

To make:

1. Add everything to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer with the lid on for 2-4 hours.
2. Once everything has been cooked down, strain the liquid into a large bowl.
3. With the veggie scraps, let them cool completely, then blend into a pulp in a food processor or high speed blender (you may need to remove onion and garlic skins beforehand and compost, as they won’t blend).
4. Once blended, pour mix into ice cube trays and freeze. They make veggie bouillon/paste cubes!
5. You can also freeze some of the stock to make cubes too if you’re looking to store it long-term. Otherwise, with the leftover stock liquid, let it cool completely, then pour into large glass jars and store in the fridge or freeze until ready to use.

Note: For an even richer veggie stock, place ingredients and water into a slow cooker and heat overnight (this will produce that dark, rich stock). Plus, slow cookers are actually very energy efficient!

Homemade vegetable broth tutorial

As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor before trying or using any new products. I am not a doctor. All opinions expressed are my own personal thoughts and feelings of the products mentioned. Check with your doctor or health practitioner if you are uncertain about trying out any of the products, recipes or tips mentioned in this post.

Have you made your own stock before? What was it like? Share in the comments below.

Lots of love,

🖤 Vanessa