Having a flavorful vegetable stock recipe is fundamental for vegan cooking! It features heavily in my cozy vegan soup recipes, stews, risotto, brothy beans, pasta, and all kinds of other dishes. My method of making vegetable stock has a few extra tricks that boost flavor and cut down on overall simmering time. Iโm so devoted to this method, that I opened the soup segment in my cookbook with a full breakdown.
Why I donโt use scraps in my vegetable stock:
- Vegetable stock forms the backbone of so many dishes. I want it to taste really good on its own with maximum versatility. I stick with these ingredients for my recipe: onions, carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, thyme, parsley, bay leaves, black peppercorns, and sometimes mushrooms.
- Iโve seen folks save all of their veggie scraps in a bag/container in the freezer, and then they make stock out of that. Even if those scraps contained only the vegetables that I prefer for this, once the veg thaws, it will be wet, which means we wonโt get the flavor boost from caramelization.
- Some vegetables just donโt taste great in a stock! Cruciferous vegetables get funky tasting, and seemingly mild vegetables like zucchini, green beans, and bell peppers become bitter if simmered too long.
How to boost flavor:
- Cut the vegetables roughly, but on the smaller side. The smaller pieces and increased edges on the vegetables allows for more caramelization in this quick homemade vegetable stock.
- I brown the onions thoroughly in hot olive oil for about 5 minutes. This adds so much flavor! We also sautรฉ the carrots, celery, leeks, and smashed garlic cloves. Getting this level of browning this early on in the process allows us to cut down on simmering time.
- Use fresh herbs like thyme and parsley, and also dried bay leaves.
- I salt the stock at the end. Iโm a big fan of seasoning all of my foods in layers for more pronounced flavor at the end. Having a robust base is ideal with any recipe youโre adding stock to! Of course, you can leave the stock unsalted if you wish.
Flavorful Vegetable Stock Recipe (1 Hour)
How to make flavorful vegetable stock for soups, stews, risotto, and all kinds of other dishes! Having a delicious stock base makes all the difference in vegan cooking. Chopping the vegetables small and browning them in the pot boosts the flavor and allows for a shorter 30 minute simmer time.
Servings 2 LITRES
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, rough chop
- 2 medium carrots, rough chop
- 2 sticks celery, rough chop
- 1 leek, cleaned and roughly chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 4-5 sprigs thyme
- 4-5 sprigs parsley
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 10 cups water
- sea salt, to taste
Notes
- If youโre making something mushroom-y with your stock, 1-2 cups of mushroom stems is great in this stock. Add them with the leeks and garlic in step 4.
- To store in the fridge: Once youโve strained the finished stock, allow it to cool completely. Then you can transfer it to sealable jars and keep it in the fridge for up to a week.
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Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Swirl it around.
- Add the onions and sautรฉ, stirring often with a wooden spoon, until you have deep brown edges, about 5 minutes.
- Add the carrots and celery. Keep sautรฉing and stirring until the celery is bright green, about 3 minutes.
- Add the chopped leeks and garlic and sautรฉ until leeks are bright green, about another 3 minutes.
- Add the thyme, parsley, bay leaves, and black peppercorns. Give it all a big stir.
- Add a big splash of water and, using the back of your spoon, scrape up all the brown bits and caramelization on the bottom of the pot.
- Add the remaining water and stir. Place the lid on top, slightly askew. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Strain the stock, discarding the solids. Season with salt at this point if you like. Pour the vegetable stock into jars and keep in the fridge for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Wow! wonderful
Hi Laura! Thank you for this recipe. For the leek โ do you use the whole thing? Fibrous dark green parts and all? Thanks!
Hi Laura! Yes I use the whole thing when making stock.
-L
Thank you, Laura. This recipe is fantastic. I simmered the broth until I had 2 quarts, which took a little longer than 30 minutes. Also, I was making an Italian soup, so I added about 12 halved cherry tomatoes with the leeks and garlic. Perfection!
Even though some say you can freeze liquids in mason jars, I would not chance it. Freezing water can break concrete, it is very powerful when it expands. Even though I am not a fan of any kinds of plastics, in this case I would freeze liquids in plastic containers and when thawing, remove the liquid as soon as it begins to come away from the edges and then transfer to a stainless steel pot or glass container. Do not let the whole thing thaw in the plastic tubs.
02-23-2025 Greetings! โ Love this recipe, but I just want to caution about the glass jars โฆ glass containers will break if they are in the freezer, right? I would ask that this be clarified, please. In any case, I will not use glass when freezing anything.
Hi, I love the idea of this recipe, all makes sense and is the best Iโve seen so far but I wanted to double check, it says 10 cups of water which seems to be over 2 litres. Is that correct? itโs just that 45 minutes simmering seems a short time to get a good strong flavour. Thanks
Yep, 10 cups is correct! You build a lot of the flavour by sautรฉing and browning the vegetables in the beginning. If you take your time with that step, 45 minutes is enough simmering time.
-L
Great recipe and the color came out beautifully. Thank you for all your hard work.
Also, your website is lovely. Very nice, clean, informative and easy to read.
God bless you and yours.
I always save and use the scraps for my stocks.
I do not use the root end of vegetables as they may hide dirt in them and no Cruciferous or soft vegetables.
The biggest difference is that I pressure cook the scraps for 3 hrs and never add spices because I want to stock to take on the flavour of the dish that I am making.
Pre spiced stock can interfere with the flavour of dishes that are not compatible to the stock spices.
This was such a perfect and easy recipe to follow. It brought back so many good memories for me as the broth reminded me of a vegetable soup my grandmother made.
Your cookbook is the most well-worn and oft used in my collection and the main reason is this stock recipe (and the super easy almond milk cheat! Game changer). I make it about once every two weeks and have it almost memorized.
One addition I make is add an apple core for a touch of sweetness. I usually add it along with the parsnips, or in place of the parsnips if I donโt have access to them.
I picked this up from watching asian stock making videos, as I turn a lot of this stock into miso soup/asian style soups.
Also when are you releasing another cookbook?! :)
Jennie,
I love the apple core ideaโthank you for sharing that! I will try it next time. I am slowly thinking about another cookbook :)
-L
We can`t afford to use the premium parts of veg to make stock,instead we freeze scraps.When we have enough that`s when we make stock,just no cruciferous veg.b/c of the off smell and flavor.
BTW an extra rich stock can be achieved by reducing your stock til it`s as you like it.
Wonderful stock. So versatile. Only addition I would make is a few dried Ancho or Guajillo (what the heck add them both) pepper. Dry sautรฉ before adding
That sounds like such a delicious addition!
-L
This stock is a game changer! Iโve been making this recipe for a few years and I always make sure I have some in the freezer. This stock adds so much depth to every recipe I use it in. If I could pick one skill/recipe that has made the biggest difference in the dishes I cook, it would be making and using this stock. So good!
Great post, and important info for serious, or aspiring, cooks. Thanks for sharing this veg stock recipe, which sounds very well-balanced. From my years of cooking experience, I agree with you re: cruciferous veg in stock (or in a vegetable soupโฆleave them out; they deserve their own soup recipes, where they can be the star). I am a huge fan of leeksโthey feature in my veg soup recipeโso am glad to see leek in your stock recipe. Look forward to making this recipe, which sounds just right.
PS: An important reason to make our own veg stock: Veg stock cubes/bouillon cubes, or powder, are most often excessively high in sodium, and nearly always contain palm oil โwhy?!โand there are no good organic options that I can find. Thanks, again.