Vegetable broth is a staple for making soups, cooking beans and grains (including pasta!), and deglazing pans to add more flavor. While you can buy it at the store, homemade vegetable broth is cheaper and allows you to put your vegetable scraps to good use.
The “essence” of a vegetable broth is usually from onions, carrots, and celery, but if you don’t have these you can still make broth. You should store the broth in the fridge, or you can freeze it. I have been making vegetable broth ever since I first used the instant pot and often freeze my vegetable scraps to preserve them until I have enough to make the broth.
Simple Vegetable Broth
Ingredients
- Vegetable scraps Carrot peels, onion peels, garlic peels, celery stalks, and cabbage leaves are the scraps I usually have on hand.
- A couple bay leaves
Instructions
- If using an instant pot, place the vegetable scraps and bay leaves into the pot. Then fill with water until the vegetables are covered. Do not overfill the instant pot! Pressure cook on high for 30 minutes and allow the pressure valve to release naturally before removing the lid.
- If using a stove, place vegetable scraps and bay leaves into a pot. Then fill with water until the vegetables are covered. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer you simmer the broth, the more the flavor will be concentrated.
- Allow the broth to cool before transferring to containers. Use a funnel and strainer to avoid spillage and keep remnants from pouring into the container.
Notes
If you don’t have any ingredient, feel free to omit or substitute for another vegetable.
