How to Make Vegetable Broth

A good vegetable broth can add so much flavor to so many plant-based recipes, such as soups, stews, grain dishes, bean dishes, casseroles, and sauces. In fact, one of my favorite ingredients in my plant-powered kitchen is a good, hearty vegetable broth. You can buy a number of delicious vegetable broth mixes, cubes and ready-to-use liquids, which can add easy flavor to your favorite dishes. Or you can make up your own broth and chill it in the refrigerator to use all week long. You can get my simple, delicious recipe for homemade vegetable broth, which makes about 7 cups of vegan broth. Follow along with this step-by-step guide for making this broth below.

Step-by-Step Guide for Making Vegetable Broth

Get the full recipe for this Homemade Vegetable Broth here.

A good vegetable broth is all about the vegetables! Gather together your fresh veggies for making the broth, which includes good quality fresh carrots, onions, celery, bell pepper, green onions and garlic.

Coarsely chop the carrots, onions, celery, bell pepper, and green onions.

Peel the garlic cloves but leave them whole.

Heat olive oil in a large pot and add onions, carrots, celery, bell pepper, green onions and garlic. Sauté for 10 minutes.

Add water, mushrooms, peppercorns, herbs, bay leaves and soy sauce to the pot. Stir well, cover, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 ½ hours.

Remove the contents from the pot, strain the broth through a strainer or sieve, and voila—you have a wonderful vegetable broth! This recipe should make about 7 cups. Save the strained vegetables for another time in soup or stew.

You can use the broth in recipes, such as soups, stews, bean and grain dishes. Try this recipe for Veggie Shepherd’s Pie to get started.

Get the full recipe for this Homemade Vegetable Broth here.

Use this vegetable broth in some of my favorite plant-based recipes: 

Classic Tomato Soup
Vegetarian Mushroom Stroganoff