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    Home » Recipes » Soups & Stews

    Easy Homemade Vegetable Broth (Instant Pot or Stove Top)

    Published: Jan 13, 2013 · Modified: Mar 18, 2022 by Sally Cameron · This post may contain affiliate links · 24 Comments

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Easy homemade vegetable broth is far superior to the store stuff in cans and boxes. It takes just 7 minutes in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker and about 45 minutes on the stove top. Use it anywhere you use broth. It's great in soups and stews, risotto, and for cooking rice and quinoa. Make a batch and freeze it in portions.

    Homemade Vegetable Broth| A FoodCentricLife.com
    Golden vegetable broth in glass jars with vegetables around it.

    Why Make Homemade Vegetable Broth

    Because it's tastes better and it's healthy. At the store you’ll find vegetable broth in boxes, cans, cubes, pastes and powders. With chicken broth you can find decent tasting store brands to use in a pinch. Vegetable broths can taste metallic, musty, sour, salty, and not even like vegetables with poor quality ingredients.

    Homemade tastes great and is guaranteed to be healthy. It's so easy in either an Instant Pot (pressure cooker) or on the stove top. 

    Read the Labels on Store Brands

    Read labels on store brands of vegetable broth. They may contain high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, sugar, high sodium levels, dextrose, yeast extract, hydrolyzed soy protein, and flavor-enhancing food additives, MSG and mystery flavorings. Really?

    One cooking magazine reported that “vegetable broths tend to be made from the ugly ducklings of the produce world—vegetables that, while not spoiled, are unsuitable for sale as whole vegetables or vegetable parts”. They also report some broths are not even made from fresh vegetables, but use powdered vegetable content. It might really be vegetable extracts, concentrates, or powders. No thanks. 

    Golden homemade vegetable broth
    Golden homemade vegetable broth.

    Homemade Vegetable Broth Ingredients

    For a full flavored homemade vegetable broth, buy 2 fresh tomatoes, a head of garlic, half pound of brown or white mushrooms, carrots, celery, fresh thyme and Italian parsley, leeks and onion. For the leeks, use the top dark green part for the broth and save the light green part for cooking.

    Cooking Methods: Instant Pot or Stove Top

    If you go the traditional method of simmering on the stovetop, it will take about an 45 minutes. Not too bad – but there is a faster way. Use an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. For speedy vegetable broth, it takes just 7 minutes at high pressure. The broth is a rich golden color with pure vegetable flavor. Use vegetable broth immediately, or cool, refrigerate or freeze. Chilling directions are at the end of the recipe. You'll need black peppercorns too, but no salt.

    Broth seasoning professional tip: Never add salt to broths when cooking; add them to the dish you when cooking.

    Homemade Vegetable Broth| A FoodCentricLife.com
    Vegetables in basket for vegetable broth.

    📖 Recipe

    Homemade Vegetable Broth| A FoodCentricLife.com

    Easy Homemade Vegetable Broth (Instant Pot or Stove Top)

    Sally Cameron
    Homemade vegetable broth beats anything from the store hands down, in terms of not only taste, but nutrition. For speed, use a pressure cooker. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, simmer this about 45 minutes to an hour then strain and cool. For the leeks and fennel, just use the top portion and save the white part and bottoms for your regular cooking. Make thrifty use of something you might normally discard.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 5 mins
    Cook Time 12 hrs 7 mins
    Total Time 12 hrs 12 mins
    Course Broth
    Cuisine American
    Servings 12 servings
    Calories 38 kcal

    Equipment

    • large pot or Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker

    Ingredients
      

    • 3 quarts filtered water
    • 2 large fresh tomatoes chopped into large chunks
    • 1 head garlic cut in half across the center
    • ½ pound fresh mushrooms rinsed and cut in quarters
    • 4 large carrots scrubbed clean and roughly chopped
    • 2 green tops from 2 leeks save the bottoms to cook with or use 1 whole leek
    • 3 celery ribs roughly chopped
    • 1 medium onion roughly chopped
    • 1 bay leaf
    • ½ bunch fresh parsley
    • ½ bunch fresh thyme
    • 1 teaspoon dried black peppercorns

    Instructions
     

    • In a 6-8 quart pressure cooker, add the water and all ingredients, tomatoes through fennel stalks (if using). Lock the pressure cooker lid on and bring to high pressure. When the pot gets to high pressure, turn heat down to low and time for 7 minutes. The pressure gauge should stay up. If not, increase the heat just a tiny bit and watch that the gauge stays up. This may vary by range or cooktop.
    • After 7 minutes at high pressure, remove the pot from the heat and allow the pot to sit until the pressure drops naturally. If it has not dropped in 20 minutes, release any pressure naturally by placing the pot under cold running water until it releases. Remove the lid, being careful to position the lid away from your face, and open the pot. Use broth right away or cool to store or freeze.

    Notes

    Cooling tip: If cooling to refrigerate or freeze, strain the broth through a fine sieve into a large bowl or a large clean pot. Place in a sink or larger bowl filled with cold water and ice. Stir to cool and release the heat. When you can stick your finger in it and it feels cool, refrigerate until totally cold. It should be 70°F or lower. If freezing, portion broth into containers and freeze, noting the quantity, date and name of the broth with masking tape and a sharpie.
    If you enjoy fennel I sometimes add a few stalks of one small bulb as a nice extra. 

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1cupCalories: 38kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 2gFat: 0.3gSaturated Fat: 0.05gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.02gSodium: 37mgPotassium: 280mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 4725IUVitamin C: 13mgCalcium: 40mgIron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Rebecca says

      December 03, 2018 at 11:55 pm

      Hi Sally,

      The last couple of times that I've made vegtable broth from scratch it has turned out to have a terrible metallic flavor (I did not use your recipe for these bad ones!)

      Any ideas on what could be causing that? Too many onions perhaps?

      Thanks for the article!

      Reply
      • Sally Cameron says

        December 04, 2018 at 12:30 pm

        H Rebecca. Hmm, that is strange. What kind of a pan are you using? Also, I'm wondering if it's too acidic and that is coming across as metallic to your taste buds. And since I don't know what's in the recipe you used, hard to say. Try my recipe and see if that happens, and please let me know.

        Reply
    2. Posicionamiento Web Madrid says

      March 12, 2017 at 10:29 pm

      Estaba buscando esa informacion hace edad, te lo agradezco,
      estoy de concierto con tu punto de vista y grano igual.
      Despues de buscar mucho por Internet encontre lo que buscaba.
      Genial!!! muchas gracias

      Reply
    3. Tonia says

      August 10, 2014 at 3:56 pm

      I have a Elite electric presure cooker. I'm very new at cooking with it. Do you cook this the same was as a stove top presure cooker?

      Reply
      • Sally says

        August 13, 2014 at 10:14 am

        Hi Tonia. Yes, absolutely, and easier as you don't have to baby-sit it. I've got to go electric.

        Reply
    4. Katherine says

      March 05, 2013 at 11:50 am

      I'm completely new to making my own vegetable stock, is there any way to make it similar to this but without a pressure cooker? Thank you!!! And,.... I do LOVE your blog!

      Reply
      • Sally says

        March 05, 2013 at 11:56 am

        Hi Katherine. Thanks for the kind words! A pressure cooker just speeds things up. You can make it without one by just simmering the vegetables for an hour, or until the broth is a nice deep golden color. You may find that a pressure cooker is worth investing in. Really, I love mine and could not live without them. There are many great recipes you can make with one! They are not expensive, and you can use them without the pressure capability just like a regular pot.One more thing you can do to add flavor )just take more time) is to first roast your vegetables in the oven at 350 until browned and caramelized, then simmer to make broth. Please let me know what you do.

        Reply
    5. Debbie Burgess says

      January 17, 2013 at 6:09 pm

      Sally, I made your vegetable broth tonight after roasting the vegetables at 375 for about an hour, just until they started to caramelize. I'll definitely be making this again. It is absolutely delicious! There are so many different flavors playing together, and the only thing I can think of to improve upon what I made would be to not forget the fennel the next time. 🙂 I'll be canning this in the morning and enjoying it for weeks to come. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe!

      Reply
      • Sally says

        January 17, 2013 at 7:51 pm

        Great to know Deb! I'll definitely try that next time. Thanks much for reporting back. And I agree, the fennel is really nice.

        Reply
    6. Lisa @ The Cooking Bride says

      January 14, 2013 at 5:57 pm

      I just started cooking with a pressure cooker this past summer. I make a lot of my own chicken broth and I LOVE using my pressure cooker. It saves so much time and the broth has such a rich flavor.

      Reply
      • Sally says

        January 14, 2013 at 6:29 pm

        Agreed Lisa! Once you get a pressure cooker you're hooked! Then you might like a few other PC recipes I have. The French Market Soup, the chicken rice soup, the beef and carrot stew (if you eat beef), and have you tried cheesecake yet? Nice for a splurge and so fast! Recipe under dessert category. Enjoy your pressure cooker!

        Reply
    7. Jessica says

      January 14, 2013 at 5:02 pm

      Love your photos and recipe for a healthy broth. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    8. Lindsay @ Pinch of Yum says

      January 14, 2013 at 2:32 pm

      Wow - those photos are amazing. I need to try this - I use vegetable broth in tons of dishes!

      Reply
    9. Erin @ The Speckled Palate says

      January 14, 2013 at 1:33 pm

      This broth looks and sounds fabulous, and I'm going to have to add it to my broth rotation, as I need to brew up some veggie broth in the near future. I've never worked with a pressure cooker before, and I don't currently have one... but now, I'm intrigued. Might see if I can find one I can test this out on!

      Thanks for sharing this recipe!

      Reply
      • Sally says

        January 14, 2013 at 5:29 pm

        Erin, you can use a pressure cooker for lots of great things! You can even make cheesecake and desserts in them. Awesome cheesecake (for a splurge). There's a post under desserts. I could never do without my pressure cookers! Once you get one and start playing with them, I'll bet you will feel the same.

        Reply
    10. Debra says

      January 14, 2013 at 12:04 pm

      On step 2. did you mean low pressure or high pressure?

      Reply
      • Sally says

        January 14, 2013 at 1:02 pm

        I do it all on high pressure Deb. Please let me know how it comes out for you.

        Reply
    11. Debbie Burgess says

      January 14, 2013 at 6:39 am

      Sally, this is such a timely post because I've been contemplating making vegetable broth to add to my supply of home made poultry stock (chicken, turkey and pheasant). Have you ever roasted your veggies to the caramelized stage before proceeding with this recipe? I'm wondering if that would increase the flavor and create a darker product, more like stock than broth. I hadn't thought to do this in the pc, but what a time saver that will be! By the way, I can all my broth/stock and that is such a convenient way to store and use it.

      Reply
      • Sally says

        January 14, 2013 at 9:29 am

        Hi Deb. I've thought about roasting the vegetables to see if it increases the flavor but have not yet tried it. Using the pressure cooker seems to yield a pretty richly colored broth considering its all vegetables. The only thing with veg broth is that because there are no bones, you don't get the nice gelatinous body that you get from a bone broth. You can yours? That's great. I just freeze mine. Although sometimes I wish I had a bigger freezer!If you roast your vegetables please let me know how it comes out. I'll try that next time too, but it does add time.

        Reply
      • Dawn says

        January 16, 2013 at 4:22 am

        how do you can your broth?

        Reply
        • Sally says

          January 16, 2013 at 11:36 am

          Hi Dawn, I don't can mine, I just freeze it. Easier, as I use it often. Freeze it in whatever quantities work for you. You can use a muffin tin, then pop the cubes out when they are frozen and put them in a zip bag for small portions. Or freeze them in larger containers. I often use 2-3 cup portions in the OXO BPA-free containers. Some people freeze broth in quart zip bags and lay them flat. My issue with that is sometimes they get a nick in them and can leak when defrosting, unless you place the bag in a bowl or on a rimmed try for safety.

          Reply
    12. Mary@SiftingFocus says

      January 13, 2013 at 11:50 pm

      I have always wanted to make homemade vegetable broth. Thanks for the inspiration Sally. Also, thank you for the recommendation on pressure cookers. I've never owned one but have always wanted one. I might just have to treat myself!

      Reply
      • Sally says

        January 14, 2013 at 9:33 am

        Mary, a pressure cooker is a must have if you like to cook! Nice for soups, stews, broths, and many dishes. The 8 quart is really a good size to start with. I have a 10 qt and a small 4 qt but use the 8 qt the most. Plus you can use it like a regular pot without the lid. Amazon has a good price and the link in the post goes there. On cookbooks, Jill Nussinow and Lorna Sass are two big authors on pressure cooking. You can download Jill's book electronically. And check out http://www.hippressurecooking.com. Lauras entire blog is about pressure cooking.

        Reply
    13. Madonna says

      January 13, 2013 at 11:02 pm

      I love homemade broth. Even without a pressure cooker one hour investment is well worth it. I am trying to multitask with a pot simmering on the stove while I fix lunch.

      Reply

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