Nourishing Homemade All Purpose Veggie Broth
Each week, I find myself with a ton of various herb and veggie scraps that I store in a glass container in the fridge. Rather than throwing them out, there is something that feels so good about honoring all part of the plants the feed my family - the normally discarded parts, the stems, the leaves, the skins, the roots. Those are the parts that can be used to make vegetable broth, a staple in many soups, and a wonderful way to add more nutrition to whatever you’re cooking in it.
Additionally, making your own veggie broth is extremely cheap and easy, and you’re creating less waste by making it yourself as opposed to buying it in a plastic container. As I always say, get creative with it! You can use almost any veggies scraps you happen to have, and each batch you make will be slightly different.
Some people freeze their veggie scraps rather than store them in the fridge, but I find that I make the broth often enough that my scraps keep really well for a week or two.
And here is where I have to profess my deep love and passion for my Instapot. It’s not hyperbole to say this device completely changed my life. After having kids, I truly don’t think I would be able to cook from scratch as much without it. There are too many ways to describe how the Instapot has saved us time and money (maybe that’s a whole other post!), so for now I’ll just say TRUST ME you want one.
You could make veggie broth on a stove top, but it would take a long time and more energy. You really want use a pressure cooker for this one.
Ingredients:
5-6 cups of any veggie scraps. Common ones I use are carrot, onion, and garlic peels, stems from hearty greens and lettuces, beet tops, celery ends, and fresh herb stems.
salt, as much or as little as your prefer.
spices that call to you. Again, be creative! My favorites ones to add to the mix are turmeric, oregano, and garlic powder.
optional: a few garlic pieces if you want to up the medicinal impact of the broth,
Directions:
Add all the veggies to your pressure cooker, and fill with filtered water, keeping care not to exceed the fill limit. Add in salt, and spices you want, and garlic if you like. Pressure cook for about 40 minutes. Once the cooking time is done, I keep the whole mixture on the warm setting for the rest of the day and overnight (about 20 hours) to REALLY let the flavors set.
Drain the cooked veggie scraps from the liquid mixture. I like to keep the broth in glass jars in the fridge for later use. You can, of course, consume the veggie broth as a soup alone, especially if you’re feeling unwell and could benefit from something simple and extremely nourishing.
It will last a a few weeks in the fridge, but if you think you may not use it for a longer time, you can freeze the broth. Be sure to leave extra room in the container to account for expansion as the liquid freezes.