Vegetable Stock
I can’t remember the last time I bought vegetable stock. I have been making homemade stock for almost 10 years and it’s just so much better than store bought.
tl;dr
Save bits from onions, shallots, garlic, carrots, celery, mushroom stems, leeks, and green onions and freeze in zipper top bags
Lightly roast the veggies in the pot with no oil or added water just until a few pieces start to stick to the bottom
Add water, bring to boil, reduce to simmer, cook 30 minutes or until veggies look sad
Let cool, portion, and freeze
We cook a lot, so we go through a lot of vegetables. We are also very conscious about food waste. Good news is that various leftover bits of veggies are perfect for stock.
Here’s what I save:
onion and shallot bits - the outer paper-y layer(s), stem end, root end
garlic bits - the outer paper-y layer, stem end
carrot bits - peel and cut-off ends
celery - anything that gets chopped off and not used in a recipe can be saved for stock
mushroom stems
leeks and green onions - anything that gets chopped off, similar to celery
I keep everything in gallon zipper top bags until it is time to make stock, either when we have run out of stock or we have way too many veggies saved up.
I have found that once a gallon bag is about 2/3 full of veggie bits, it’s time to make stock. I typically use a Dutch oven, but I have also just invested in a huge 5 gallon stock pot. Since this run has almost 3 gallons of veggies, I busted out both Dutch ovens plus the stock pot.
Taking up both big burners plus our induction burner.
Fill up the pots about half way up with veggies, trying to distribute the various types across pots. I ended up mixing all 3 batches together at the end, but it’s still good to keep a variety of veggies in each pot.
Side note: I do want to point out that a couple pieces of cauliflower and broccoli are in these photos. Generally, items in the brassica family are not recommended for stock because they can turn the stock bitter. I had a bag of frozen mixed veggies that I threw in there without picking out them out. I did end up fishing them out after the roasting step, but probably should have picked them out earlier. In the grand scheme of this stock, it was a pretty small percentage of the total volume, so I’m not super worried.
To really amp up the veggie flavor, I like to lightly roast the veggies before adding any water. Just turn on the heat to medium-high, and cook slightly (stirring occasionally) until a few pieces just start to stick to the bottom. We don’t want go fully into caramelization and start to brown, but just a little color adds a ton of flavor. They will cook down quite a bit, but a lot of that is just water loss, so you are left with basically just flavor.
Add water up to the level you want. I typically go for about 2/3 of the way full. Bring this to a light boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for at least 20 minutes and up to 40 minutes. You want the veggies to have given up all of their flavor, but if you go too long, you run the risk of your stock being too sweet (onions are naturally sweet!).
Remove the solids from the pot with a slotted spoon or mesh spider to prevent additional cooking and let the stock cool for at least an hour. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to remove any of the remaining solids. I do NOT add salt to my stock! Many store-bought stocks are pre-salted and they are often way too salty. I much prefer to adjust the salt levels when I am making the dish itself rather than salting ahead of time. It gives me a lot more control over the flavor and keeps sodium levels lower.
For portioning, we use mostly these 2 cup deli containers, which are a great size, seal well, and freeze great. I ended up with just shy of 3 1/2 gallons. I’m freezing 2 1/2 gallons and giving away the rest or using it this week.
I hope you start saving your veggie scraps to make your own stock because it’s super easy to do and very satisfying. One thing that’s fun about making stock is that every batch is going to end up a little different depending on your veggie blend. It’s definitely more of an art than a science!
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