How to Make Your Own Vegetable Broth

Are you tired of spending a ton of money on store-bought vegetable broth?

I know I was.

We did a Daniel Fast earlier this year and I bought a lot of vegetable broth. The Kroger Simple Truth brand was good because it didn’t have any additives or sugar; but at $2.00 per carton, I nearly cried.

Then I finally looked up how to make my own because, well, I’m obsessed with frugal living. And believe it or not, making your own broth is super easy! All you need is a slow cooker, a gallon-sized freezer bag, and some patience.

Here’s how you can make your own vegetable broth:

Save your vegetable scraps

When you’re doing your meal prep sessions or just chopping up veggies for dinner, don’t throw out the ends and peelings! Grab a gallon-sized freezer bag and throw everything inside, and stick it in the freezer until you have more veggie scraps. Repeat until you can’t stuff any more inside- then you know it’s time to make broth!

I know that some vegetables do better in broth than others. Here are the only veggies I’ve used so far:

• Carrots
• Onions
• Celery
• Garlic

These 4 tend to do pretty well and give the broth a lighter but good flavor.

Add ingredients to your slow cooker

Once your bag is stuffed full, dump the contents into your slow cooker. I’ve heard a good water ratio is 4 cups of water for every pound of scraps. My bag was right around 2 pounds, so I added 8 cups of water.

At this point, you can also add whatever you want. An extra onion, more garlic, any spices (Basil, oregano, salt, etc.)… it seems like broth would be kind of hard to mess up, so use as much or as little as you want.

Cover your slow cooker and cook on LOW for about 8 hours. When you open the lid, all the veggies will be cooked down and it will smell delicious.

Place a large pot in your sink with a colander on top, and carefully pour the contents inside. Discard all the veggie scraps, and using a fine mesh strainer this time, pour the broth back into your slow cooker (or another bowl) to get all the tiny pieces out.

You’re now left with your homemade vegetable broth! Feel free to taste and add extra salt or seasonings as you see fit.

Freeze leftovers for later

There are a few different ways you can freeze your vegetable broth. The way I did it was with a muffin tin and these silicone muffin cups. Pour 1/4 cup of broth into each cup and gently place in the freezer until completely frozen. The silicone cups are perfect because you can easily flip them inside out and the frozen broth comes out super easily!

You could also use ice cube trays, or even quart-sized freezer bags. Make sure you label everything so you know exactly how many cups of broth are in your bags.

Wasn’t that super easy? I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to make my own broth. The process is very hands-off, and doesn’t take a lot of extra effort. No longer will I pay $2.00 for a container of vegetable broth; I’ve seen the light!

Do you make your own broth? What are your favorite veggies to use? Leave a comment and give me any extra tips!