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    Home » Blog Post

    How to Make Roasted Vegetable Broth

    Modified: Mar 20, 2024 by Susan Pridmore · This post may contain affiliate links · 8 Comments

    Learn how to make roasted vegetable broth in your own kitchen for soups, sauces, and when cooking grains. This vegetable stock is very flavorful thanks to roasting the vegetables in the oven before simmering them in water with herbs. For a more delicate vegetable broth, skip the roasting and just simmer in water.

    by Susan Pridmore

    Jump to Recipe
    Vegetables all in water in a large pot ready to make broth.

    Want to make this recipe perfectly the first time? I want to help with that. So, check out this Table of Contents to see which sections of this post will help you the most.

    Jump to:
    • ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
    • 🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
    • 🔪 Recommended Equipment
    • 📝 Instructions Overview
    • 🎯 Why This Recipe Works
    • 👩‍🍳 Preparation Tips
    • 💡Ideas for Possible Variations
    • 🧊 Storage Tips
    • How to Make Roasted Vegetable Broth

    A flavorful roasted vegetable stock adds a lot to soups like bean soup and sauces and when cooking grains such as risotto. It allows you to infuse flavor into otherwise bland dishes, and when you make your own stock, you can adjust it to your own preferences.

    ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

    • Easy and flavorful.
    • Great way to use up orphan veggies in your refrigerator.
    • Flexible. Adjust the flavors to your own preferences.
    • Freezer-friendly. Make in large quantities and freeze in bags for later.
    Most of the ingredients for making vegetable broth.
    Vegetables ready for roasting. Parsley, peppercorns, and salt are added later.

    🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes

    The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minutes meal or less.

    For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions on how to make roasted vegetable broth, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.

    • Yellow onion - a yellow onion is best, but you can use a white onion if that's all you have. Don't use a red onion.
    • Celery
    • Mushrooms - any kind of mushrooms is fine, but button or cremini mushrooms are the easiest to clean and roast evenly without charring.
    • Carrot
    • Garlic
    • Fresh parsley - the stems and leaves
    • Black peppercorns
    • Water

    🔪 Recommended Equipment

    • Chef's knife
    • Cutting board
    • Baking sheet
    • 4 - 5 quart Dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot
    • Mesh strainer to strain out the simmered veggies, herbs, and peppercorns.

    📝 Instructions Overview

    Detailed instructions for how to make roasted vegetable broth are in the recipe card below, but here's an overview!

    Step 1

    Wash the veggies. You don't need to wash the onions if you peel off the outter papery skin, but you should clean everything else. I also don't wash the head of garlic.

    • Leeks: Slice off the bottoms of roots and the dark green parts of the leeks and discard. Cut them in half lengthwise and feather the layers apart under running water. Leeks are harvested in sandy soil and the soil gets trapped between the layers.
    • Carrot: Wash and if it still looks dirty, peel using a vegetable peeler.
    • Celery: Slice off any damaged or frayed ends of the celery. It's fine to use any celery leaves still on the stalk.
    • Mushrooms: When mushrooms are whole, either wipe the surfaces clean of any dirt using a paper towel or wash them in a little water and thoroughly dry. When the mushrooms are cut, only use the paper towel method. Don't use any water.
    Step 2

    Cut them up. The size and shape of the cut pieces aren't all that important, but they should be a similar size. So don't fine dice the mushrooms but only cut the leek in half.

    Slice off the top one-third of the head of garlic to expose as many garlic cloves as possible.

    Step 3

    Roast. Arrange the veggies on the parchment paper lined baking sheet. It's fine if they touch each other but shouldn't be piled on top of each other. Depending on the intensity of flavor you want, roast the veggies at least 15 minutes but no longer than 45 minutes.

    Step 4

    Simmer. Fill a heavy bottomed pot with 8 cups of water and transfer the roasted veggies to the pot. Add the parsley and any other fresh herbs you want, peppercorns and salt.

    Simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how infused you want the broth.

    Step 5

    Cool and strain. For a greater intensity of flavor, cool the broth with the veggies in the pot. Otherwise, strain the broth into a bowl. Cool and pour into mason jars.

    Vegetable broth on three jars, one of which is labeled vegetable broth.

    🎯 Why This Recipe Works

    • Roasting the vegetables intensifies their flavors.
    • Slicing them before roasting and simmering exposes more surfaces when simmered. This allows for a stronger infusion of flavor into the water.

    👩‍🍳 Preparation Tips

    • Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. After roasting, all you need to do is discard the used parchment paper and put the baking sheet away.
    • A good ratio to use with onion, celery, and carrots is use half as much celery as onion, and half as much carrots as celery.
    • Roast the vegetables for any length of time from 15 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the depth of flavor you want. Don't roast them longer than 45 minutes or the vegetables may start to become bitter from charring.
    • For a more delicate vegetable flavor, skip the roasting step and simmer the veggies in water for 1 hour.

    💡Ideas for Possible Variations

    Feel free to tailor your roasted vegetable broth to what you have on hand, your own preferences, and what you plan to add the finished vegetable stock to.

    Here are some vegetables and herbs that work well in creating your own broth. If you keep scraps, once you get to about 6 cups of vegetable and herb scraps, it's time to make a pot of vegetable stock.

    • Turnips, celery root (celeriac), and white potatoes for an earthy flavor
    • Leek and scallion (green onion) tops
    • Corn cob(s)
    • Cilantro, including stems
    • Thyme, including stems
    • Asparagus (only to make aspagus soup or asparagus risotto)
    • Onion skins and shallot skins
    • Celery leaves
    • Mushroom stems

    Steer away from these vegetables as they can make a vegetable broth bitter:

    • Broccoli
    • Brussels sprouts
    • Asparagus, unless you're making asparagus soup or asparagus risotto
    • Cauliflower
    • Kale, collard greens, and mustard greens
    • Peppers, especially the seeds and white pithy parts
    • Fennel (some fennel fronds are fine, but don't use the fennel root as it will overwhelm the other flavors in the broth)

    🧊 Storage Tips

    Bring the roasted vegetable broth to room temperature and pour it into an airtight container, such as mason jars. If you plan to freeze the stock, you can also pour into quart size freezer plastic zip bags in a pre-measured amount and stack them.

    • Refrigerate for up to 1 week.
    • Freeze for up to 3 months.

    Vegetables all in water in a large pot ready to make broth.
    5 from 1 vote

    How to Make Roasted Vegetable Broth

    This is an easy recipe for making homemade roasted vegetable broth in your own kitchen that's packed with flavor.
    Print Recipe Save Saved! Pin Recipe Add to Recipe Collection Go to Collections Add to Shopping ListGo to Shopping List
    Prep Time15 minutes mins
    Cook Time45 minutes mins
    Total Time1 hour hr
    Course: ingredient
    Cuisine: Any
    Keyword: how to make vegetable broth
    Servings: 8 cups
    Calories: 16.2kcal
    Author: Susan Pridmore
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    Equipment

    • Chef's knife
    • cutting board
    • baking sheet
    • 4 - 5 quart Dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot
    • Mesh Strainer

    Ingredients

    • 1 large yellow onion
    • 3 stalks celery
    • 4 large cremini mushrooms
    • 1 medium carrot
    • 1 head of garlic
    • 8 cups water
    • 10 large parsley stems with the leaves
    • 10 black peppercorns
    • 2 teaspoons kosher salt (optional)

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 400˚F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
    • Wash or clean the vegetables (see the Instructions section in the post) and prep.
      Slice the onion in half and remove its papery skin. Slice each half into 4 - 6 wedges. Arrange on the baking sheet. It's fine for them to touch, but they shouldn't be piled on top of each other.
      Wash and dry the celery and remove any damaged parts to the stalk or leaves. Cut into 2-3 inch pieces. Transfer to the baking sheet.
      Clean the mushrooms free of any dirt with a paper towel and slice in half. Transfer to the baking sheet.
      Wash the carrot (and peel if the carrot is unusually dirty), slice in half lengthwise, and cut into 2-3 inch pieces. Move to the baking sheet.
      Slice the top one-third from the top of the head of garlic. Place on the baking sheet.
    • Roast. Roast the veggies for at least 15 minutes, but no more than 45 minutes. Longer than this can make the vegetables bitter from charring.
    • Simmer. Bring 8 cups of water to a simmer in a heavy bottomed pot over high heat. Add the roasted vegetables, parsley, peppercorns, and kosher salt. Reduce the heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes to as long as 1 hour.
    • Strain. Place a mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the vegetables and broth into the strainer. Press down on the vegetables using a large spoon.
    • Cool and store. Cool to room temperature and pour into airtight containers such as mason jars.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 16.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 3.6g | Protein: 0.7g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.02g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 612.6mg | Potassium: 145.8mg | Fiber: 0.9g | Sugar: 1.5g | Vitamin A: 1447.6IU | Vitamin C: 4.1mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 0.2mg
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    About Susan Pridmore

    Susan Pridmore is an award-winning cookbook author and the owner of The Wimpy Vegetarian. She has been featured in Huffington Post, Healthline, BuzzFeed, and has written for and developed recipes for The Food Network and Parade Magazine. She is professionally trained and focuses on easy vegetarian recipes for busy lives, bread-baking, and tips for new vegetarians. Susan lives in the mountains in Lake Tahoe with her husband and mini-labradoodle.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. lizthechef

      November 09, 2011 at 1:10 pm

      I hate to borrow the phrase, but, truly, how easy is that?!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        November 09, 2011 at 3:25 pm

        I know 🙂

        Reply
    2. Bevi

      November 10, 2011 at 5:41 pm

      I was about to post the very same thing, Liz, before I scrolled down to your comment!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        November 12, 2011 at 11:21 am

        :-)!!!

        Reply
    3. Hannah

      November 11, 2011 at 5:22 pm

      I really do need to stock my freezer with this...thank you for the inspiration!

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        November 12, 2011 at 11:22 am

        And obviously so did I! I hate it when I get all set to start a recipe and then find I'm out of stock!! So I'm all stocked up now, so to speak 🙂

        Reply
    4. DavetteB

      March 07, 2015 at 1:04 am

      It certainly is simple, but depending on where you live, not necessarily cheaper.
      If I don't think about the mushrooms too much I can get it down 😉

      Reply
      • The Wimpy Vegetarian

        March 07, 2015 at 1:30 pm

        I'm actually not a fan of mushrooms either - but just a touch of them in this stock gives it a more robust flavor. But you can always eliminate. I completely agree it's not necessary cheaper, depending on where you live! Especially with produce costs going up around here, at least partially due to the drought California is engulfed in. But so often I have odds and ends of celery, carrots, onions, and garlic, so it can also be a way of efficiently using everything up. Thanks so much for your comment and subscribing!!

        Reply
    5 from 1 vote (1 rating without comment)

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    about the author:

    Susan Pridmore

    Hi there! I'm an award-winning cookbook author, culinary school graduate, professional photographer and recipe developer. My cookbook Simply Vegetarian was named #1 best cookbook for new vegetarians, and I want to make it easier for you to cook fabulous vegetarian meals. Come join me in the kitchen!

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