Light Vegetable Broth
A clean, fragrant, and versatile vegetable broth that forms the perfect foundation for soups, grains, and sauces.
Ingredients
- •2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
- •2 large carrots, scrubbed and roughly chopped
- •2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- •3 cloves garlic, smashed
- •1 small leek, washed and sliced
- •2 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
- •2 sprigs fresh thyme
- •1 bay leaf
- •6 whole black peppercorns
- •8 cups cold water (2 liters)
- •1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- 1
Place all the chopped vegetables, garlic, and herbs into a large soup pot or Dutch oven.
- 2
Pour the cold water over the vegetables and add the black peppercorns and kosher salt.
- 3
Bring the water to a gentle boil over medium-high heat.
- 4
Once boiling, immediately reduce the heat to low, cover partially, and let the broth simmer gently for 30 minutes to extract the flavors without clouding the liquid.
- 5
Remove the pot from the heat and carefully strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a heat-proof bowl, pressing gently on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible, then discard the spent vegetables.
💡 Chef tips
- Save your vegetable scraps like onion skins, carrot peels, and mushroom stems in a bag in the freezer to use for future batches of broth.
- Let the broth cool completely before storing it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months.
- Avoid adding starchy vegetables like potatoes or bitter greens like kale, as they will cloud the broth and alter the clean flavor profile.
✅ How it should turn out
The finished broth should be a clear, golden-hued liquid with a delicate, aromatic vegetable scent and a light, deeply comforting flavor.