Homemade Vegetable Broth

Soup is simple. A lot of us are intimidated by it because of the amount of time it takes, and many of us have bad experiences from making a bland and boring soup. Not to fear, making a full flavour soup is easy, and though it takes a long time, it does not require a whole bunch of effort.

The first thing is making the broth. Once you have your broth ready you can make any soup you dream of. The broth is the essential key to flavour when it comes to soup. If you use stock, or broth, instead of water you are guaranteed to have a tasty soup that everyone will enjoy.

Homemade Vegetable Broth


1tsp olive oil
1 large white onion cut in chunks (you can leave the skin on)
1 leek chopped and washed
2 large stalks of celery
1 large carrot chopped (no peeling necessary)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
water

you will also need: 1 large soup pot, 1 large heat resistant bowl, 1 large mesh strainer.

Making the Broth


In a large pot add the olive oil and bring to a medium high heat. Toss in all the veggies in the order of the ingredient list, stirring briefly between each addition. Once all the veggies are in the pot, add the salt and pepper, stir and pour in enough water to cover the veggies completely. Add the bay leaf to the top and bring the soup to a boil. Allow to boil for ten minutes and reduce heat to a simmer and simmer broth for 1 hour. If the water level goes down below the veggies, add more water to keep everything covered. Once the hour is up, turn off the burner and cover pot, leaving pot on the burner, and leave pot on stove for an additional hour.

Place a large mesh strainer on your heat resistant bowl. Pour entire contents of pot into the strainer, lift the strainer and press with a large spoon to squeeze out all the juices. The veggies in the strainer are not for eating, they go in the compost. The liquid in the bowl is your broth. Pour in a mason jar, cover with a tight fitting lid and you can keep soup in the fridge for up to a week. If you wish to freeze the broth, pour into a freezer safe airtight container and you can keep in the freezer for up to two months.

Use this broth instead of water when you make any kind of soup for a delicious tasting soup.

Recipe created and published by: Rachel Gonsalves