Vegetable Stock

Like our homemade Chicken Stock, this vegetable stock comes together with ingredients that would normally end up in the garbage can or compost pile. No high stakes here. This is a flavorful liquid that will pay you forward in soups, stews and curries. Store vegetable trimmings in a zip top freezer bag and put your slow cooker to work doing the heavy lifting, er, simmering.

We used a 6 quart slow cooker. While the volume is 24 cups, the stock ingredients do take up space, so you’ll yield more like 18-20 cups of stock. You’re looking to add a full gallon-sized zip top bag of ingredients (this was about 3 lbs for us) to the slow cooker. Your ingredients should be predominately onion, garlic and celery with a smaller ratio of carrot. Carrot is sweet and can take over the flavor of the stock. While we’re not a fan of hard-and-fast rules, there are a few that we follow for our Veggie Stock.

Vegetables we avoid: cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, bell pepper, potatoes and tomato. Using these vegetables will yield a stock with very specific, forward flavor. Because, we’re looking for a flavorful and neutral stock, we avoid these strong vegetables. Now, to be clear, we have no problem with, say, asparagus stock. Just know that it’s probably best reserved for making asparagus soup.

Take the flavor in different directions.
-Sub out the black peppercorns for a Seven Peppercorn Blend or Szechuan Peppercorns which is especially fun for Asian dishes.
-Add a Cinnamon Stick, Star Anise and a dash of Himalayan Pink Salt for a flavorful sipping stock.
-Add Turmeric Root and Ginger for a boost of anti-inflammatory benefits.

Be sure to listen to Anne’s Q&A on stock and broth on our podcast Smidgen. It’s a fun listen plus we make soup and sandwiches. Prepare to be inspired!