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Vegetable Broth

This homemade Instant Pot Vegetable Broth is going to save you bundles at the grocery store because it’s made with ingredients that you normally throw away! That’s right! This is a zero waste, zero cost, vegetable broth. Intrigued yet? 

Broths are expensive ya’ll! If you get them somewhere like Costco, it’s around $2 a quart but at our local market, they can be as high as $5! That’s a lot for an ingredient that isn’t necessarily the star of the dish.

While chopping vegetables, I found that I was throwing so many scraps into our compost pile. I got the grand idea to repurpose the vegetables ends for broth!

This broth is so simple and can be canned for use later! I started taking all those parts of vegetables I would normally toss out and started putting them into baggies stored in the freezer. It was so surprising to me how quickly I was able to fill up a gallon size bag. I use this broth in my Instant Pot Vegetable Soup, my One Minute Instant Pot White Bean Soup, and so many more! If you type Vegetable Broth into the search bar, you will find so many uses for this pantry staple!

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Instant Pot Vegetable Broth instantloss.com
Using the potato masher to squeeze out every last drop of broth.

  

Instant Pot Vegetable Broth instantloss.com

Note:

Sometimes if your veggies cuttings are thick and frozen solid, the pot has a hard time heating all that frozen stuff! You might get an error message when your pot is unable to reach pressure (noPr). Don’t freak out! It’s ok! Just hit cancel, set it to Manual for 50 mins. Now that everything is thawed, it’ll come to pressure and work like it should the second time. This happens to me about 50% of the time. 🙂

If you make this delicious recipe, be sure to share a picture of it on Instagram with the hashtag #InstantLoss. I love seeing your kitchen creations! 

Instant Pot Vegetable Broth

Makes 4 to 5 quarts of broth
Print Recipe

Ingredients

  • 4 to 6 cups vegetable scraps
  • 4 quarts filtered water
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
  • 2 dried bay leaves
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 2 teaspoons dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon fine ground sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Begin collecting all of your vegetable scraps. Some of my favorites are; carrot tops, bell pepper stems, onion ends, celery, beets, turnips, and zucchini. Store them in a gallon size bag in your freezer.
  • Once the bag is full it's time to make broth! Empty the contents of your scrap bag into your Instant Pot. I like to put my scraps inside a steamer basket that fits inside my pressure cooker, it makes straining easier.
  • Add the filtered water, garlic cloves, bay leaves, olive oil, parsley, basil, thyme, sea salt, sage, and black pepper to the pot. 
  • Place the lid on the cooker and make sure the pressure knob is in the SEALING position. Using the display panel select the MANUAL/PRESSURE COOK function, high pressure, and use the +/- buttons until the display reads 40 minutes. 
  • When the cooker beeps to let you know it’s finished, turn off your pot and let it naturally release the pressure. Once the pin has dropped and the liquid has cooled, use a ladle set over a large bowl to strain the liquid.
    If you're using a steamer basket, carefully lift the basket out of the pressure cooker and use a potato masher to push on the vegetables to strain any remaining broth. Add the scraps to your compost pile or throw them out. 
  • Once the liquid has cooled completely, store in glass jars inside the refrigerator for up to 1 week. 
Author: Brittany Williams

54 Comments

  1. I LOVE this idea!!! Genius!!! I get my pot today and sm searching for recipes….i need a recipe for beef and chicken broth too…

  2. This is a great idea. I have never made ANY kind of broth before. and therefore all of my veggie waste goes to…well….WASTE. I love this idea of making something out of my scraps. The next thing you know, I will be making bone broth too. This new Instant Pot world really DOES lead one down the rabbit hole. Ha ha! But it’s a great journey for a worthwhile reason.

    1. I love zero waste recipes! The instant pot does kinda take to you another world! 🙂 Thanks for your feedback.

  3. Your broth looks different than mine. Mine was more clear. It def had a color to it, but it was see through. Are the veggies you have listed here the only ones you use in the broth?

    1. Hmm, Nope. I put pretty much any vegetable (except for lettuce) in there. Depending on what I have in there it changes colors. If I have beets in there it turns it a reddish color, sweet potatoes makes it a little more murky and orange so on.

  4. Learned to make veggie broth from you Brittany and everything I add it to comes out special. I use it for the liquid for my turkey bone soup and it was so delicious that I ate it both for breakfast and dinner!

  5. How do you store the vegetables before you make the broth? This sounds so easy, but I have no idea where to start! 🙂

  6. Never thought of this, so darn smart! I did get the error message but didn’t read it until now, now I know for next time. My broth still came out great without the additional 12 minutes and I got 16 cups! 😀

  7. Never thought of this, so darn smart! I did get the error message but didn’t read your note until now, now I know for next time. My broth still came out great without the additional 12 minutes and I got 16 cups! 😀

  8. I’ve made this a few times and it’s awesome! I feel so healthy and “super mom” to be making broth from scratch! The only thing I’d mention is to be mindful of the veggie scraps you are using. I had been making lots of celery sticks for the kids and so that was the majority of what was in one of my freezer bags. As a result, my stock that time around was super-celery-tasting. Not complaining, just an observation. I should’ve made multiple bags and distributed the celery between the bags so make room for other veggie scraps.

  9. I just made this for the first time ever this week! I was thrilled and shocked as to how easy it was! I also wondered why I had never done it before?! I got 6 mason jars full, which should make about 7-10 meals for the two of us. Being that I get my veggies each week from my favorite farmers…this will now be a weekly routine in our home!

  10. I have been making this for months now and I love how it is super easy to make and I have not had to buy any broth since. I have successfully substituted in any recipe that called for any broth, expecially beef broth because we don’t do red meat.

  11. Love this idea! Ready to give it a try. Do you have suggestions on how to store it once made? Does it have to be refrigerated or frozen only, or can it be stored in a cupboard (without refrigeration?) If freezing, any suggestions on containers for that?

  12. You have opened my eyes to the IP world! I have yet to do this but was just reading you email about homemade vanilla flavoring and I cannot wait to do that either! Absolutely amazing! So thankful to have found you!

  13. I have tried to do this but find that I will throw a lot of scraps away because they are dirty. Do you do anything special to get all the dirt off? Especially onions and carrots … how do you clean the flaky outside shell of the onion? Or the ground in dirt on the ends of carrots? Thanks for the help! LOVE your blog!

  14. Wow! Thank you… not only de idea is genius, it gives the scraps a purpose, but also the tip on the pot its super helpful. Some websites make you feel so inadequate, the whole post was really encouraging. Thank you!

  15. I made my first post of vegetable broth today! It smells amazing in here and can’t wait to bottle it when it cools! 😋

  16. Where did you get the strainer pictured that has no handles? You put it inside the pot, right? The one linked has handles, and doesn’t look like it would fit inside. Thanks!

  17. I consume fresh squeezed lemons daily. I know lemons are known to enhance food flavors. I feel bad tossing my remnants in the trash. Do you think adding them to my veggie stock might work? Or perhaps it would be to overpowering? Thank you in advance for your opinion.

  18. Question. Does anyone can this broth? I went to can my broth, and I have 35+ years experience in canning, however I cannot find a consistent amount of time to pressure can the broth to CAN. Some say 11 pounds pressure, 20 minutes for pints, and 25 minutes for quarts. Then another site will say 55 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure. Then another site says 75 minutes. I’m confused.

  19. What benefit does the oil play? I’m not supposed to have a lot of fat right now (pregnancy gallbladder issues). Can I leave that out and will it still function like a broth?

  20. Thanks for the tip re: ‘NoPR’ message when using frozen scraps. Googling that is what led me here!

  21. I can’t wait to try this with my veggie scraps! Can you share the measurements of how much herbs/salt/seasonings you put in the broth? Thanks so much!

    1. Hi Leslie!

      This is a personal preference depending on how flavorful you want your broth.

      Ally
      Instant Loss Team

    1. Hello Stephanie,
      Thanks for reaching out! It just depends on where you live. I live in a state with pretty crappy water so I have to use filtered water.

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