During the colder months, a warm pot of minestrone for dinner is one of my ultimate comfort foods.

It’s no wonder then that I feel extremely satisfied knowing that I have my own homemade vegetable broth on hand, and very empowered to know that I can make some on my own quickly if I ever run out.

Vegetable broth is a product that most people buy, but that is extremely easy to be self-sufficient in making yourself.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• How to make Vegetable Broth fast in the Instant Pot
• What to put in your vegetable broth and what you should leave out
• 2 ways to preserve your DIY Vegetable Broth long-term
• The benefits of making your own vegetable broth at home

Let’s get cooking!

Why am I so excited about homemade vegetable broth?

With the state of the economy right now, I’m noticing food prices increasing on items that I buy almost every time I shop.

Things that were once inexpensive pantry staples are now $4-$7 a piece. And you’ll pay a premium for things that are organic and without funky additives in them.

Vegetable broth is something that you make from items that normally get thrown away, so you’re essentially making a product that you’d buy at no extra cost to you.

When you make your own vegetable  broth at home, you can make it low sodium, or avoid any ingredients that you may be allergic to or want to leave out of your diet.

The richness of homemade vegetable broth really just cannot compare to the store bought stuff.

Since vegetable broth can be easily frozen or pressure canned, it’s something that you can make a lot of in advance and then have on hand whenever you need it.

What ingredients can you put in vegetable broth?

Here’s the thing. A lot of people say you can put almost any vegetable into vegetable broth and it will be great.

But, according to my palette at least, there are some vegetables that you want to avoid.

I also see a lot of recipes calling for new vegetables (i.e. 2 whole onions chopped, a head of garlic diced, 3 carrots chopped), which is fine and not wrong at all, but you can get the same result by saving scraps of food from cooking throughout the week.

To do this, have a freezer safe ziplock bag or container that you add certain vegetable scraps to over the course of a week (or until you have time to make a big batch of broth).

Here are the vegetable scraps I recommend saving for broth:

• onion skins and any off cuts (free from dirt if they are home grown)
• leek off cuts (be sure they’re free from dirt even if store bought)
• scallion and green onion off cuts
• garlic skins/paper and any off cuts (free from dirt if homegrown)
• carrot tops/off cuts (specifically the top orange part of a carrot, not the leafy greens)
• parsnip tops/ off cuts (the root part, not the leaves)
• fennel tops, bottoms, and fronds
• mushroom off cuts, like the stems and gills (free from dirt of course)
• left over stems of herbs like rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme
• ginger root skins and other off cuts
• celery scraps
• tomato scraps (NEVER THE LEAVES OR STEMS, they are toxic) - if you’re making tomato sauce and remove the skins or strain off the excess water, that is perfect to add to broth!

Bonus broth ingredients:

• pasta water - maybe this sounds weird, but sometimes I save my pasta water instead of pouring it down the drain and I use that as some of the water for when I make my broth. DO NOT use pasta water if you'll be pressure canning the broth afterwards.
• Ham hock bones or any other left over bones, cartilage, etc. from meat - obviously it’s not a 100% vegetarian broth anymore if you add these things in, but if you do eat meat, the flavor is phenomenal.

Here are vegetables that I would NOT recommend adding to broth:

• Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, rutabaga, etc.
• Leafy greens like lettuce, chard, collards, kale
• Squash
• Radish (although some daikon radish root adds a nice flavor)
• Peppers (pepper greenery/stem is toxic fyi)
• Eggplant (eggplant greenery/stem is toxic fyi)
• asparagus
• Peas or beans

The reason for most of these is that they add a funky taste to your vegetable broth in my opinion - but if you know you like having these items in your broth you should go for it!

Gather your vegetable broth ingredients over time and store in the freezer

I usually do the Rachel Ray “garbage bowl” method when I’m cooking and put all of my scraps into a bowl so that it’s easier to add to the compost.

BUT, when I’m saving up for making a broth, I have 2 bowls on hand - one for my broth bag and one for the compost. Sometimes there’s a third one in there for the chickens!

Things that go in the broth bowl are any of the items mentioned above, with garlic and onion being the most popular.

Then, once my meal is going on the stove, I put the broth bowl contents into a bag in my freezer. I use gallon sized bags, although you can make a tasty broth with about half a gallon of scraps.

Whenever I have bones left over from cooking meat (usually pork), I put those in a separate bag in the freezer.

Instant Pot Vegetable Broth Recipe

Ingredients for your vegetable broth:

• 1/2 gallon of saved frozen veg scraps
• water (or leftover pasta water if it’s fresh AND you're not pressure canning after)

1. Add veggie scraps to your Instant Pot
2. Cover with water to the max liquid fill line
3. Secure the lid and set the knob to “Sealing”
4. Set the Instant Pot to Pressure Cook for at least 1 hour 15 minutes, but of course the longer it goes, the more flavor will be added to the broth.
5. Once it has finished, let it cool for at least 15 minutes before manually releasing steam. There will be a lot of it, so be careful.
6. Use a sieve or strainer to separate the solids from the liquid. If I’m making multiple batches I might reuse these scraps but add in about 1/4 gallon of new vegetable material. Otherwise, toss in compost.
7. Store the liquid in jars once cooled for the fridge or freezer, or keep the liquid warm to continue on with pressure canning instructions below.

Total time: Around 2 hours

For me, a 1 hour 15 minute cycle takes around 2 hours in total to complete, from coming up to pressure to cook time to natural steam release time.

How to store and preserve your vegetable broth

If you’re not going to use all of your vegetable broth right away, there are ways to store your broth long term.

Refrigerator: Vegetable broth will keep for around 5 days in the fridge. Be sure that it’s cooled down before storing.

Freezer: This is the easiest way to store vegetable broth long term. I use freezer-safe Ball canning jars and am sure to fill the jars below the “freeze safe” liquid line. Label your jars with the date and they will keep for at least 6 months.

Pressure Canner: If you have a pressure canner (not the same as your Instant Pot!), vegetable broth is really simple to can up and have be shelf stable for at least a year. This is a great option if you don’t have a lot of freezer space, or want your broth to be ready to go at a moment’s notice (since you have to defrost the frozen broth).

Vegetable broth needs to be pressure canned, it’s not safe to use a water bath canner for broth of any kind.

It’s important to follow the pressure canner instructions that came with your particular pressure canner, and to be sure that the recipes you’re following are approved by the USDA, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, or your local extension office.

Lastly, be sure that you’re following the necessary adjustments for your altitude.

Note that this recipe is for 100% vegetable broth made in plain water, NO PASTA WATER, NO MEAT or BONE PRODUCTS.

**These directions were sourced from the University of California Extension Office

1. In this case, you want your broth to be warm. If you’ve let it cool, bring up to a simmer on the stove.
2. Wash your jars and lids with hot water right before processing. Inspect your jars to be sure there are no cracks or chips.
3. Put about 3 inches of water into your Pressure Canner, add in the rack, and start to warm that on the stove.
4. Using a funnel to help you, ladle your hot broth into your hot jar until there is 1 inch of headspace.
5. Use a clean towel to wipe the rims, checking for any chips while you’re making sure rims are dry and clean.
6. Put the flat lids on your jars, and screw the lid on until they are “finger tight”
7. By now, the water in your pressure canner should be starting to warm up. Place your jars on the rack in your pressure canner.
8. Screw down the lid of your pressure canner according to manufacturer’s instructions
9. Let the canner come up to a full steady steam, and set a timer for 10 minutes.
10. After 10 minutes, add your weighted gauge at 10 lbs of pressure OR adjust to your altitude.
11. If you have pint jars, process for 30 minutes. If you have quart jars, process for 35 minutes.
12. Once jars are done, turn off the heat and let the pressure canner cool until the dial reads 0, and then wait another 5 minutes.
13. Remove the weighted gauge and remove the lid, let the jars rest for another 10 minutes.
14. Using canner tongs or an oven mit, safely remove jars from the canner and let cool for 12 hours on a cloth on the counter. If after an hour any jars haven’t sealed, store those in the fridge and use within 5 days.
15. After 12 hours, check seals again and remove the screw lids. Label and store.

Fast and easy vegetable broth that's essentially free

This is one of the recipes I recommend everyone who is wanting to be more self-sufficient and lean more into a homesteading lifestyle to try. Once you make it and taste it, you won't see the point in buying it in the store ever again!

If you live in an apartment, you may be interested in our apartment homesteading guide

If you like the idea of long-term storage foods, check out our list of top low maintence foods for storage.