DIY Stock: 45-Minute Vegetable Stock
A French Mediterranean diy stock recipe that only takes 45 minutes from start to finish. A light, aromatic, vegetable stock recipe, built for everyday cooking, FAST!
Equipment
- Large soup pot OR
- crockpot
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium onions roughly chopped
- 3 carrots sliced
- 3 celery stalks chopped
- 1 leek cleaned and sliced
- 4 garlic cloves smashed
- 8 cups cold water
Optional Ingredients
- 1 cup mushrooms halved (optional but adds depth)
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 sprigs fresh parsley
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
- 1 small tomato or 1 tablespoon tomato paste optional for color
- Sea salt to taste added at the end or wait to add it when the stock is used in a recipe.
Instructions
- Sweat the aromatics: Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, celery, leek, and garlic. Cook 5–7 minutes until the vegetables soften and smell sweet, no browning.
- Build flavor with these ingredients if using: Add mushrooms, bay leaf, parsley, thyme, peppercorns, and tomato or tomato paste. Stir for 1 minute to coat everything in the aromatics.
- Simmer gently: Pour in the cold water. Bring just to a simmer, then reduce heat to low. Let it bubble lazily for 35 minutes, never boil, or the stock turns cloudy.
- Strain & Remove from heat: Strain through a fine sieve, pressing lightly on the vegetables to extract their goodness without clouding the broth.
- Season & Taste: Add sea salt only now, so you control the final flavor, or wait and add salt when using in a recipe.
- Store: Cool completely. Refrigerate up to 5 days or freeze up to 3 months.
If you want a deeper color, roast the vegetables first at 425°F for 20 minutes, or leave the onion skin on if you are not caramelizing them first.
Notes
- All the vegetables have given their flavor to the water in the first hour, so no need to cook longer.
Nutrition
Calories: 37kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.2gSodium: 66mgPotassium: 198mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 4124IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 37mgIron: 1mg
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