Turn fresh market vegetables and herbs into a concentrated homemade bouillon that can be kept in the freezer and scooped out whenever you need a quick vegetable broth. There’s no cooking required. Just chop, process, and freeze.
Adapted from A Veggie Venture’s Homemade Vegetable Bouillon Concentrate, inspired by a recipe from Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks.
Makes: About 3½ cups bouillon concentrate
Prep time: About 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 5 oz. (150 g) leeks*, white and light-green parts
- 7 oz. (200 g) fennel bulb*, roughly chopped
- 7 oz. (200 g) carrots*, roughly chopped
- 7 oz. (200 g) celery*, roughly chopped
- 1 oz. (30 g) sun-dried tomatoes
- 3½ oz. (100 g) shallots*, peeled
- 3 medium garlic cloves*
- 9 oz. (250 g) kosher or sea salt*
- 1½ oz. (40 g) fresh parsley*
- 2 oz. (60 g) fresh cilantro*
Directions
- Working in batches as needed, pulse the leeks, fennel, carrots, celery, sun-dried tomatoes, shallots, and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.
- Add the salt, parsley, and cilantro and continue processing until the mixture forms a thick, moist paste. Some small pieces of vegetables should still be visible.
- Transfer the bouillon to clean, freezer-safe containers and freeze. The high salt content keeps the mixture from freezing completely solid, so it can be scooped directly from the freezer as needed.
To use: Stir 1 teaspoon of bouillon concentrate into 1 cup of hot water to make vegetable broth. It can also be added directly to soups, stews, sauces, grains, and other dishes that call for vegetable stock.
Note: If substituting fine sea salt or table salt for kosher salt, use the weight measurement 250 grams rather than measuring by volume.
*Ingredients currently available at the farmers’ market
