I’m not a veggie, but I do make Instant Pot Vegetable Broth from time to time. Sometimes I need something for the veggies in my life; sometimes I have a recipe where a meat broth would be too heavy, but it does need the extra flavor of a broth. (See: Asparagus Risotto.)
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Homemade vegetable broth - this shouldn’t be hard, right? Homemade chicken broth convinced me to keep my pressure cooker beyond the “new kitchen gadget” phase. It’s so easy, so much better than store bought broth, and so flexible. I thought vegetable broth would be the same - chuck some vegetable trimmings in the pot, pressure cook for a while, and strain out liquid gold.
I started with the “use up the scraps” technique that I use with with chicken broth. (I was hoping to save money, and use up odds and ends.) I froze trimmings from vegetables in a gallon zip-top bag. All my recipes seem to begin with “dice a large onion,” so I had a lot of the onion skins and outer layers, plus some carrot peels, the leaves from celery, leek greens, and a few potato skins. The bag was full, and it was time to make broth.
That broth tasted like mud. It looked like mud too - it had an odd brownish-orange color. I thought “I must have thrown in the root ends of something - let me try again.” I kept my trimmings clean, just the good parts of onions, celery, leeks, carrots…but I had the same results. Freezer to pressure cooker to...pour it down the drain.
How did I fix this? I used fresh vegetables. For more details, see the Recipe Tips section, below.
So, here it is, my pressure cooker vegetable broth. It’s not hard, and it’s a lot quicker than the recipe I started with, but it’s not where I expected to end up.
Ingredients
- Onions
- Carrots
- Celery
- Garlic
- Parsley
- Peppercorns
- Fine sea salt
- Water
How to Make Instant Pot Vegetable Broth
Everything in the pot: Put the roughly chopped vegetables (onions, carrots, celery), the garlic, and the parsley in an Instant Pot or other pressure cooker. Sprinkle the peppercorns and salt over the top, then pour in the water.
Pressure cook for 5 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Pressure cook on high pressure for 5 minutes in both electric and stovetop pressure cookers. (Use Manual, Pressure Cook, or Pressure Cook- Custom mode with an Instant Pot.) Let the pressure come down naturally, about 30 more minutes. (Water holds a lot of heat, so it takes a while for the pressure to drop. If you are impatient, you can quick release the remaining pressure after 20 minutes.)
Strain the broth: Scoop the big pieces of vegetables out of the pot with a slotted spoon and discard. Pour the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Use the broth immediately, or portion into 2 cup containers and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Recipe Tips
Lesson #1: Use fresh vegetables.
No more vegetable scraps. Let’s start our vegetable broth recipe with fresh vegetables. I’ll use the trinity of onions, carrots, and celery as the base. After my experience with the trimmings, I peel them before using, and it seems to help. I add a little garlic, parsley, peppercorns, and salt for seasoning. After 10 minutes under pressure, I have a tasty broth. I’m on the right path. But my next question is: how long under pressure?
Lesson 2: Don’t overcook - 5 minutes under pressure.
My pressure cooking bible, Pressure Perfect by Lorna Sass, says 10 minutes, and that’s what I’ve been using. But…a recipe I bookmarked from Mark Bittman’s Minimalist column says 30 minutes. Jill Nussinow, The Veggie Queen, who I consider the expert on Vegan pressure cooking, says 5 minutes. That’s quite a range!
Time for some tests. I start with 5 and 10 minutes1, figuring I can move up from there if I need to. It turns out the Veggie Queen knows her stuff. The 5-minute broth is lovely - bright, sweet, and fresh. (My tasting panel prefers the 5-minute broth, too.) The 10-minute broth is fine, but it tastes muddled next to the 5 minute broth. No need to keep increasing the time - we have a winner!
Lesson 3: Don’t skimp on the vegetables.
The last thing to test: how much vegetation do I need? Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio recommends a stock ratio of 3:2 water to ingredients by weight. That said, I don't use that ratio with chicken broth; it's not enough water. I go with a chicken broth ratio of 2:1 and love the results.
When I tried a 2:1 vegetable broth, it was weak stuff. (Get that weak stuff out of here. <Smacks it off the table.>) A 3:2 ratio of water to vegetables gives me much more flavor.
Storing Leftovers
Broth freezes beautifully, so I always make a big batch and store it for later. Broth will keep for a few days in the refrigerator, or up to 6 months in the freezer. I portion the broth into 2-cup containers (usually pint mason jars), so they're easy to pull out and thaw in the microwave for other recipes.
More Homemade Broth Recipes
Looking for a non-veggie broth? Check out my Instant Pot Chicken Broth made with chicken backs, or my Instant Pot Ham Broth made with a leftover hambone, or my (rather involved, but fantastic) Browned Beef Broth.
What is the difference between vegetable stock and vegetable broth?
That's an excellent question. Technically, Broth means "cooked with meat on the bones", and stock means "almost all bones". So, how does vegetable broth fit in? I don't really know, but I tend to call what I make Broth instead of Stock, so I kept that naming convention with this recipe.
Print
Instant Pot Vegetable Broth Recipe
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups of broth 1x
Description
Instant Pot Vegetable Broth - quick, golden broth from the pressure cooker.
Ingredients
- 24 ounces onions, peeled and quartered (4 medium onions)
- 12 ounces carrots, peeled and cut into chunks (6 medium carrots)
- 12 ounces celery stalks, cut into chunks (6 celery stalks)
- 0.5 ounces garlic cloves, peeled (4 large garlic cloves)
- 10 stalks of parsley (or 20 parsley stems, or 2 bay leaves)
- 10 peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 8 cups water
Instructions
- Everything in the pot: Put the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and parsley in the pressure cooker pot. Sprinkle the peppercorns and salt over the top, then pour in the water.
- Pressure cook for 5 minutes with a Natural Pressure Release: Lock the lid on the pressure cooker. Pressure cook on high pressure for 5 minutes in both electric and stovetop pressure cookers. (“Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode for 5 minutes in an Instant Pot.) Let the pressure come down naturally, about 30 more minutes. (Water holds a lot of heat, so it takes a while for the pressure to drop. If you are impatient, quick release the pressure after 20 minutes.)
- Strain the broth: Scoop the big pieces of vegetables out of the pot with a slotted spoon and discard. Pour the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Use the broth immediately, or portion into 2 cup containers and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
Notes
Water to cover: this is barely enough water to cover the vegetables. It’s OK if they vegetables poke out above the water line; they’ll soften up and sink under pressure.
The Natural Pressure Release traps the flavor molecules in the pressure cooker pot, instead of letting them escape into the air. As the pot cools down, some of them condense back into the water, adding their flavor back into the broth. I know it’s hard to wait for a natural pressure release on a pot full of water - it seems to take forever - but the broth will have a little more finesse if you wait it out.
This recipe scales easily. Double it or halve it; it works fine. But, don't go over the max fill line on your pressure cooker. (I can just barely double it in an 8-quart pressure cooker.)
Other vegetables: Substitute leeks or leek greens for some or all of the onions? Yes! Add a potato for body? I haven't tried it, but I've heard it's a good idea, as long as you don't overdo it. Cabbage, kale, broccoli or other strong vegetables? Not a good idea - they overpower the flavor.
Tools
6 quart pressure cooker (or larger)
A spare pot liner is a perfect size to strain the broth
2-cup storage containers
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Basic Technique
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts
Pressure Cooker Asparagus Risotto
Pressure Cooker Browned Chicken Broth
Pressure Cooker Green Beans
Instant Pot Lentil Curry
My other Pressure Cooker Recipes
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- With a natural pressure release. That keeps the flavor in the pot, instead of spraying it out into the room. ↩︎
Linda
Oh shucks. I have been saving up food scraps in my freezer for making a veggie broth and now I’m not sure if I should even bother. I might give it a try using half fresh and half frozen with lots of whole fresh to experiment. I’ll let you know if it works.
Sasha
I’m in the process of gaining confidence using my pressure cooker. This recipe and method is easy to follow and the results were really good. I used the broth to as a base for a chicken casserole. I did add a potato for thickening, it complemented the broth and didn’t overpower the broth and vegetables.
Mike Vrobel
Thanks!
Kedar
I just tried this and the broth came out really good. thanks again.
K
Came here hoping to find information on pressure cooker cooking time so that I wouldn't have to experiment with multiple batches myself, found just what I needed! Thank you. I agree completely that using a large amount of veggies sans scraps is key to getting a broth that doesn't taste like dirty water. From my many experiments with stovetop vegetable broths, I would suggest adding a few broken up dried mushrooms (shiitake and/or porcini) and quartered roma tomatoes. Those add a variety of natural glutamates for a more savory and satisfying flavor.
Tanya
Thank you for sharing this recipe. As I was shopping the other day, I noticed how expensive broth has become and started to panic. I remembered I have seen Facebook posts where people were making their own broth. Most were making bone or chicken broth. I have been using vegetable broth, and wanted to stick with that (plus I didn’t want to deal with the fat issue). So I googled. I have successfully used a few of your recipes before, so this was my first choice. I haven’t made it yet, because I need more onions, but I will be ready now. Question though, have you tried adding bell peppers to the broth?
Mike Vrobel
No, I haven't tried bell peppers. I have read that peppers have too strong of a taste for vegetable broth, so I've avoided them.