Make Vegetable Broth With Scraps: The Ugly Broth Bag Method
Vegetable broth is a comforting as chicken soup on a cold winter day, and making your own from scraps you’ve collected is easy, healthy, cost-effective, and reduces food waste. Here’s how.
Every kitchen produces vegetable scraps daily: carrot peels, onion skins, celery ends, parsley stems. Most go in the compost. The “ugly broth bag” method captures them in a freezer bag and turns them into homemade vegetable broth that beats anything in a carton. The work is collecting; the cooking takes an hour.
Quick Reference
- The “ugly broth bag”: a freezer bag where you save vegetable scraps (peels, tops, ends) all month.
- Best scraps: carrot peels and tops, onion skins, celery leaves and ends, leek greens, mushroom stems, parsley stems, herb stems.
- Skip: brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower) for everyday broth; they overpower. Skip rotten or moldy scraps.
- Cost: essentially free. Replace store-bought stock with kitchen scraps.
- Time: 1 hour active boil; storage is the long-running part.
- Yield: 1 quart-bag of scraps makes about 4 cups of broth.
What Is an “Ugly Broth Bag”?
A gallon-sized freezer bag (or container) that lives in the freezer. Whenever you prep vegetables, toss the trimmings into the bag. Onion peels, garlic skins, carrot tops, celery ends, parsley stems, mushroom stems, leek greens. When the bag is full, dump everything into a pot of water and simmer. The broth is golden, savory, and free.
Best Vegetable Scraps for Broth
- Excellent: onion (whole skins included; they give golden color), carrot peels and tops, celery leaves and ends, garlic skins, leek greens, parsley stems, mushroom stems, fennel fronds, herb stems (thyme, rosemary).
- Good: bell pepper tops, tomato cores, asparagus ends, corn cobs (after the kernels are cut off).
- Avoid for everyday broth: brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) overpower. Use only for cabbage-specific broth.
- Always skip: potato peels (cloud the broth), beet tops (turn the broth pink), rotten or moldy anything.
How to Use Your Scraps
- Empty the freezer bag into a large pot. Cover with cold water (about 2 quarts for a quart-bag of scraps).
- Add 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon peppercorns, 1 teaspoon salt.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.
- Simmer 1 hour. Skim any foam off the surface.
- Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean container. Press the solids to extract liquid.
- Cool. Store in 1-cup or 2-cup portions in the fridge (1 week) or freezer (3 months).
How to Use Your Scrap Broth
- Soups, stews, chilis, risottos.
- Cook rice, quinoa, farro, or other grains in broth instead of water.
- Deglaze a pan after sautéing.
- Thin out tomato sauce, miso paste, or curry paste.
- Steam vegetables (especially cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus).
- Replace store-bought broth in any recipe.
Tips
- Onion skins are the secret. They give homemade broth the gold color of store-bought stock.
- Don’t over-fill the bag. Loosely packed scraps make better broth than densely-packed ones.
- Roast first for deeper flavor. Toss scraps with olive oil and roast at 400°F for 30 minutes before simmering. Adds caramelized depth.
- Add no salt during cooking. Salt after, when you use the broth in a recipe. Easier to adjust.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does scrap broth keep?
5-7 days refrigerated, up to 3 months frozen. Freeze in 1-cup or 2-cup portions for easy use.
Can I add meat scraps to the bag?
Not in the same bag. Keep a separate freezer bag for chicken bones and meat scraps. Mix only if you want a chicken-vegetable broth.
Is scrap broth as good as store-bought?
Better. Homemade broth has the flavor of the specific vegetables that went into it, controls the salt level, and costs essentially nothing.
What if I don’t have enough scraps?
Buy extra. A bag of carrots, 1 onion, 2 celery ribs, plus herbs makes a quick batch when scraps run short.
Can I leave the broth simmering overnight?
Not safely or wisely. After 90 minutes, the flavor is fully extracted; longer cooking turns the broth bitter. Strain at the 1-hour mark.
Natalie LaVolpe
Natalie LaVolpe is a freelance writer and former special education teacher. She is dedicated to healthy living through body and mind. She currently resides on Long Island, New York, with her husband, children, and dog.
- Natalie LaVolpe
- Natalie LaVolpe
- Natalie LaVolpe
- Natalie LaVolpe
A simple way to avoid buying those awful salt-filled veggie bouillon cubes (the first ingredient is actually salt!) and to use veggie scraps that otherwise would have ended up directly in the compost pile or garbage. The broth is rich and full of taste and healthy because I know exactly what’s in it.
It’s nearly impossible to clean vegs before peeling, so the peel contains lot of sand, soil or just plain dirt. I wonder why anyone wants to make a broth out of it.
i use veggie brush or chore boy golden fleece
Thank you for these awesome ideas, I was just tossing the “old baby carrots or limp celery. Now into the freezer they go!
In separate plastic bags I save vegetable scraps, chicken bones and scraps, shrimp shells, lobster shells with cooking water. When I have enough (usually very full four 1 gallon bags to make a big batch add water to cover) To the chicken I add 1 teaspoon white vinegar to help break down the bones. I pressure can all the stocks usually 1 pint jars, lot of work but well worth it !!
After the broth cools I use it to fill up ice cube trays and once frozen weigh one or 10 and label the package how many make 8 oz. Super easy way to store and then add broth when needed. Some trays with three rows across are somewhat smaller than trays with only two rows across.
The recipe for making vegetable broth is a real-time saver, and I use it with the veggies available in my kitchen. However, I use ghee here. I use ghee to improve the broth’s creamy feel and add a unique flavor. Try it. You will love the taste.
Hi Sofia! Thank you for your suggestion.
This is a super idea. Absolutely love it. I am going to start saving my veggie scraps as of now.
Hi CJ,
Thanks for sharing! We thought it was a great idea too. Let us know how it works out!