Homemade Vegetable Soup Base
Vegetable Soup Base Ingredients
I make a lot of homemade soup and soup stock. I will admit to sometimes using a paste-type soup base to stretch my homemade stock or to boost the flavor. They are so much better than bullion cubes, and can help you out in a pinch. They are also very convenient. I have made a lot of stuff from scratch- could I make my own soup base? I could- and I did. I made a vegetable soup base that is a mixture of vegetables, both fresh and dried, herbs, mushrooms, nutritional yeast, spices and salt. There is pretty good amount of salt, but I wanted to be able to store it in the fridge and be safe. Figured out that every teaspoonful of the finished base has less than 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Not great, but a lot less than bullion cubes. If you want to make yours with less salt or no salt- you’ll have to freeze the mixture in ice cube trays and take it out of the freezer as needed. Sort of like your own bullion cubes. The nice part is I can now make a vegetable soup easily and I know exactly what is in it. It can also be added to chicken or other meat-based stocks, in place of the salt, to add extra flavor.
Homemade Vegetable Soup Base
4 carrots, peeled and cubed
3 celery ribs, washed and cubed
1 large sweet onion, peeled and cubed
3 green onions, washed and cut up
1 c. sun- dried tomatoes, soaked in water 30 minutes, and drained
1 c. dried mushrooms, soaked in water 10 minutes and drained
1 c. chopped cabbage
1 c. parsley, chopped
1/2 c. chopped sweet pepper
1/4 c. nutritional yeast, optional
2 T. turmeric
8 oz. salt- I used sea salt and used a scale to weigh it. It’s around a cup but will differ if you are using a coarse salt
Combine all ingredients, except the salt, in a food processor and blend until smooth. I have a decent size Cuisinart and still had to do this in batches. Combine in a bowl with the salt and stir well to blend. Store in a clean jar in the fridge until ready to use. I ended up with about 5 cups of soup base. To use, add about 1 teaspoonful to a cup of hot water for vegetable broth. Use less or more according to your taste. Use in place of salt in other soups, stews and sauces.
Finished Soup Base
Vegetable broth made from the base
