Easy Vegetable Stock Made Allergy-Friendly (Dairy & Gluten Free, Vegan)

A good quality vegetable stock or broth can make all the difference to the flavour of your favourite dishes, from soups and stews to risotto and sauces. Making your own vegetable stock is easy to do and also means that you can create a delicious stock that’s free from allergens like gluten or dairy that are sometimes used in store bought versions. It’s a great way to use up extra vegetables too. Learn how to make your own tasty vegetable stock with this simple recipe.

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Allergens in store bought vegetable stocks

Buying packaged vegetable stock or broth from the store to use in cooking is an easy and efficient way to cook. However, if you have food allergies it’s important to read the labels carefully. Some brands of liquid stock or bouillon powder/cubes actually contain allergens like wheat, gluten and even dairy. Fortunately there are vegan and gluten free brands available that are often suitable. We often use Massel brand stocks when we need a shortcut.

You may never have considered making your own vegetable stock instead, but it is much easier than you might think. By making from scratch you can know exactly what is in your stock and avoid any allergens. And the flavour of a homemade vegetable stock is just so much better. It also keeps easily in the freezer to have on hand when you need it. So why not give it a go?

Gluten and dairy free vegetable stock ingredients

To make this allergy-friendly and vegan homemade vegetable stock you’ll need:

• 1-2 celery stalks
• 4 medium carrots
• 2 onions, peeled
• 1 leek top (green leafy part only)
• 4 mushrooms (or left over mushroom stems)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried)
• 1 small bunch fresh parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• water to cover

Choosing fresh stock ingredients

Making vegetable stock requires some standard core vegetables and aromatics, usually the celery, carrot, onion and garlic. After that you can be a bit more flexible with what you use to make the most of left over vegetables in the fridge. I like to use the green parts of leeks, which normally get discarded after cooking the white parts, like in our potato and leek soup. A few mushrooms are also good to add some depth of flavour to the stock.

Pepper and bay leaves are common added ingredients, as are fresh herbs. I always use parsley and usually thyme. If you don’t have any fresh thyme available you could use other herbs like oregano or even chives. Fresh is best, but you can also substitute dried herbs if needed.

The best part about making stock is that you can generally use the whole vegetable: celery leaves, carrot tops, mushroom stems and herb stems can all go in the pot. (Although remove onion and garlic skins first). There’s also no need to carefully dice the vegetables. They can just be roughly chopped and added.

Cooking homemade stock

Cooking vegan stock from scratch is really very easy.

Rinse vegetables and herbs well. Peel the onion and garlic.

Roughly chop all of the vegetables and herbs (no need to neatly dice) and place in a large pot. I use my cast iron casserole pot, but any large pot with a lid is suitable. Add bay leaves, salt and pepper to the pot and add water to cover all of the ingredients.

Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer, for 1 to 1 and a half hours. Leave covered for the first 30 minutes and then remove the lid to allow the stock to reduce and flavours to intensify.

Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool enough that you can safely strain it through a fine mesh sieve. Strain directly into clean jars with lids or freezer safe containers, pushing down on the cooked vegetables with a spoon to release all of the liquid and flavour as you go.

Keep prepared stock in the fridge or freeze it until you need it.

The amount of stock will depend on the size of your pan and how much water you use, but the recipe usually yields more than 1 litre (2 pints).

Storing and freezing stock

Prepared vegetable stock will keep in a tightly covered container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Frozen vegetable stock will keep for up to 6 months. If you are planning to freeze your stock, it’s a good idea to batch freeze in serving sizes. For example measure and freeze 1 cup of stock at a time. For small quantities, try freezing your stock in an ice cube tray and transfer the cubes to a freezer safe bag or container for easy use.

What to do with the left over vegetables?

Once you’ve strained the delicious flavoured stock into jars, you’ll be left with a pot of what looks like tasty cooked vegetables. The reality is that all the delicious flavours and nutrients will have been absorbed by the water during cooking to give the stock its flavour. Some people might suggest blending the vegetables to make a thick soup, but it just won’t have much flavour at all. My family still like to eat the carrot pieces though!

I generally like to add the leftover vegetables to my compost or bury in the garden. Another suggestion I’ve heard of its to blend the leftover mix to add to pet food or even make baked dog biscuits. Whatever you decide, try to avoid adding food scraps like these to your general household waste that goes to landfill when there are better options.

How to use homemade vegetable stock

There are so many ways to use this delicious vegan vegetable stock in your allergy friendly cooking. The most obvious one is to use it to make soups, like our dairy free roasted tomato and basil soup, roasted capsicum (red pepper) soup or spiced carrot and lentil soup. It’s also perfect for cooking grains like couscous and rice, by making a risotto or our gluten free Greek lemon rice pilaf.

Just substitute this homemade stock in any recipe where you’d normally use the packaged variety.

More allergy friendly recipes

Explore more delicious allergy-friendly recipes for soups, starters, mains and desserts on our recipe page.