I have been tweaking this vegetable broth dry mix and playing around with the ratios and ingredients for a few months, and this is the final recipe I settled on! It’s wonderfully flavourful and there are so many benefits to homemade vegetable broth dry mix (which we’ll discuss below).
After comparing this recipe’s cost and ingredients with other store-bought options, I am convinced that making homemade vegetable broth is a simple way to improve your health. It is quick and easy to make one big batch which ensures you have the dry mix on hand whenever you want to make soup in the coming weeks.
You could even add a few teaspoons to many soup recipes that use homemade bone broth. Double the nutritional goodness!
Vegetable Broth Dry Mix Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup dehydrated vegetable flakes*
- ½ cup nutritional yeast
- 3 tablespoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- *The dehydrated vegetable flakes I buy are a mixture of potatoes carrots, onions, leek, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, cabbage, and celery.
Instructions
- Add all ingredients into a food processor, blender, or spice grinder.
- Grind until combine.
- Store the dry mix in a sealed jar or other container for future use.
- To use, add 1-3 teaspoons (to your taste) of the Vegetable Broth Dry Mix per 1 cup of water.
Nutrition
Why Should I Bother Making Homemade Vegetable Broth?
Reason #1: Saves Money
Aside from its wonderful flavour, there are other benefits as well. First, it’s totally budget-friendly. I calculated out the prices of different store-bought vegetable broth options and compared them against my homemade recipe. Each one worked out to a price per 3 cups (because that’s usually about the amount of broth that I use in a typical soup recipe). These are the results:
Buying cartons of liquid vegetable broth is the most expensive option. Even for the lowest store brand one that I could find, it worked out to costing $1.23 per 3 cups.
Vegetable bouillon cubes are a little more frugal at 66 cents per 3 cups of broth. Similarly, an instant vegetable stock mix cost 33 cents per 3 cups.
My homemade vegetable broth dry mix costs $2.16 to make the whole batch above. Depending on how much you use (between 1-3 teaspoons), it will make as many as 23 servings of 3 cups. This comes out to 27 cents each making it the lowest costing option by about a nickel. (If I had a nickel every time I made soup… oh, now I do.) And, the price difference is significantly greater when you’re comparing to the higher-quality stuff that you’d be choosing if you care about real food.
I know these prices don’t sound like a lot, but little differences do add up over time. If you’re anything like me, I make soups and stews and other recipes that require vegetable broth nearly every day through the fall and winter.
Plus, there are other concerns, particularly health related, that I will dive into next.
Reason #2: Healthier
Homemade from-scratch food is almost always healthier than its store-bought counterpart. This is particularly true in the case of vegetable broth. I looked at the ingredients lists on the liquid vegetable broth, bouillon cubes, and instant stock mix mentioned above. I had expected there to be some processed ingredients and food additives included, but I was still surprised at the quantity I found. Here are a few:
- corn syrup solids (listed as the first ingredient, yikes!)
- soy and corn protein
- MSG
- wheat maltodextrin
- calcium silicate
- silicon dioxide
- disodium guanylate (People who react to MSG often react to this as well.)
- disodium inosinate
- modified and hydrogenated palm oil
- sugar
- TBHQ
(I want to remind you that not all food additives are as bad as the worst ones, and I do not want to stir up undue fear. However, I personally do like to limit the amount of these types of ingredients that I am consuming as much as possible.)
I also noticed they had very few actual vegetables listed – like maybe three or four. Whereas my Vegetable Broth Dry Mix recipe includes around eight (depending on your definition of “vegetable.”)
The inclusion of nutritional yeast in the homemade broth also helps boost the nutritional value of your soup. Nutritional yeast is high in protein and many B vitamins – particularly B12 – which is especially important for vegetarians and vegans, and is also important in maintaining good energy levels.
Reason #3: Avoids Refined Sodium
One of the most shocking things I noticed in the store-bought vegetable broth options was the high sodium content. Of the ones I looked at, they ranged from 1,650 mg all the way up to 2,910 mg per 3 cup serving.
The daily recommended intake for people between the ages of 9 and 50 years is 1,500 mg per day. However, the average Canadian consumes more than double the amount we need at 3,400 mg every day, most of that coming from hidden sources in processed foods.
When you take a look at the sodium content in those store-bought broths, this isn’t surprising.
The homemade Vegetable Broth Dry Mix has just one tablespoon of salt in it which is divided up between the 23 servings of 3 cups each.
This keeps it at a more reasonable sodium level, but more importantly – you can use your favourite brand of real sea salt (we only ever use this brand and we don’t restrict it) that is unrefined and unprocessed, with all trace minerals intact. It comes straight from an ancient sea bed salt deposit in Utah, and is actually good for you! (I’ve been in the mine myself!)
If you feel that your individual recipes require more salt for flavor, you can choose to add in more of the good stuff, and still be in control of just how much you are consuming.
Reason #4: Allergy-Friendly
You may assume that vegetable broth is a safe food for those with different dietary restrictions. When I looked into the ingredients lists in store-bought options, though, I discovered that it is not.
Nearly all of them had a “may contain milk” label making them unsuitable for those with a dairy allergy or intolerance.
Many were also unacceptable for those with celiac disease and people who have grain or gluten sensitivities/allergies because the broths contained wheat and/or barley products.
They also contain different types of oils rendering them unfit for those who follow a plant-based diet.
On the other hand, the homemade Vegetable Broth Dry Mix does not contain any of these common allergens and restricted ingredients so you can feed it safely to your family and friends.
As you can see, making your own Vegetable Broth Dry Mix allows you to be in control of the health of your food. You can eliminate suspicious ingredients, boost the nutritional power, decrease the sodium content, and ensure it’s friendly for different types of diets. Best of all, even with all these benefits, it still rings in costing less than store-bought broth.
Plus, it tastes delicious. It really is a win all around!
Grace Furman is a freelance writer and blogger at Heartful Habits, a place of inspiration and support for your natural health and wellness journey. You can take your self-love journey to the next level with her new FREE email course 5 Days to Conquer Your Negative Self-Talk.
Wren
This recipe is great! There are not much vegetable broth recipes to find. I’m just looking at it wondering how much I need to make to equal a packet of the name brand? For example, one packet is needed to make a spinach dip.
Frances
This is great to have on hand!
Ace Malik
I noticed the dehydrated veggies contain some of the ingredients that are also listed as spices, wouldnt that be too much of the same ingredient?
Beth
Your dehydrated mix may vary from the author’s, but everything should be pretty balanced. If you make it with any tweaks be sure to come back and let us know how it went. 🙂
cindy
wowza sodium 4669,???? how is this healthy???? i love soup mixes on hand
Tara Turner
This mix is amazing! I used vegetables that I had dehydrated from the garden and added some thyme. It is delicious.
Beth
So glad you enjoy it, Tara! 😀
AC
Awesome! Why haven’t I ever thought about this!?? I would think it would also be a good way to add more vegetable content in disguise for those family members who don’t appreciate vegetables like they should.
Grace
Glad you liked it! It is easy and quick to make as well, and yes, definitely a great way to sneak in some nutrients! 😀