Vegan Umami Broth made with vegetable scraps and umami packed ingredients for the most flavourful vegetable broth. This vegan ‘bone’ broth is not only gut healthy but great to sip on and use in noodle soups, stews and more!
Now that it’s fall, the weather has chilled down a lot over the past week. One of my favourite things about the cooler season is warm drinks, soups & stews! Particularly, I love to sip on some fresh made miso soup in the morning and before bed, something about it is just so cozy, calming and relaxing.
When feeling under-the-weather though, I like to sip on this umami broth. It has more of a kick to it and packed with feel-good gut healthy ingredients. I like to think of it kinda as a vegan version of bone broth which was quite the trend last year. Not that I’m claiming that this mock bone broth is a remedy or cure for the common cold, rather something just to calm it down. I made a ton of this when preparing for my gastroscopy & colonoscopy a couple months back and it made me feel alive again 😂.
Plus, it uses vegetable scraps, takes about 1 hour to come together (hands free though) and can be used in all sorts of ways!
Umami Broth Ingredients
This vegan bone broth is made up of three components: vegetables, umami bombs & flavourings.
Vegetables
I like to use vegetable scraps to make broth because its a great way to use up them up. I’ll save stems and peels and freeze them if I don’t have enough to make a whole batch just yet. Usually at the end of the week though, I have a bunch of scraps and produce that needs to be used up so I’ll use it to make some broth. Theres really no set vegetables you have to add, use whatever you have on hand!
Umami Bombs (Good for the Gut!)
- shiitake
- kombu
- miso paste (koji miso or red miso recommended!)
- ginger
- lemon/orange peels
Other optional add-ins:
- turmeric
- chilipepper
- peppercorns
- sesame oil
- soy sauce or tamari
Because there are is such a wide variety of ingredients (and a lot of it) you can leave some out, add other ones in and it’ll still taste amazing.
How to Make it
This broth comes together in about an hour, but it’s virtually hands free so you can be doing other stuff while is simmers away.
- Clean, chop and add all the ingredients EXCEPT the miso paste to a pot. Add in the water and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45-60 minutes or until very fragrant. You can even simmer it for up to 90 minutes for an even richer broth.
- Strain the broth and return to pot.
At this point, if serving immediently use a fine mesh sieve and dissolve the miso paste to the broth. Add any other flavourings and seasonings to the soup, serve and enjoy!
If storing, add just the seasonings and flavourings stir and keep in the fridge in an airtight container or jar. When ready, re-heat the broth and use as is or dissolve the miso paste with a fine mesh sieve.
Why you should’t over heat or boil miso
To reap the benefits of miso, never add it to over heated or boiling water as it destroys the nutrients and good bacteria.If you’re interested, you can read more about why you shouldn’t boil miso over on my miso soup recipe page. That being said, if you don’t really care for the benefits and just want to add it for flavour, add it beforehand and re-heat when ready to use.
Ways to Use Umami Broth
This umami broth can be enjoyed as is but it’s great for using in recipes that call for vegetable broth, too! Here are some ideas:
- soups
- stews
- noodle soups: pho, ramen, udon, soba… etc
- pastas
- gratins
- casseroles
- & you can even cook your grains like rice or quinoa with it instead of water for some added flavour
SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓
I hope you enjoyed this Vegetable Umami Broth recipe and get creative with it! If you recreate this recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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Print
Vegan Umami Broth
- Total Time: 70 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
Ingredients
Broth
- 1 thick knob of ginger, sliced thinly
- 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
- 8–10 spring onion bulbs
- 4 cups of veggie scraps: carrots, celery, kale stems, squash stems or fresh leafy greens
- 1 orange or lemon peel
- 80g dried shiitake mushrooms
- 40g kombu or wakame
- 10 cups of water
- handful of cilantro
- 2 tbsp miso paste (30g)
Optional add-ins:
- 1 tbsp turmeric
- 1 chili pepper
- 1 tbsp peppercorn
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp tamari
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients except the miso paste to a pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 45-90 minutes or until very fragrant. Strain the broth and return to pot.
- To serve: use a fine mesh sieve and dissolve the miso paste to the broth. Add any other flavourings and seasonings to the soup, serve and enjoy!
- To store: add just the flavourings if desired, stir and keep in the fridge in an airtight container or jar. When ready, re-heat the broth and use as is or dissolve the miso paste with a fine mesh sieve. If you don’t mind missing out on the nutrients miso has, you can also add the miso paste and re-heat.
Notes
- Helpful Equipment: fine mesh sieve, strainer, large pot, ladle
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: soups
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: vegan, gluten free, japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 20
- Sugar: 1.5g
- Sodium: 800mg
- Fat: 0.4g
- Saturated Fat: 0.1g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.2g
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 3.1g
- Fiber: 0.2g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 0
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how could this be stored, and for how long would it last?
for up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator! 🙂
Great ideas for making vegan broth! I always save my veggie scraps in freezer bags and freeze until needed but you have given me some new things to add in that sound awesome!
I have almost everything I need to make this! This will be our new go-to broth and I am so excited!!