Stock FAQs

what does vegetable stock taste like

by Dr. Macy Conn Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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While most contenders were light in color (and in flavor), this broth has a dark, roasty flavor profile and color, and a sweetness reminiscent more of beef broth than chicken or vegetable broth. That's not to say it tastes like beef.Jan 1, 2020

What is vegetable stock made of?

This is a traditional Western-style vegetable stock, free from any bells and whistles like ginger or obscure vegetables. It’s made with carrot, celery and onion as our base vegetables, plus parsley, bay leave, thyme, garlic, black peppercorns and coriander seeds as our added flavourings. Nothing more.

Why taste test vegetable broth?

Why Taste Test Vegetable Broth? Each vegetable in broth has its own role and adds its own flavors and characteristics. You can use almost any vegetable in broth, but here are the usual suspects and what they do: onions add depth, carrots add sweetness, tomatoes add sweetness and body, and mushrooms add super-savory flavors.

Is it better to make your own vegetable stock?

As with all stocks, homemade vegetable stock is far superior to store bought, with the added bonus that it's the easiest of all stocks to make! The ingredients are simple, affordable and very minimal waste is discarded after straining compared to meat based stocks like beef stock. Makes 1 litre / 1 quart vegetable stock (4 cups).

Is your vegetable stock too bland?

And while the convenience is great, the stock or broth inside isn't always so. And that's especially true when it comes to vegetable stocks, which can end up tasting either too bland or too aggressively flavored to play nice in recipes.

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Does vegetable stock have flavor?

Each vegetable in broth has its own role and adds its own flavors and characteristics. You can use almost any vegetable in broth, but here are the usual suspects and what they do: onions add depth, carrots add sweetness, tomatoes add sweetness and body, and mushrooms add super-savory flavors.

Is vegetable stock or broth more flavorful?

Though their ingredients are largely the same, there is a difference between them. Stock is made from bones, while broth is made mostly from meat or vegetables. Using bones in stock creates a thicker liquid, while broth tends to be thinner and more flavorful.

Is vegetable stock good?

Vegetable stock is an essential flavor-building component of the best vegetarian cooking. This subtle distillation of carrot, onion, celery, and aromatics adds a depth and complexity of flavor to soups, stews, casseroles, grain and bean dishes – you name it.

Does vegetable broth taste different than chicken broth?

Flavor Profiles Chicken stock has a much richer flavor than vegetable broth. This is because of all the gelatin that you were able to extract while making your chicken stock.

What can I replace vegetable stock with?

A substitute for vegetable stock may include soy sauce and water. Most chefs use another type of stock as a substitute for vegetable stock. Chicken, beef, or lamb stock can be used in place of vegetable stock in most recipes.

Can you use veg stock instead of chicken?

This one is a no-brainer: Just use another kind of broth! Vegetable broth is an easy substitute for chicken broth—it has a very similar flavor and color. You're sure to have this on hand! If your recipe calls for a small amount of broth for deglazing a pan or thinning out a soup, stew or sauce, try water instead.

What do you use vegetable stock for?

When it comes to vegetable broth, think beyond soups and have fun adding it to new recipes like pastas, casseroles, grains, gravy and even salad dressing! There's so many recipes that use vegetable broth beyond just soups.

Can you eat vegetable stock as soup?

Soup weather is upon us and it's easier to make than you'd think. Even the simplest vegetable stock — an onion, a carrot, a celery stalk, a few other scraps, cooked together for 20 minutes — can make a difference in most soups. And a grand, full-flavored chicken, meat, or fish stock is good enough to serve on its own.

Is vegetable stock unhealthy?

Vegetable broth is packed with minerals like calcium and magnesium and vitamins like vitamin A, C, E, and K. Because they're both so nutrient-dense—not to mention low in calories and high in fiber—broths make an excellent addition to any diet.

Can I substitute vegetable stock for broth?

Same thing. Broth is an older word, and it essentially means something that is boiled. So, to summarize, vegetable broth and vegetable stock are the same thing. If the focus of the end preparation is mostly the liquid in question, call it broth.

Is vegetable stock the same as broth?

When it comes to vegetable broth vs. stock, they're the same thing. Vegetables don't contain gelatin, so it's impossible to make a vegetarian stock without bones. The major difference between the two at the grocery store is the broth may contain salt.

Which is better stock or broth?

Is Stock or Broth Healthier? Stock, whether homemade or store-bought, is considered healthier because it's inherently higher in protein and usually contains less sodium per serving than broth.

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Why Taste Test Vegetable Broth?

Each vegetable in broth has its own role and adds its own flavors and characteristics. You can use almost any vegetable in broth, but here are the usual suspects and what they do: onions add depth, carrots add sweetness, tomatoes add sweetness and body, and mushrooms add super-savory flavors.

How the 7 Brands Were Selected

Before I did my own taste test, I looked around and explored how other people did their taste tests:

Tasting Method

I first noted the sodium amount and ingredients. I then poured each broth into a glass bowl so I could really see the color of the broth (notice the huge differences in the photos!). After also noting consistency and aroma, it finally came down to tasting.

Our Top Pick: Imagine Organic Low-Sodium Vegetable Broth

While I really liked the balanced flavor of Swanson’s, I suspect I really liked it because it tasted salty; but salt’s not what I’m looking for in a vegetable broth. I prefer one with little to no sodium so I can control the salt level in my cooking.

Vegetable Stock vs Broth

Generally, stock contains more calories, fat, and carbohydrates than broth. It also contains more protein, vitamins, and minerals. Bone broth (a sort of stock) features more supplements, including amino acids and minerals.

Can I Substitute Stock for Broth?

The two are frequently used conversely, and it’s fine if you substitute broth for stock in many recipes, and the other way around.

What is a Substitute for Vegetable Stock?

The term vegetable is utilized to allude to any of the various herbaceous plants typically used as food. The plants include onions, cauliflower, and cabbage.

Can You Substitute Chicken Broth with Vegetable Stock?

In case you’re out of chicken broth for a good chicken noodle soup recipe, vegetable stock, specifically, is a simple substitute. Vegetable stock is a simple exchange of any formula, nonetheless, something like fish stock may not be viable with all flavors.

Does Vegetable Stock Have Meat?

Yes, vegetable stock is flavored by bones and/or meat, and vegetables like carrot, onion, celery, and aromatic herbs.

Final Thoughts

Despite the fact that both the vegetable stock and broth are similar, they’re still different. The manner of making each is similar yet different in some stages.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

As with all stocks, homemade Vegetable Stock is far superior to store bought, with the added benefit that it’s much easier to make than seafood and meat stocks which often call for manhandling of considerable amounts of bones (I’m thinking of you beef stock !).

What Vegetable Stock is made of

This is a traditional Western-style vegetable stock, free from any bells and whistles like ginger or obscure vegetables. It’s made with carrot, celery and onion as our base vegetables, plus parsley, bay leave, thyme, garlic, black peppercorns and coriander seeds as our added flavourings. Nothing more.

How to make Vegetable Stock

This is a great classic, simple recipe for vegetable stock where everything is just placed in a saucepan and simmered very gently so the water is infused with flavour from the vegetables and aromatics.

Storing Vegetable Stock

Being free of meat, homemade Vegetable Stock will last at least 5 days in the fridge, or 3 months in the freezer. When freezing, I typically freeze in 1 cup measures, just to make it easier to portion out (rather than defrosting an entire 1 litre batch just to use 1 cup).

How to use Homemade Vegetable Stock

The strength of this stock is such that it can be used 1:1 in any recipe calling for Vegetable Stock. It can also be used as an alternative for any recipe calling for chicken stock if you prefer a light, cleaner, vegetal flavour.

Watch how to make it

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Homemade Vegetable Stock

Recipe video above. This is an easy, classic vegetable stock that's an essential addition to every cook's toolkit. It will complement and bring flavour into anything you use it in.

How to make vegetable stock

Place all your ingredients in a big pot, like a stockpot or Dutch oven. Make sure it is large enough for all your ingredients plus water.

Tips for making vegetable stock

Roast the vegetables for a much darker stock. This brings out the amazing flavor of the vegetables and mimics some of the roasted qualities of meat stocks

For more cooking resources, check out

If you’ve found this cooking resource for How to Make Vegetable Broth helpful or if you’ve tried any recipe on FeelGoodFoodie, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience with this technique.

How to Make Vegetable Stock

Learn how to make Vegetable Stock in this easy tutorial. I share tips for how to use vegetable scraps and beans for best taste & consistency!

Our Favorite Vegetable Broth: Brodo

This broth is the perfect marriage of a rich French-style roasted vegetable broth and a Japanese-style dashi, with umami-packed seaweed (but obviously none of the bonito—aka dried fish—that's present in most dashi).

The Best Vegetable Broth to Use for Meat Stock Substitutions: Zoup

Want a vegetarian stock that'll taste just as good in your Thanksgiving stuffing as your favorite chicken or turkey broth? Or maybe you want chicken soup but, you know, without the chicken? Go for Zoup. We promise it's vegan, even though it doesn't really have discernible vegetable flavor.

The Best Vegetable Broth You Can Find Almost Anywhere: Kitchen Basics

Kitchen Basics, the broth brand owned by spice giant McCormick, is an outlier in this field. While most contenders were light in color (and in flavor), this broth has a dark, roasty flavor profile and color, and a sweetness reminiscent more of beef broth than chicken or vegetable broth. That's not to say it tastes like beef.

What We Were Looking For

We set out to find a great tasting all-purpose vegetarian and vegan broth. We tasted only broths with a sodium level below 500mg per cup—we think any higher than that is too salty for cooking, especially if you plan to reduce it for a sauce or gravy. Note that this ruled out even the lower-sodium offerings of some brands.

How We Tested

Because salt accentuates flavors, and we wanted to put all these broths on an even playing field, we calculated the amount of salt each broth would need in order to bring it up to an equal sodium level. Then we warmed each broth just to boiling, adding the appropriate amount of salt. Otherwise no changes were made before tasting commenced.

Boxed Swanson Chicken Stock vs. Chicken Better Than Bouillon Base

The chicken flavor was "not strong enough" in the Swanson stock, and instead tasted more vegetable-forward and "watery and murky." Carrot, celery, and onion juice concentrates make up part of the ingredients, and overshadow the taste of chicken. It lacked the body that homemade stock would, as did Better Than Bouillon.

Boxed Swanson Beef Stock vs. Better Than Bouillon Beef Base

Bon Appétit does not suggest using commercial beef stock because it rarely holds a candle to the flavor of homemade, and unfortunately neither Swanson nor Better Than Bouillon changed our minds about that. The smell of both was "off-putting," but they didn't taste quite as bad as they smelled.

Boxed Swanson Vegetable Broth vs. Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base

Swanson's vegetable broth surprised us in how well it was balanced. It mixed sweet and salty in a combination that made us tilt our heads, wondering what that secret flavor was. Some of the sweetness comes from pear juice and cane juice, and the can't-put-your-finger-on-it vegetable was celeriac.

What is Vegetable Broth?

Vegetable broth is basically water that has been simmered with onion, celery, carrots, and other vegetables until they are completely soft. It looks like this when prepared:

5 Best Vegetable Broth Substitutes

Similar to vegetable broth, vegetable stock is a food product that you can use as an alternative for making many recipes that call for vegetable broth.

Vegetable Broth Uses & Benefits

Vegetable broth contains a lot of healthful nutrients. It’s made from vegetables that contain flavonoids, carotenoids, folate, fiber, vitamins B1 to B3 and C as well as other minerals.

What Does Vegetable Broth Taste Like?

Vegetable broth may taste a bit like water at first but it has a significant amount of flavor. The best way to describe vegetable broth is salty, seasoned water.

Can You Use Water Instead of Vegetable Broth?

Yes! Water is a very common vegetable broth substitute. It is inexpensive, flavorful and you’re already using it in the recipe for hydration anyway.

Can You Just Drink Vegetable Broth?

Yes! You can use fresh vegetable broth for drinking and it is always recommended to drink a glass of warm broth first thing in the morning.

Can I Replace Vegetable Broth with Chicken Broth?

Yes! Chicken broth can be a good vegetable broth substitute. It is richer than vegetable broth and can be used in more dishes.

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