Vegetable Soup Base

Posts on Happily Homegrown contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase through an affiliate link, your price will be the same, but Happily Homegrown will receive a small commission. Thank you for your support!

I am really enjoying the monthly projects during the Food In Jars Mastery Challenge!  This month our focus was supposed to be on salt preserving a fruit or vegetable.  I have made preserved lemons before, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try something new.  I wanted to cure olives, but they aren’t currently in season.  Then I saw some comments about homemade vegetable soup base circulating among the members of the challenge group.  I knew this was going to have to happen, right then and there!

We use bouillon and various soup bases several times a week.  They are not only good for making soup, obviously, but also for flavoring rice or adding flavor to sauces and gravies.  While I keep some chicken base in the fridge at all times, when I want vegetable base, I usually have to make a special trip to the store.

And those little jars of soup base are expensive at over 22¢ per serving!  For less than the cost of the jar, I was able to purchase all of the produce that I needed to make my own homemade vegetable soup base.

Vegetable Soup Base Ingredients

1 lbs carrots
4 stalks of celery
6 garlic cloves
1 leek, greens removed
1 onion
3 oz sundried tomatoes – the kind in a bag, not in oil
1 large bunch parsley
1 Tbsp cracked black peppercorns
8 oz Kosher salt

How much salt?!

Now before I continue, let address the salt.  I know its the first thing on everyone’s mind.  Do you really need to use a half-pound of Kosher salt?  In this case, the salt is a preservative so yes you really do need that much.  It is used to cure and preserve the vegetables.  Using less will change the flavor, change the texture, and will shorten the life of your finished soup base.  

Building Your Soup Base

Making sure your soup base is the proper texture comes down to the procedure you follow.  Using a food processor with the S-shaped blade to puree all of your ingredients makes all the difference in my book.  You could use your blender, but you are going to have to work in many small batches, and will have a rougher texture.  If you don’t have a food processor, I suggest convincing a friend to let you use hers/his in exchange for a jar of soup base.

1. Clean all of your vegetables and cut them into chunks.  Since this is prepared with all raw vegetables, its important to start with smaller pieces, about 1″ in size, so that your food processor can do its job with ease.
2. Using your food processor fitted with the S-shaped blade, add all of your carrots.  Pulse several times, and then let it go full speed to break down those carrots.
3. Scrape down the bowl, and add the celery next.  Pulse several times to incorporate, and then go full speed until everything is uniform in size.
4. Scrape down the bowl.  Add 1/4 of the salt, and process.
5. Scrape down the bowl, and add the leeks and onions.  Pulse to get it going, and then process full speed.
6. Scrape down the bowl.  Add the next 1/4 of the salt, and process.
7. Add the parsley, stems and all!  Everything into the bowl.  Pulse it a few times, and then process it for about a minute to make sure those stems get broken down.
8. Add half of the remaining salt, and process.
9. Add the remaining vegetables – sundried tomatoes, garlic, and peppercorns.  Process everything until it is combined and uniform in texture.
10. Add the final dose of salt, and process.  I processed mine for another 3 minutes to make sure everything was properly broken down.

The finished vegetable soup base should be fairly uniform in texture and color.  Store your vegetable soup base in an airtight container (like a canning jar) for up to 4-months in the fridge, or up to a year in the freezer.

When you are ready to use your vegetable soup base, use 1 teaspoon of the base to 1 cup of water.  Remember, this has enough salt in it, so you may want to scale back the amount of salt in your soup or sauce recipe when you use this.

Print

Vegetable Soup Base

A homemade vegetable soup base during our "salt curing" challenge.

Servings 384

Ingredients

• 1 lbs carrots
• 4 stalks of celery
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 leek greens removed
• 1 onion
• 3 oz sundried tomatoes
• 1 large bunch parsley
• 1 Tbsp cracked black peppercorns
• 8 oz Kosher salt

Instructions

1. Clean all of your vegetables and cut them into chunks. Since this is prepared with all raw vegetables, its important to start with smaller pieces, about 1″ in size, so that your food processor can do its job with ease.
2. Using your food processor fitted with the S-shaped blade, add all of your carrots. Pulse several times, and then let it go full speed to break down those carrots.
3. Scrape down the bowl, and add the celery next. Pulse several times to incorporate, and then go full speed until everything is uniform in size.
4. Scrape down the bowl. Add 1/4 of the salt, and process.
5. Scrape down the bowl, and add the leeks and onions. Pulse to get it going, and then process full speed.
6. Scrape down the bowl. Add the next 1/4 of the salt, and process.
7. Add the parsley, stems and all! Everything into the bowl. Pulse it a few times, and then process it for about a minute to make sure those stems get broken down.
8. Add half of the remaining salt, and process.
9. Add the remaining vegetables – sundried tomatoes, garlic, and peppercorns. Process everything until it is combined and uniform in texture.
10. Add the final dose of salt, and process. I processed mine for another 3 minutes to make sure everything was properly broken down.
11. The finished vegetable soup base should be fairly uniform in texture and color. Store your vegetable soup base in an airtight container (like a canning jar) for up to 4-months in the fridge, or up to a year in the freezer.
12. Yield = 8 cups of vegetable soup base
13. With each serving being just 1 teaspoon, you will get 384 servings in a single batch!

Recipe Notes

Adapted from Food In Jars