There’s a bag in my freezer that looks quite frankly pretty unappetizing. Onion skins, carrot peels, the dark green tops of leeks, mushroom stalks, a few sad parsley stems. Anyone who opened it without warning would probably bin the whole thing.
But that bag is one of the most useful things in my kitchen. Once it’s full, it goes into a pot with cold water and a glass of wine, and about an hour later I’ve got a litre or two of proper homemade stock that costs nothing and tastes far better than anything from a cube.
The French make their own stock. Wasting food is almost a moral failure here, and bouillon is the answer to every vegetable scrap, the bottom of the leek, the trimmings you’d otherwise throw away without thinking. Nothing particularly complicated, just habit, and a bit of knowledge about what goes in and what stays out.
What actually goes into a homemade vegetable stock
The first thing to understand is that not all vegetable scraps are equal. Some make your stock rich and golden. Others will ruin the whole batch.
The good stuff
- Onion skins
Add both colour and a deep savoury note - Carrot peel and tops
Add a gentle sweetness and body - Dark green leek tops
Add a mild, oniony depth - Celery leaves and stalks
Add that classic aromatic flavour that makes a stock taste like a stock - Parsley stalks
Carry more flavour than the leaves and add a fresh, herby note - Mushroom stalks
Add an earthy, savoury depth - Fennel fronds and stalks
Add a subtle anise note, particularly good in fish-based bouillon - Tomato skins and seeds
Add a slight acidity and sweetness, best in summer when tomatoes are actually good - Garlic skins
Add a gentle warmth. A few go a long way
What to keep out
- Brassicas (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts)
Turn your stock sulphurous and bitter - Potato peel
Makes things starchy and cloudy - Aubergine
Can make things taste strange and slightly acrid - Beetroot
Will turn everything deep purple - Courgette
Mostly water, adds very little
The good news is that once you know the rules, it becomes automatic. You start prepping your onions and peel your carrot and put the skins without thinking straight into your container, or freezer bag.
Store your vegetables scraps
Keep a dedicated container, a 3 liters freezer bag or a silicone reusable bag, in the fridge or freezer and fill it as you cook. In the fridge, scraps keep for three or four days. In the freezer you can take your time, fill the bag over weeks, and make your homemade stock from scratch whenever you’re ready. This is the way I do it, it’s less stressful than the fridge.
One thing worth doing first though: scrub your root vegetables before peeling them. Carrot peel with soil still on it makes muddy-tasting bouillon, and nobody wants that.
And the same goes for fish bones if you’re planning to make the fumet. Keep those in a separate bag in the freezer, rinse them before they go in, and use them within three months. Fish scraps lose flavour faster than vegetable scraps, so don’t leave them too long.
4 Homemade stock recipes to get started
Basic homemade vegetable stock
This is the workhorse in French cooking. You’ll make this homemade bouillon the most often and use it for everything from risotto to lentils to soup.
Makes: approximately 1.5 litres Time: 1 hour
Scraps
- Onion skins
- Carrot peel and tops
- Dark green leek tops
- Celery leaves and stalks
- Parsley stalks
- Mushroom stalks
- Fennel fronds and stalks
- Tomato skins and seeds
- Garlic skins
Use whatever combination you have. You don’t need all of them, but the more variety the better. Aim to fill roughly a 2-litre container before you make a batch.
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2.5 litres cold water
- 200ml dry white wine (optional but worth it)
Method
- Put everything into a large pot with the cold water and wine. Start cold, not hot.
- Bring slowly to a gentle simmer, skimming any grey foam that rises in the first few minutes.
- Simmer partially covered for 45 minutes to an hour. No longer or it will turn bitter.
- Strain through a fine sieve without pressing the vegetables. Season only when you know what you’re using it for.
Tomato Bouillon
This homemade stock is best made in summer when tomatoes are actually good. Lovely for cooking rice or polenta, or as the base of a summer soup.
Makes: approximately 700ml Time: 50 minutes
Scraps
- Skins and seeds from roughly 1kg of tomatoes
- Onion skins and trimmings
- Celery leaves and stalks
- Garlic skins
Ingredients
- 1 bay leaf
- A handful of fresh basil stalks
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 litre cold water
Method
- Put everything in a pot, give the tomato scraps a rough squeeze to release the juices, and cover with cold water.
- Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 to 40 minutes until the liquid is pale pink and smells of ripe tomatoes.
- Strain, pressing the pulp gently to capture the liquid. Season lightly.
Mushroom bouillon
Dark, earthy, and intense. This is the one to reach for when you’re making lentils, a pasta sauce, or a risotto that wants real depth. One thing worth knowing: this is considerably stronger than your basic homemade vegetable stock. Use it diluted or at half strength in anything delicate, or it will overpower everything else in the dish.
Makes: approximately 800ml Time: 45 minutes
Scraps
- Mushroom stalks and trimmings (aim for roughly 300g worth saved up)
- Onion skins
- Garlic skins
Ingredients
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1.2 litres cold water
- A splash of dry white wine (optional)
Method
- Put everything into a pot with the cold water and bring slowly to a gentle simmer.
- Cook for 30 to 40 minutes. No longer or it will turn bitter.
- Strain through a fine sieve lined with a clean cloth without pressing.
Fish Stock (Fumet de Poisson)
Fumet de poisson is a classic French fish stock. It’s delicate and clean-tasting. Use it for fish soups, a simple cream sauce, or anywhere a vegetable stock would feel out of place.
Note
This only works with white fish. Bones from sea bass, cod, sole, turbot, or bream are ideal. Avoid oily fish like mackerel or sardines entirely, and go easy on salmon bones, which make the stock too strong and fatty.
Makes: approximately 800ml Time: 35 minutes
Scraps
- Fish bones, heads, and trimmings from white fish (roughly 500g to 700g)
- Parsley stalks
Ingredients
- 1 shallot or small onion, thinly sliced
- 1 celery stick, sliced
- A small knob of butter
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp white peppercorns
- 200ml dry white wine
- 1 litre cold water
Method
- Rinse the fish bones and trimmings under cold water and remove any bloody bits you can see. These make the stock bitter.
- Melt the butter in a large pot over low heat and sweat the shallot and celery gently for a few minutes until soft but not coloured.
- Add the fish bones, trimmings, and white wine. Let it bubble for two minutes. Add the cold water, parsley stalks, bay leaf, and peppercorns.
- Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Not longer as the fish bones will turn bitter and chalky if you push past this.
- Strain through a fine sieve lined with a clean cloth without pressing.
Adding wine: the most French thing you can do
As you know from my article about cooking with wine, I love adding that additional acidity and depth to a lot of my cooking. And adding it to a homemade veggie stock is a no brainer for me.
Just make sure you add it at the start with the cold water, not at the end. The alcohol needs time to cook off as the pot slowly comes up to temperature, around 15 to 20 minutes, and what you’re left with is the fruit and the acidity without any of that raw sharpness.
Muscadet, Sauvignon Blanc, or an unoaked Chardonnay all work well. Just use something you’d actually drink, avoid anything very oaky or sweet, and roughly 200ml to 250ml is plenty for a 2.5-litre pot.
And if you have a bottle of dry vermouth open, Noilly Prat in particular, use that instead. It has a lovely herbal quality that works really well in bouillon. I reach for it more often than the wine if I’m honest.
How to store homemade stock
Fridge
Keeps for 4 to 5 days in a sealed container.
Freezer
Keeps for up to 6 months in a sealed container.
Ice cube tray with lids or Souper Cubes trays are the most practical way to store your homemade veggie stock. Fill them, freeze solid, then transfer to a clearly labelled freezer bag. Each cube is small enough so you can grab exactly what you need rather than defrosting a whole litre when you only wanted a splash to deglaze a pan. The larger 473ml Souper Cubes trays with lids work brilliantly for bigger portions.
One thing really worth doing before you freeze: reduce your bouillon first before your freeze it. Put it back on the heat after straining and let it bubble until it’s halved. Concentrated stock takes up half the freezer space and you just add water when you use it. Label everything with the date and what type it is.
How to use your homemade vegetable broth
The obvious uses are soups and sauces. But homemade stock earns its place in other ways too, and this is where it really pays off to create this new habit.
Cook rice, lentils, risotto, couscous, and other grains
Rice cooked in homemade stock instead of water tastes completely different, and the same goes for lentils, couscous, and other grains. They absorb whatever liquid they cook in, so every mouthful carries that flavour. For risotto, using water instead of stock is really not an option.
Deglazing
When you’ve been sautéing onions or leeks and want to lift the sticky caramelised bits from the pan, a splash of homemade stock works just as well as wine and adds body to whatever you’re making.
Braising vegetables
Fennel braised slowly in homemade vegetable broth with a little butter and a bay leaf is a completely different dish from fennel steamed in plain water. It’s a small extra step that creates whole new tasty flavours.
Finishing pasta
A ladle of homemade bouillon added to pasta you’re finishing in a pan with olive oil and garlic makes something special out of very little. The stock adds body and flavour to your pasta.
Making a simple sauce
Take a ladleful of your homemade vegetable stock and reduce it in a small pan over medium heat until it’s syrupy and concentrated. Whisk in a knob of cold butter off the heat and you have a simple, elegant sauce that works over vegetables, fish, or eggs.
Over to you
If all of this feels like a lot, just start with the basic vegetable stock. Fill a bag over a week or two, throw it in a pot with some wine and aromatics, and see what happens. That’s genuinely all it takes to get started. Once that becomes habit, the rest follows naturally.
The fish stock is worth trying once you’re comfortable, especially if you cook fish regularly. Make it after a fish dinner, use the stock for soup the next day, and you’ll get why French cook use it.
So tell me: are you already keeping a scrap bag, or is this something you’re starting from scratch? And if there’s something you throw in yours that isn’t on my list, I’d love to know about it in the comments!
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