Name: Sous Vide Vegetable Broth
Total time: 4 h 25 min
Ingredients: 7 cups water; 2 pounds onions , halved and sliced thin; 3 carrots , peeled and sliced thin; 2 celery ribs , sliced thin; 1 tomato , cored and chopped; 5 ounces white mushrooms , trimmed and sliced thin; 4 scallions , sliced thin; 8 sprigs fresh thyme; 1 teaspoon black peppercorns; ½ teaspoon salt; 3 bay leaves

Why This Recipe Works

For this recipe, we combined classic broth-base vegetables—onion, carrot, and celery—with mushrooms (for earthiness), tomato (for acidity), and scallions (for an allium boost). Thyme, bay leaves, and peppercorns provided herbal background notes. By slicing the vegetables thin we were able to maximize the amount of surface area for flavor extraction, which also cut down our cooking time. The resulting broth is full of clean, vegetal flavor. To avoid a cloudy broth, do not press on solids when straining.

Before You Begin

To fit all of the ingredients in one bag, this recipe calls for 2-gallon zipper-lock freezer bags. If you do not have 2-gallon bags, simply divide the ingredients between two 1-gallon bags. Be sure to double bag the mixture to protect against seam failure. Note that this recipe requires a 12-quart container. For more about sous vide cooking, refer to our sous vide guide.

Instructions

Using sous vide circulator, bring water to 185°F/85°C in 12-quart container.

Combine all ingredients in 2-gallon zipper-lock freezer bag and seal bag, pressing out as much air as possible. Place bag in second 2-gallon zipper-lock freezer bag and seal. Gently lower bag into prepared water bath until vegetables are fully submerged, and then clip top corner of bag to side of water bath container, allowing remaining air bubbles to rise to top of bag. Reopen 1 corner of zipper, release remaining air bubbles, and reseal bag. Cover and cook for at least 3 hours or up to 4 hours.

Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer into large container; discard solids. Let cool, then transfer to airtight containers and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.To Make Ahead Broth can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 2 months.