Homemade vegetable bouillon cube is a basic preparation perfect to have ready-made cubes at home for soups, to flavor risottos or sauces in a healthy and genuine way. Making it at home will certainly cost you little and you will have cubes without added preservatives or colorings. You can use the vegetables you prefer most; I used celery stalks, carrots, onion, potatoes and zucchini, but you can add other vegetables if you wish. One tip: the tray is useful to get an idea of a single portion, that is 1 cube per 1 liter of broth, but don’t expect the cubes to come out quickly like actual ice cubes. They remain creamy due to the salt, so use a teaspoon to take them directly from the mold. They will still come out easily. If you prefer, you can put the creamy cube directly into a glass jar and scoop out the amount you need.

You can use the cubes to make:

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Budget-friendly
Rest time: 1 Day
Preparation time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 22 Pieces
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian

Ingredients to make the homemade vegetable bouillon cube

2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 yellow onion
1 zucchini
2 potatoes
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
11 tbsp salt

Tools

Knife
Cutting board
Pan
Ice cube trays

Steps to make the homemade vegetable bouillon cube

To prepare the homemade vegetable bouillon cube, first wash and clean all the vegetables well. In this case I used potatoes, carrots, zucchini, onion and celery. Peel the potatoes, carrots and zucchini, clean and wash the celery stalks, peel the onion and then cut all the vegetables into pieces roughly the same size. Put all the vegetables in a large pan, add 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and the salt. Cook the vegetables for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring often but gently so that the salt dissolves and releases some of the vegetables’ water. Then lower the heat to the minimum, put the lid on and cook the vegetables for 1 hour. Stir the vegetables from time to time. They should become very soft.
If you see that after 1 hour there is still water, remove the lid, raise the heat slightly and let the vegetables dry; they should be dry but should not stick to the bottom of the pan. When they are ready, blend the vegetables until they become creamy. Then return the mixture to the pan and heat it to thicken. It should take about 5–10 minutes; the consistency should become almost like polenta and should pull away from the bottom. I tested it with a wooden spoon. Then let it cool. To cool faster I put the mixture in a large glass bowl.
Then I took the ice cube trays and filled the cavities with the mixture using a teaspoon. I closed them with the lid and placed them in the freezer to rest for about 24 hours or longer if possible. You can then take a bouillon cube with a teaspoon according to your needs.
With these amounts—about 2 lbs (900 g) of cleaned vegetables—I made 22 cubes. Keep in mind that they don’t come out as easily as ice cubes because the salt keeps the cube creamy. You will just need to remove them with a teaspoon. Your homemade vegetable bouillon cube is ready to be enjoyed in your dishes!