Healing Soup With Vegan Bone Broth

Bone broth is all the rage these days. It’s an incredibly nourishing and healing food that can be sipped on alone or used to elevate basic soups and cook whole grains. It’s really an every day staple especially during the cold, flu heavy winter months. Bone broth is especially healing because the simmering process allows the bones to release lots of amazing healing nutrients like collagen, glycine, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and amino acids. (These bones must be from super high-quality grass fed animals.)

Some vegans even make an exception and drink bone broth to help nourish their bodies and to help ensure they are getting all the nutrients they need. For those of you looking for a vegan bone broth recipe (or just aren’t ready to have a big pot of bones simmering away on your stove), I’ve come up with the recipe below. There aren’t any actual bones, but vegetables have tons of minerals that will release while simmering and the wakame is a veggie superstar. This recipe is super flexible so feel free to add in any other veggies or herbs you have on hand. In fact, I like to keep a bag of veggie scraps in my freezer to boil away each Sunday. Each broth has it’s own unique, delicious flavor and the combination below is one of my favorites!

Ingredients:

vegan bone broth

• 2 large leeks, chopped

• 4 stalks celery, chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, smashed

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 golden beets, chopped

• 1 tablespoon dried wakame, reconstituted in a little water

• 1 bay leaf

• Few springs of thyme

• 1/2 inch fresh turmeric, thinly sliced

• 1/2 inch fresh ginger, thinly sliced

• 16 cups of water

healing soup

• Handful of mushrooms, thinly sliced

• 1 – 2 leaves kale, shredded

• Handful spinach, thinly sliced

• Handful of cilantro, chopped

• 1 scallion, thinly sliced

• Few slices of ginger

• Miso paste, to taste

Method:
To make the stock, saute celery, leeks, garlic, turmeric, and ginger in olive oil over medium heat for about five minutes. Add the bay leaf, beets, water, and a generous pinch of pink salt. Turn the heat up to medium and add the wakame to the pot. Bring to a near boil, then reduce the heat to low and let the broth simmer for an hour or two (increased time will deepen the flavor). Strain into another pot and let cool before covering. The broth can be kept in the fridge for 5 days or frozen.

healing soup (serves 1)
Ladle a few big spoonfuls of vegan bone broth into a pot. Add a few pieces of thinly sliced ginger and mushrooms. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the kale, spinach, cilantro, and scallions. Cook until just wilted but still bright green. Ladle a little bit of broth in a bowl and whisk in about a tablespoon of miso before stirring back into the pot. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Note: I love to keep a huge pot of broth in the fridge, sipping on it and making quick miso soups throughout the week. I leave it unseasoned before using it, and just add in some miso paste or a sprinkle of Himalayan salt before serving.

Lily Kunin is the voice behind the NYC-based food blog Clean Food Dirty City. Inspired by the chefs in her family as well as her friends who are looking for easy recipes, her mission is to create food that is simple, clean, and flavorful. Follow her blog on Instagram @cleanfooddirtycity.