Fabulous 5 Minute Bouillon Powder Without the Nasty Additives

If you’ve read much here on the blog, you’ll know that I often use a rich bone broth as a basis for my other meals. While the old proverb, “Good broth will raise the dead,” may seem a bit far-fetched, I do believe our own bone broth helped me get past Lupus and vastly improved my gut and joint health.

Originally, the first commercial bouillon product by Maggi in 1908 was a short cut to add extra flavor (or umami) to foods without having to make a batch of bone broth from scratch. So technically, adding bouillon cubes or powder to hot water may have been one of the first ‘instant’ foods unless you consider the “portable soups” (see video) which were a common ration for 18th century sailors and explorers.

Additives like monosodium glutamate, better known as MSG, Yellow dyes #5, and #6 are just three of the unsettling ingredients found in store-bought bouillon. MSG has been shown to make you hungrier and cause headaches, while the artificial food dyes have adverse effects on behavior and attention in children. Sugar is usually the second ingredient. Many processed bouillons are laced with caramel coloring, a potentially carcinogenic compound. And like many packaged products, sodium levels are sky high – 870 mg per ¾ cup with this brand!

Yet making ‘instant’ broth from store-bought bouillon cubes is what most people default to because they aren’t aware of a healthier way. Here are some of the ingredients (from most to least) in a typical commercial bouillon cube:

• Salt

• Sugar

• Cornstarch (from GMO corn)

• Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

• Hydrolyzed Corn Protein

• Yeast Extract (sometimes autolyzed yeast extract)

• Maltodextrin (a starch made out of multiple sugars)

• Natural Flavor

• Beef or chicken fat and meat by-products

• Citric Acid, Yellow #5, Yellow #6

• Annatto (for color)

• Disodium inosinate (provides an umami flavor to foods often found together with MSG. It’s sourced from vegetables, fungi, or animal sources).

• Disodium guanylate (imparts the umami flavor to foods. This “food enhancer” may be problematic for children, asthmatics, people who suffer from gout or uric acid kidney stones.

• TBHQ (preservative)

Doesn’t that just sound yummy?

I have resisted using store-bought bouillon cubes in place of simply making broth, but if I just want to add flavor to a dish quickly, I pull out my homemade bouillon powder.

I will show you how you absolutely can make a fabulous, healthy (vegan, but meaty tasting) bouillon powder.

Use it in all sorts of stews, soups, gravies, and noodle bowls, as well as to make a richer vegetable stock.  

Fabulous 5 Minute Bouillon Powder Recipe

Quick and easy, it takes less than 5 minutes to mix up. Mix right into a glass pint jar with a tight-fitting lid.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup nutritional yeast 

• 4 ½ Tablespoons powdered mushrooms. (I used this brand for its specific mushrooms – better than the mushroom in my image below)

• 2 rounded Tablespoons organic dehydrated onions 

• 3 slightly rounded teaspoons Himalayan pink salt

• 2 teaspoon organic garlic powder

• 2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 2 teaspoon dried thyme

• 2 teaspoon celery seed

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

Note: The secret ingredients that give this bouillon its distinctive “meaty” flavor are the nutritional yeast and the mushroom powder.

Directions:

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