V8 juice is great for you. It’s full of vegetables that are super healthy, it doesn’t taste nearly as disgusting as you might think, and it delivers a huge serving of nutrients straight into your body in a single can.
And while V8 is awesome, it does have some downsides. For example, it is full of salt. You can taste it almost immediately, the salt is overpowering. For those who want a delicious serving of vegetables in one juice without all that salt, you can learn how to make V8 juice in a Vitamix blender at home.
Also, V8 juice can be expensive. A single can of V8 can cost several dollars, whereas you can make an entire container of V8 juice at home for a fraction of the price. And another thing, some people actually don’t like the taste of V8 juice. They think it’s too salty and too artificial.
To make things better, simply follow this awesome recipe to make your own V8 at home using your Vitamix blender. All you need are a whole bunch of awesome vegetables, your blender, and a little bit of time for preparation. After you have gathered all your vegetables, it’s actually pretty impressive to look at the pile. All of those awesome foods are going straight into your belly along with all their nutrients.
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What to Expect from Homemade V8 Juice
Since you’re making V8 juice from scratch using your blender, you are in full control of the ingredients. Whatever you make is up to you. You control the salt, the vegetables, and the consistency. Some people enjoy a very juice-like V8 and others like something a bit heartier and chunkier.
When talking about health benefits, they are basically uncountable. You are going to be using tomatoes, onion, garlic, beet, carrot, cucumber, and more. Each vegetable offers its own burst of nutrients and minerals. Plus, adding other minor ingredients like honey and fresh parsley will only add to the health benefits of your homemade V8.
Do keep in mind that this recipe is totally optional. By that, I mean that you can add and subtract vegetables as you see fit. This is one of the most exciting recipes to play with. Try it the way I suggest, then pick and choose what stays and what goes for the second round.
There is a little bit of cooking involved, and you could alternatively run some of the vegetables through a juicer before blending. You can definitely throw everything into the blender as is and just start blending, but that is probably not going to taste the best.
If you want to spice things up even more, add a few splashes of alcohol to make a V8 Bloody Mary. Just don’t forget to line the rim of the glass with salt. And don’t let the kids get their paws on your glass.
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How to Make V8 Juice in a Vitamix: Easy Recipe
This is the most simplistic copycat V8 recipe you will ever find. It’s an awesome alternative to store-bought V8. It’s much less expensive. It’s also a great way to learn how to make vegetable drinks. You will get a real understanding of what you like and what you don’t like. You can always tailor this recipe to your own personal preferences.
It should go without saying, but don’t forget to chop your ingredients before starting the recipe. The onion, beet, cucumbers, carrot, and tomatoes all need to be properly chopped. When it comes to the actual cooking, there are a lot of steps to follow, so be patient. However, the entire recipe should not take longer than about an hour, including the cooking part.
Homemade V8 Juice Ingredients:
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 5 Tomatoes
- ½ Onion
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Beet
- 1 Carrot
- 1 Tablespoon Honey
- 1 Dash Tabasco
- 1 Dash Worcestershire Sauce
- Dash Salt & Pepper
- 2 Cucumbers
- ¼ Cup Parsley
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Homemade V8 Juice Instructions:
- The first step is to add olive oil to a large pot and place it on the stove under medium heat.
- You are then going to add all the ingredients except for the cucumbers and the parsley to the pot. Now bring the pot gradually to a simmer.
- Once all the vegetables are simmering, you can continue to cook them on medium heat for roughly 45 minutes. You will need to stir occasionally to help the vegetables breakdown better.
- After about 45 minutes, do a taste test and then season with additional salt and pepper, or Tabasco, or Worcestershire sauce as necessary.
- Remove the mixture from the stove and transfer all the contents into your powerful Vitamix blender. The mixture should be red and runny by this time. Some of the vegetables will still be chunky but don’t worry, we are going to take care of that in the blender.
- Add one cucumber and the ¼ cup of parsley into the blender as well.
- Now pulse your mixture about three times so that all the chunks of vegetables get broken apart. You want the consistency at this point to be like a thick and chunky soup. If you don’t have a strong Vitamix blender with a pulse feature, just lightly blend in three short intervals to break apart the vegetables.
- Now you need to transfer the contents of the blender into a food mill and use the smallest holed plate to run the mixture through the food mill.
- Lastly, transfer the mixture from the food mill back into your blender, add the final cucumber, and blend the entire mixture for a full minute on the highest Vitamix setting until you have a consistency that is exactly like a thick vegetable juice.
- It’s important to understand that the consistency is going to be thicker than your average juice. There are way too many vegetables to make a thin juice like apple juice or pineapple juice.
- Pour and enjoy!
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