How to Thicken a Sauce or Soup - The Veggie Table (2024)

FAQs

How to Thicken a Sauce or Soup - The Veggie Table? ›

All you need is some kind of fat (such as butter or olive oil) and an equal weight of all purpose flour. As for how much of each ingredient, it depends on the type and amount of liquid you're trying to thicken: To thicken 2 cups of sauce, use 1 oz fat + 1 oz flour. To thicken 4 cups of sauce, use 2 oz fat + 2 oz flour.

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

Mix one teaspoon cornflour with a tablespoon of room temperature water and add to your stew. Then bring to the boil and cook until desired thickness is reached. Cornflour is a great gluten-free thickener. It has a slightly more gelatinous texture, so only add a teaspoon at time or your sauce may become a bit goopy.

Whisk in a bit of flour or starch.

Instead, whisk a small amount of soup into the starch or flour until it dissolves, then add the resulting mixture into the soup. This mixture is also known as a "slurry." After incorporating the slurry into the soup, let the liquid boil for a minute to thicken.

About this method: One of the most common ways to thicken sauces and soups is with a starch-based slurry, and cornstarch is a popular choice. Cornstarch is flavorless, easy to mix up, and versatile, which makes it a go-to pantry ingredient.

One way to thicken a stew without flour is to add some cooked rice or quinoa. Another option is to puree some of the vegetables in the stew to thicken it. To thicken a stew without flour, some recipes call for using a thickener such as arrowroot starch or almond flour.

The most readily available sauce-thickener is flour. For a too-thin sauce, try adding a slurry (equal parts flour and water, whisked together) or beurre manie (equal parts softened butter and flour, kneaded together to form a paste)—both are ideal thickeners for rich and creamy sauces, such as steak sauce recipes.

What is the healthiest way to thicken a sauce? ›

Starchy vegetables—like potatoes, winter squash or celeriac—are excellent thickening agents, especially if they've been pureed. Simply roast or boil these vegetables and pop them into the food processor until smooth. Then, stir it into the sauce, and voila: It will instantly be thicker!

It's important to note that cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. If you need to substitute cornstarch to thicken liquid in a recipe that calls for ¼ cup (four tablespoons) flour, you only need two tablespoons cornstarch.

The three main thickening agents for gravies are flour, cornflour and arrowroot. The first two are normally used in savoury dishes while arrowroot tends to be used in sweet dishes – that said, arrowroot will work in a savoury dish as it has no flavour.

Pureed starchy vegetables. like potatoes or carrots. You simmer in the liquid until it's nice and soft, and then you blend with an immersion blender or blender. until it's very, very smooth and thickened.

Cornstarch, or corn flour, can be used to thicken soup through its high starch content. Cornstarch is a great thickener for soup because only a little bit is needed to significantly thicken a soup, and it will not affect the flavor profile of the soup.

It's important to note that cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. If you need to substitute cornstarch to thicken liquid in a recipe that calls for ¼ cup (four tablespoons) flour, you only need two tablespoons cornstarch.

Many home cooks find themselves wondering how to thicken a soup, and there are a few different ways: cooking the soup longer to remove excess liquid, blending some of the solid ingredients of the soup, or using food scraps like bread or potatoes to thicken the soup, but if you don't have time to wait, you can use a ...

Add more liquid: The simplest solution is to add more liquid, such as water, broth, or milk. Start by adding a small amount and gradually add more until you reach the desired consistency. Use a blender: If you have a blender, you can puree the soup in batches, adding more liquid as needed.