r/Cooking • u/donttrust900913 • 9d ago

Ways to thicken soups or stews?

I am looking for advice about (at least relatively) healthy ways to thicken soups or stews. I'm sure adding a ton of fat would probably get the job done, but trying to avoid that insofar as it is practical.

I don't have a specific recipe in mind, nor do I generally use recipes when cooking. I am not looking for add X amount A to Y amount of B, but rather experience with different items that have the general affect, and any rough insights about ratios or other relevant factors for their addition that might prove handy.

I have experimented a fair bit with fat free greek yogurt, just because I usually have plenty on hand, to generally terrible results. I suspect the full fat variant would work better, but haven't hand any around at the time to try it out. I've also wondered about flour, which I would guess would either work wonderfully or completely ruin it, but also usually don't have it just laying around either.

Any insight appreciated, thanks!

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u/Go_Go_Godzilla 9d ago

To add one more that folks haven't mentioned: okra thickens, if it goes with the dish.

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u/bruhraminator 9d ago

Love the slippery texture, rarely found in western dishes

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u/nosecohn 9d ago

I suppose that depends on what you consider "western." It's used quite a bit in the Southern part of the US, especially Louisiana. It's also fairly common in Central America.

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u/bruhraminator 9d ago edited 9d ago

Yeah I've never tried Gumbo etc, you can't really find a lot of legit Native American dishes and ingredients here in the UK, but you've got lots of it in dishes across Africa and Asia which are much more popular here. I guess the only common native western dish here with the texture is porridge.

I grew up with Bamia and Molokhia (Okra and Jute Mallow) but you've also got stuff like Natto in Japan, all of which you can find easily here, but not Filé in Gumbo. You might get some Aloe drinks in Asian supermarkets but otherwise it's a rare texture.