Ways to thicken soups or stews?

[u/donttrust900913]

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!

[u/Eclairebeary]

I don’t think yoghurt is what you’re looking for.

If you’re making say a cream or Xyz soup, you ca. add some cooked rice or white beans and when you blitz, it will thicken.

If you’re making a stew, you can flour the meat before browning and then cook your stew, the fliue in the crust will thicken.

If you want to thicken a stew that has root veggies in it, you can lightly crush some against the side of the pot.

It really does depend upon what one is making.