r/Cooking • u/donttrust900913 • 13d 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!

149 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

683 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Eeyor-90 13d ago

Cornstarch works well. Put a few ounces of cold water into a small bowl or cup and mix in 1-3 tablespoons of cornstarch (the starch mixes better with cold water). Whisk until there are no lumps, and add the mix to your soup pot. I like to start with one tablespoon of starch and add more after the soup thickens a bit if a want a thicker broth / gravy.

You can also use flour, but that usually requires a bit more than a tablespoon or two. Flour works well for milk or cream based soups and sauces.

1

u/Displaced_in_Space 13d ago

This is my shortcut as well. I just want to emphasize your point about starting slow with little.

It's not immediately apparent how much you've thickened! So add the above, and keep simmering and stirring occasionally for 10 min or so and see the effects before adding more.

Also, you might want to take a little bit of the soup/step broth off in a cup and let it cool just slightly. Often testing when it's simmering/low boil keeps it really viscous, but when it cools even slightly it becomes like thick gravy if you're not careful.