You’ve chopped the ingredients and followed a recipe only to find the soup you’ve made has the wrong consistency. It tastes delicious, but the texture’s too thin and not what you were hoping for. What do you do?

Fear not, the culinary world is loaded with handy tips and tricks to thicken soup that anyone can follow. The next time your soup is turning into a watery disaster, these easy fixes can turn things around and leave you with a bowl of utter scrumptiousness that’s also the perfect texture.

1. Thicken Soup with Cream or Yoghurt

If you’ve made a creamy or blended soup, adding extra cream will thicken it up to the consistency you desire. This should be done gradually so you don’t add too much and make it too creamy or sweet.

Stirring in thick yoghurt is also an effective way to thicken soup, though it’s important not to boil the soup once you’ve added yoghurt or cream because it may split. This method not only works for soups, but it can also thicken other dishes like this luscious pork chops with creamy mushroom and garlic sauce recipe.

2. Thicken Soup with Roux

A roux is perhaps the most popular method for thickening soup and is widely used in French cuisine, from where it originates. Roux is simply a mixture of flour and fat, such as butter or oil, cooked together on the stove and blended until smooth. It is an ideal thickening agent for soups, gravy, sauces, stews, and even this sausage meatball goulash recipe. There are four different kinds of roux, and the type you use depends on the flavour intensity of the soup.

3. Thicken Soup with Flour or Cornstarch

Adding flour or cornstarch is a classic way to thicken soup. Simply place a tablespoon of either in a bowl with 2-3 tbsp of your soup and stir until smooth. Then, return the mixture back into the pan while you continue to stir until the soup reaches a simmer, and you achieve the ideal consistency.

4. Thicken Soup with a Flour and Butter Paste

The food-loving French developed their own way of thickening soup with a flour and butter paste called a beurre manié. All you do is mix 2 tsp of flour with the same amount of soft butter, then stir the paste into the soup while it’s simmering, just as you would with cornstarch. The paste will thicken the soup, and the butter will help the flour evenly disperse in the liquid. Voila!

5. Thicken Soup with Bread

Bread can be a brilliant thickener for any soup that’s too watery. The secret is to soak small chunks of bread in water to soften them before blending them into the soup. It’s best to use mild flavoured bread so you don’t alter or compromise the flavour of the soup. However, if you want to introduce a stronger flavour, use a bread like sourdough which has a slight tanginess to it.

6. Thicken Soup with Rice or Lentils

If you want to add body to your soup, blended lentils and rice are a great solution. Lentils and rice should be cooked first before you blend them into the soup to give it a thicker texture. A general rule is that red lentils work better in tomato soups, and they can even be added to dishes like this tomato macaroni cheese recipe to thicken the sauce. Similarly, rice is more suited to thickening green soups that contain a variety of vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower.

7. Thicken Soup with Potatoes

It may seem like a weird concept, but restaurants often use cooked potatoes put through a ricer or leftover mash as a soup thickener. Because the potatoes are cooked, they will completely dissolve into the soup and give it a denser texture. The process may take longer than simply adding cornstarch or flour, but potatoes will provide yet another layer of flavour to a soup that other thickeners won’t.

8. Thicken Soup with Egg Yolks

Mediterranean countries have been using egg yolks to thicken soup for centuries. In Greek cooking, avgolemono is a lemony chicken soup that’s thickened with eggs whisked with lemon juice to create a foam. This magical, zesty foam is then mixed with a little of broth before adding to the pan to give the soup a thicker consistency. Beaten eggs are also one of the key ingredients in egg drop soup and are gently poured into the soup to create thickening strands.

9. Thicken Soup with Okra

Okra not only helps thicken soup, but it is also a great way to add more vegetables into your diet. When using okra as a thickening agent, it should be cut into round slices and sautéed in oil until slightly brown before stirring or mashing it into your soup. Okra is a staple ingredient in African American cuisine and is a quick fix when looking to give your soup more texture and consistency.

10. Thicken Soup with Arrowroot

Like other thickeners, arrowroot starch and arrowroot powder are mostly odourless and flavourless. Arrowroot is also a gluten-free alternative to flour and an effective substitute for cornstarch. You treat arrowroot in the same way as flour and cornstarch in that it should be blended with a little water to create a smooth mixture before it’s added to the soup towards the end of the cooking process in order to avoid clumping.

Alternative Ways to Thicken Soup

You don’t have to add more ingredients to a soup to make it thicker. There are other ways to make a soup less watery without having to stir in flour, cornstarch, or other thickening agents.

Grab the Blender

One of the easiest ways to thicken soup is to blend the ingredients together. If the broth you’ve made contains chunks of vegetables, you should pour the soup through a sieve, remove a third of the whole ingredients, and then blend them into the broth using a hand blender. Once you’ve done this you can stir the rest of the ingredients back into the soup to give you the texture you desire.

Alternatively, you can also use a potato masher to mash the vegetables directly in the pan while the soup is cooking until you reach the perfect consistency. Not only does this simple method work a treat with soup, but it can also help to thicken the sauce of almost any dish like this delicious beef stroganoff recipe.

These suggestions work best with starchy ingredients such as beans, rice, potatoes, or pasta. While it’s possible to blend meaty soups and saucy meals like this mouthwatering chicken curry too, it’s important to check that all bones have been removed before using a blender to break down the fibres.

Simmer and reduce

Time itself can be your best friend in the kitchen. Sometimes all it takes to thicken soup is a little patience and a bit more cooking.

If your soup is too thin, simply simmer it with the lid off to gradually reduce the liquid and intensify the flavours. It’s important to stir the soup occasionally while the water in the soup evaporates to stop it from sticking or burning the bottom of the pan.

This simple trick is particularly effective with clear soups and soups with high water content like consommé. The general rule is that the longer you simmer soup, the thicker it will become.

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