Sometimes cream soup, pureed soup, or a regular "first course" turns out too watery, but that’s no reason to sprinkle it with flour, as many like to do.
As chef Sean Dell told the Daily Express, the best natural thickener for watery dishes is regular potatoes.
"No matter what soup I’m making, I always add a couple of large peeled and chopped potatoes — they are a natural thickener that gives the soup a nice creamy texture," the chef explains. What to Add to Soup Instead of Potatoes
Sometimes, potato chunks don’t fit well in the soup. In that case, Sean's colleague, chef John Burton-Rees, uses potato starch. Just dissolve 1 tsp of the product in a small amount of water and stir it into the soup at the end of cooking.
Legumes can also serve as an alternative to potatoes. For better results, they should be pre-cooked and mashed into a puree. Moreover, adding beans — a source of fiber — will make any soup more nutritious.
How to Thin Out Thick Soup
You can always add more broth, but removing excess liquid is not possible. This is especially important when making cream soups and pureed soups. If the situation is critical, add something more flavorful instead of water:
- broth;
- cream or milk;
- tomato juice;
- vegetable broth (after boiling potatoes or cauliflower).
