Thickening Potato Soup: Easy Guide to Creamy Texture

Potato soup is a dish that has been around for centuries.

There are many variations of the recipe, but it’s generally made with potatoes and other vegetables such as onion, celery, carrot, and garlic.

It can also include milk or cream to thicken the consistency. Although the dish is simple to make, it’s easy to make mistakes.

Many people have had to deal with runny potato soup and ended up throwing the entire batch out.

Thickening potato soup is as easy as adding a few ingredients to your cooking before you serve it.

For a healthy and flavorful soup that is quick and easy to prepare, follow these tips to save time and ensure a delicious outcome.

Mistakes When Cooking Potato Soup

Although potato soup is a simple dish to prepare, there are ways of making mistakes that can affect the taste.

When preparing potato soup, the main ingredient is potatoes, but this doesn’t mean that other ingredients should be overlooked and only those containing flavor can be used.

The texture of each ingredient when adding it into the soup determines how the final product will taste.

Therefore, while preparing potato soup, cooks should be able to judge the texture of each ingredient and accordingly add it in small amounts into the soup.

These ingredients include celery, carrot, and onion as they aid in thickening the soup.

The thicker the soup is, the better its flavor since potatoes can become tasteless after being boiled in water for a long time.

To prevent the potatoes from becoming tasteless, adding flavor ingredients is important.

The ingredients are added in small amounts to allow the cook to determine if the taste of each ingredient is right when the soup is flavored.

Adding too much broth or water to your pot will dilute the flavor and texture of your potato soup.

A good potato soup is thick and creamy, with a smooth texture and potatoes that aren’t undercooked or overcooked.

Once we have successfully prepared the soup, we can enjoy it with bread, crackers, or various vegetables.

How to Thicken Potato Soup?

As the main ingredient in potato soup is potatoes, they are expected to be at the center stage during the preparation process.

When preparing potato soup, it is important to remember that potatoes should not be fully immersed in water while boiling if we want a creamy soup.

Overly boiling will destroy the natural starch and color of potatoes.

If we choose to add another ingredient for flavor, they should be added in small amounts.

Here are some methods for thickening potato soup:

1 – Add Flour or Cornstarch

This option is the most common choice for thickening a soup.

Flour or cornstarch can be added to the broth, water, and potatoes to create a creamy potato soup.

You can add the flour or cornstarch to broth and water in a pot before adding it to the potatoes.

Thickening the soup with flour or cornstarch will result in a thick sauce, but it is important to observe other ingredients added into the potato soup.

Seasoning should be adjusted accordingly, especially if additional ingredients such as onion, celery, and carrot are added into the soup.

2 – Add Heavy Cream

Heavy cream is a good addition to potato soup, especially if you want it to have a creamy consistency.

However, this option will result in a high-fat content so take note of that when preparing your meal.

Include about 1/4 cup of heavy cream into your soup.

This is because heavy cream is high in fat, and it can negatively affect the flavor of your potato soup if there’s too much of it inside the pot when you are cooking.

You can also add heavy cream after you have boiled potatoes instead of adding it into the broth before boiling.

Some cooks prefer this method as it will result in creamier potatoes.

3 – Boil the Soup

To thicken potato soup, just boil it for a few more minutes.

The starch content of potatoes will be reduced by boiling, and this will help make your soup thicker and keep its original flavor intact.

4 – Use Milk or Cream Cheese

To thicken potato soup, add a small amount of milk or cream cheese to the soup.

Milk and cream cheese are high in protein content, so it is important to adjust the seasoning to prevent its flavor from overpowering.

5 – Add Corn Flakes

This is an alternative that you can try when cooking potato soup if you want to thicken it.

You should soak a few corn flakes in broth for this method before adding them into the potato soup while boiling.

The starch content of corn flakes will help thicken your potato soup and give it extra texture with its crunchy texture.

6 – Add Stale Bread

It is possible to thicken potato soup by adding stale bread slices into the pot.

In some cultures, this is a common practice, especially when making soups with chicken broth.

Stale bread can be added as an alternative when serving many people, and the ingredients used are limited.

The texture of your potato soup will not be as creamy when you use stale bread, but it is a great choice if you want something filling.

7 – Make a Beurre Manié

Beurre manié is a French term for a mixture of flour and butter that you can use to thicken your potato soup.

For this technique, you will need bits of cold butter and flour so that the preparation process will take more time.

Experiment with the amounts of butter and flour but try not to add too much if you want to have a creamy potato soup.

8 – Use a Blender

Another option for thickening potato soup is to use a blender.

Just blend the soup in small batches until it reaches your desired consistency, then put it back into the pot and cook as usual.

This method works well if you want to keep some potato chunks inside your potato soup.

Blend them so that they will not be lumpy but let them stay inside the soup.

9 – Use Vegetable Puree

If your goal is to create a creamy dish, you may want to consider using vegetable puree as an alternative to thicken potato soup.

For this method, just blend potatoes and some vegetables like carrot, onion, and celery into a liquid consistency, then add them back into the soup while boiling.

This will help thicken the soup and create a creamy texture as well.

There are a lot of other ingredients that you can use to thicken your potato soup.

You just have to experiment with these options and adjust the rest of the ingredients according to your preferences and plans for serving.

Conclusion

In conclusion, potato soups have gained popularity because of their delicious taste and easy preparation.

Just make sure that you are using the right ingredients and safely preparing them to guarantee no accidents while cooking.

Be creative when preparing potato soup to fit into your diet plan while still giving you something delicious to eat.

About The Author

Sharing is caring!