How to Thicken Soup: 8 Soup Thickeners for Home Cooks

Soup is a hot liquid consisting of a variety of ingredients, seasonings, and textures. Examples include brothy soups, creamy soups, and chunky soups. Soup ingredients are wide-ranging; a soup might contain veggies, seafood, chicken, meatballs, lentils, noodles, rice, and almost anything else that pairs well with broth or stock and that you can eat with a spoon.

When making creamy soups, such as creamy chowders or stews, thickening the soup is a key step in the recipe. Where that step falls can help you to determine the type of thickening agent you should use. The inclusion of a roux must occur at the very beginning of soup recipes, as does the addition of puréed veggies. On the other hand, if you want to add cornstarch or arrowroot thickener, you must do so closer to the end of the cooking process.

There is nothing inherently wrong with watery soup. Many brothy soups, like chicken noodle soup, vegetable soup, and Italian wedding soup are brothy and “watery” by design. It’s only when a soup meant to be thick—like clam chowder, beef stew, potato soup, or squash soup—turns out too thin that a watery consistency becomes less than ideal. All that aside, the thickness of soup comes down to personal preference, as you might prefer your soup to be on the chunkier side while others might prefer their soup to be more watery, or vice versa.

Your options for thickening soup depend on where you are in the cooking process. Here are eight ways you can thicken soup:

1. 1. Add bread. Breadcrumbs dissolve in hot soups, imparting starchy thickness. Add about a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency. Alternatively, you can add stale bread, which absorbs liquid and breaks down as the soup simmers—many Italian soups use this method to thicken soups. Tortillas can produce a similar effect. Just like stale bread, a tortilla absorbs liquid and starts to break down as the soup cooks.
2. 2. Blend in nuts. To thicken creamy soups without dairy, you can blend soaked nuts, like cashews and almonds, with a tiny bit of water to create a thick paste or heavy cream consistency. You can control the thickness by using more or less water during blending. This is a good thickening method for vegan tomato soups or any other creamy soup.
3. 3. Finish with a slurry. For a cornstarch slurry, mix together one part cornstarch to two parts cold water in a small bowl. Add this mixture toward the end of the cooking process—the soup will thicken almost immediately as the soup begins to boil. For an arrowroot slurry, mix together about four and a half teaspoons of arrowroot and three tablespoons of water for every cup of soup liquid. This method works well for slow cooker soups and stews.
4. 4. Incorporate egg yolks. For certain soups, egg yolks are the thickening agent. To avoid curdling, slowly mix some of the hot soup into the beaten egg yolks to warm the egg yolks (also known as tempering the eggs). Then, add the egg mixture back into the soup and continue to cook and stir until the soup thickens.
5. 5. Mix in potatoes. Try incorporating potatoes to thicken the dish. If the soup is too thin toward the end of the cooking process, simply add cooked potatoes, mashed potatoes, or potato flakes. On account of their starch, potatoes are a natural thickening agent. This method works especially well with a potato-based soup, like a potato leek soup or a chowder that already has diced potatoes in it.
6. 6. Purée the soup. Many soups can benefit from a purée, whether you purée the main ingredient or cook the soup ingredients as chunks and then purée the entire mixture afterward. For tomato soup, try cooking chunky canned tomatoes with onions, garlic, and herbs, then purée all the ingredients with an immersion blender after the soup comes to a boil. The puréeing process thickens the soup almost immediately. For a butternut squash soup, you can cook the squash and purée it before you add it to the rest of the soup ingredients. Eventually, the excess water in the purée will reduce and the soup will thicken.
7. 7. Start with a roux. If you want to ensure a thick soup from the outset, you can begin by making a roux. The standard ratio for a roux is equal parts fat and flour. For the fat, you can use butter, olive oil, bacon fat, or another fat that melts completely. In a large soup pot, melt the fat and then add flour, whisking to combine. Cook this mixture for a couple of minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. The darker the roux, the less thickening power it has. Soups like gumbo and jambalaya use a very dark roux for a little thickness but a lot of flavor.
8. 8. Whisk in a beurre manié. Similar to a roux, a beurre manié is equal parts fat and flour, but it thickens the soup toward the end of the cooking process. To use this method, soften butter or another fat that is soft (but not melted) at room temperature, then mix it with equal parts flour until a paste forms. Add the results to the soup, whisking constantly to prevent clumping.

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