Stew vs. Soup: 3 Differences Between Stew and Soup

Stew is a comfort food staple consisting of meat or legumes cooked with vegetables and aromatics in a flavorful broth. You can make stew with tougher pieces of meat, like beef chuck, which becomes tender with prolonged cooking over low heat. Stew can taste even better the next day once the flavors have had time to meld.

While stews are often thickened with a roux made from flour and oil, they can be made gluten-free by substituting thickeners like gluten-free all-purpose flour or using a cornstarch slurry or a small amount of mashed potatoes. Beef stew is one of the most common types of stew recipes. Other types of stew include chicken stew, Irish stew, lamb stew, and vegetable stew.

Soups—dishes with liquid bases of broth or cream—are a staple of many cuisines, whether as staple entrées or as go-to comfort foods for illness, like chicken noodle soup or chicken soup with dumplings. Homemade soup recipes can call for any number of ingredients, from proteins (like lentil or black bean soup, Italian sausage soup, or turkey soup) to starches or carbohydrates (like wild rice soup, barley soup, or tortellini soup) to veggies (like cauliflower soup, tomato soup, mixed vegetable soup, and onion soup).

Some soups have special names depending on their preparation—for instance, gazpachos are a type of cold soup, chowders (like clam chowder or corn chowder) have thick bases of dairy or crackers, and bisques usually feature a strained seafood base. There are chunky soups and soups blended to a smooth puree and broth-based soups (clear soups). Pureed soups are often finished with a creamy element like cream or cheese.

Many soup and stew dishes contain similar main ingredients, but there are a few key differences:

• Preparation: A soup is a combination of solid ingredients and spices cooked in liquid. A stew is made by stewing, which is the cooking process of simmering ingredients in just enough liquid to cover for a prolonged cooking time over a steady, low temperature. There are different ways to cook stew, depending on your preferred equipment—for example, a slow cooker, Dutch oven, pressure cooker, or covered pot—and the time you have available, as each method requires different levels of attention and cooking time.
• Liquid: Although the contents of both soups and stews can vary widely, the difference comes down to the amount of liquid. Stews tend to have less liquid content with a higher ratio of other ingredients, while soups have a higher cooking liquid content. Soups should contain enough liquid to fill a bowl with ingredients floating in it. A stew will contain enough liquid to simmer the other ingredients and hold them together as a cohesive dish. Though both stews and hearty soups will be plenty filling, a soup will still have more liquid.
• Serving: While a stew is almost always an entree, soups can be appetizers, side dishes, or main dishes. Additionally, soup is typically served on its own, but you can serve stew over a starchy side like rice or polenta.

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