Re: Thickening soups

I dont blend my soups Missy but keep everything chopped into diced pieces.. I have started using some thickening granules they work well for me.

Re: Thickening soups

You can sprinkle on instant gravy granules, but they will also add a savoury flavour you may or may not want

I like hummus, but often I can't eat a whole tub, so I freeze it. That can be used to thicken soups

I live on my own so salads often start to go off before I can finish them. You can then make a stew, especially a vegetable stew, and put the leftover salads in it; yes, even lettuce & cucumber
Then zap everything with a stick blender

For a veg soup I often use cheap baked beans; you can add extra flavour, and the tomato sauce adds to the background or thickening

Re: Thickening soups

Ive done the same, plenty herbs and a Bay leaf or two.

Re: Thickening soups

I've tried and tried, but I don't have much success with cooking dried beans or lentils. I've soaked them overnight; simmered for ages, or both; on their own or in the soup itself, but they still turn out hard
That's why I now use canned baked beans, kidney beans, butter beans, chick peas etc.
Yes, they're more expensive than dried, but still cheap
Iceland do do frozen mixtures of broad beans and similar
Merchant Gourmet do packs of lentils and other veg; a bit more expensive but still reasonable; have a look around the supermarket shelves

Sorry, I know this is getting a bit off topic, but I thought it would be useful or of interest

Re: Thickening soups

Sometimes legumes that have been sitting around a while (like over a year old) take forever to cook. Are you cooking them as soon as you buy them? Or do they sit in your pantry for months and months at a time? (like mine often do).

Try the tiny little red/orange lentils. They don't take as long to cook.

Re: Thickening soups

Strangely enough porage oats.
Not too much but they thicken up soups and stews wonderfully.
Plus are a slow release food , so you stay fuller longer AND are good for you.

Re: Thickening soups

We all do what works for us, this is why I think recipes are a beginning and an end, it's what we chuck in the middle that works

I personally think it takes 5 mins to make a cheese sauce, mum ( older and a few more health problems ) thinks it's worth buying a box of instant cheese sauce. Neither is wrong or right, just what we are happy with