The Best Vegetarian Potato Soup (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret ingredient to thicken soup? ›

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool. Add a few tablespoons of flour or cornstarch to the bowl and whisk until it's blended smooth. Next, bring the soup to a simmer and add the mixture back to the pot. Pro tip: Don't dump in the entire mixture at once.

ANSWER: Waxy potatoes or those called boiling potatoes stand up well in soups and stews. These have thin skin and are high in moisture and low in starch. Potatoes that are low-starch and high-moisture hold together better. Yukon Gold potatoes are on the medium-starch side and will hold their shape in soups.

So what do you do if you've made the mistake of using starchy potatoes in your soup? One trick to make your potato soup a little less grainy is to add some form of dairy –- cream, milk, or even cheese. Because dairy is generally creamy in texture, that characteristic will carry over into your soup.

Perhaps the simplest approach is to flavor your soup with salt throughout the cooking process. Instead of waiting until the end of cooking to realize your soup lacks taste, you can add a bit of salt during each phase of cooking. Doing so will help bring out the flavors of each of the ingredients.

Combine cornstarch and a little bit of water—or the chicken stock from the soup—in a small bowl. With the soup simmering over medium-low heat, whisk in the slurry. The soup should start to thicken almost immediately.

Substituting Cornstarch for Flour as a Gluten-Free Alternative. If you have someone in the family with an allergy restriction, you may need a gluten-free thickener for your soup recipe. It's important to note that cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add the potatoes, and cook for 5-10 minutes until partially tender. Drain and then add them to your simmering soup for finishing. 3. Roasting: For a richer flavor and slightly crispy texture, try roasting the potatoes before adding them to the soup.

Try adding a little more salt. That's usually the answer to any issue of blandness, no matter the recipe in question. A basic Appalachian style potato soup uses only a handful of simple ingredients, leaning on milk and water and often bouillon to create the brothy soup base.

With a simple soup like potato, I would stick to salt and pepper only. If you do use other spices, be careful because they will easily overwhelm the delicate flavor. Some ingredients I like to include in potato soup: Cooked, chopped bacon.

This soup-thickening hack couldn't be easier. Unlike using flour, which requires either making a little roux before you start cooking or a beurre manié afterwards, or using a cornstarch slurry that can create a gloppy texture, the instant mashed potato flakes can simply be sprinkled into the finished dish.

What can I add to my potato soup to make it taste better? ›

Cheese: I recommend a good sharp cheddar cheese here for maximum flavor. Greek yogurt or sour cream: To make the soup extra-creamy. Salt and pepper: Add in as much as you need at the end to season your soup well.

ADD ACID

Fresh lemon juice: this is best to add at the end of cooking, otherwise the lemon flavor can become bitter. Cooking Vinegars: such as balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, or even apple cider vinegar. Hot sauce: helps to add both acid and heat, so you're getting even more bang for your buck.

Corn Starch

This completely versatile starch is used in savory and sweet dishes alike: gelatinizing fruit pie fillings or thickening your hefty, stick-to-your-bones soups.

One simple way to thicken soup is to add potatoes or beans. These ingredients will absorb the broth and thicken it up. Rice, beans, and lentils also release starch which thickens soup. You can either mash these ingredients before adding it to the soup or blend it in for a smoother texture.

Add Flour, Cornstarch, or Other Thickener: Starches thicken soup and give it body. Whisk a few tablespoons of starch into a little of the broth in a separate bowl before whisking it into the main pot. This prevents the starch from clumping and helps it dissolve into the soup evenly.

Rice, bread, potatoes and beans are great for natural thickeners. If you don't count them as extra since they are already in the soup, this would be the cheapest option since you don't add anything. How's this for cheap: Save the water you boil your pasta in. Not much thickening power, but you could reduce it too.