Make your homemade soup thicker and creamier with very odd ingredient – just chop it up and blend

Scottish Sun

5 days ago

A CHEF has revealed the incredibly unusual ingredient that will make your soup "creamier", "thicker" and "taste better".
With the heavens finally opening this week, and flooding the UK with a barrage of rain, many Brits are likely looking to make some comfort food to make them feel nice and cosy.
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Soup is great for warming you up after getting caught in a thunderstorm
Credit: Getty
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Your leftover takeaway chips will make your soup thicker and creamier
There's nothing better than getting home soaking wet after being caught in a thunderstorm, and tucking in to a nice bowl of soup to warm you up.
And chefs from Allrecipes have revealed the unlikely ingredient that will turn your soup into a "luxurious bowl".
Unlikely ingredient
If you've ever come home from a night out with an order of Mcdonald's and immediately fallen asleep before getting the chance to eat it, you'll know the feeling of waking up next morning unsure what to do with it.
Soggy, cold fries famously don't taste great, but they can be blended up and turned into a soup thickener.
Potatoes are a great soup thickener, as they release starch as they cook, thickening the broth.
How to use leftover chips to thicken soup
To use your leftover chips to thicken your soup, simply chop them up into small pieces, add them to your broth, and then use a blender to smooth the mixture.
Since the fries are already cooked, you don't need to add them until your soup is nearly done.
Placing them in the pan just a minute or two before turning off the heat will make sure the soup remains piping hot.
If you put the chips in any earlier, the fridge-cold temperature will temper the soup.
You can either use a handheld immersion blender to blitz the soup, or transfer it to a blender.
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As takeaway chips are often very salty, you might want to add less salt to your soup, so that you aren't overloaded with salty flavour.
Other ways to thicken soup
If you don't have any leftover chips on hand, there are a multitude of other simple tricks you can use to thicken soup.
For example, pureeing it with cannellini beans or lentils is a great budget friendly way to thicken soup.
You can also puree vegetables such as squash, sweet potato and carrot.
Finally, for a more decadent meal, you can add double cream to make your soup thick and extra tasty.
What food do you need for a healthy diet?
IF you want to have good health, a good way to start is from your diet.
The Eatwell Guide shows that to have a healthy, balanced diet, people should try to: eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day
base meals on higher fibre starchy foods like potatoes, bread, rice or pasta
have some dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks)
eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein
choose unsaturated oils and spreads, and eat them in small amounts
drink plenty of fluids (at least 6 to 8 glasses a day)
Source: NHS