How would you thicken a soup so it's not as watery?

[lenswoes]

I made a pan of lentil and vegetable soup for myself a couple of days ago. I haven't ever made soup before. I basically threw in chopped leeks, carrots, vegetable stock, pancetta cubes and about 3 handfuls of lentils. Cooked for about 40 minutes on the hob. It was nice but there was definitely room for improvement. The issue was that the soup was watery. I was aiming for a consistency like what you get from supermarket lentil and bacon soup in a carton. The soup from the carton seems much thicker and I think I prefer it that way. Is it likely that I used too much water, not enough lentils or both?

Add a potato and blend it

Blend about a third of the soup to a smooth consistency and add back in - that should do it.

if not, add more lentils or potatoes. I’ve heard people add instant mashed potato flakes, but I’ve not tried that!

Add more lentils. When cooked take out half of the lentils and vegetables. Blitz the half left in the pan and add the reserved lentils and vegetables back in

Agree with @WeAllLikeVindaloo . I made the Good Food lentil soup recently. The first time it was tasty but too watery for me. The second time I made t, I added a couple of medium potatoes and blended it. It was lovely.

Butternut squash, parsnips or sweet potato are also good for thickening soups and more flavoursome than potatoes. Butternut squas is especially good because it blends to such a smooth, velvety consistency.

Yes, potatoes or blended lentils as others have said. As a flavour point I usually start a veg soup off by sweating (horrible term!) an onion in a little bit of butter before adding the rest of the veg, seemed to make a difference. We used to have a farm share veg box and making soup was a great way to use up a glut of root veg at certain times of the year 😀

For taste, definitely slow fry the onion - and ideally sone carrots and celery too - before adding the liquid.

I always add much less liquid than recipes state. It's easy to add more, tougher to remove it.

Yes to all the excellent suggestions above - more lentils, potato, blending a portion.

I would blend some of the soup which will thicken it.
When I make lentil soup I don’t add a lot of water at the cooking stage, I top up to the consistency I like as I like it quite thick. So next time just add less water

Do you add a stock cube or those gel type things?

I never add that much water to my soups.

3 handfuls of lentils doesn't sound much for a lentil soup.

I either roast my veg, sometimes with spices or I sauté. I like to get a good bit of colour on it for flavour

In agreement with previous posters to add more potato and sweet potato. Then I squish it a bit with a masher when it's almost cooked. You're just putting in too much water for the quantity of veg.
Bought soups are sometimes thickened with cornflour, but it isn't really necessary for home made, it's nicer without.

I usually use a potato when making soup, blend everything then add some extra veg or meat if I want chunky soup. But last time I had some chickpeas to use up so used them instead of the potato and the soup was really tasty and the extra protein made it fill me up more than regular soup.

I’d cook some potatoes separately (add seasoning), blend and then mix in with your soup. You’ll get a nice thick soup and the starch in the potatoes will help thicken it up too.

Sometimes I chuck in some gravy granules (depending on whether I have matching flavour). I've found you need the water to just cover the veg - absolute minimum water you need for them to cook. Adding a potato will also help if you blend it in.

Definitely sounds like not enough lentils. I use 250g in a pan of lentil soup and it’s always nice and thick.

Grate some potato in

Just blitze some of the lentils a cook it till thicker.

Teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a tiny bit of cold water to make a paste, add it to the soup and it'll thicken up in about 10 seconds.

Essential.

You can buy thickening granules. McDougalls brand (?) In the flour section. Easier than faffing with cornflour. This will not add flavour, though as it’s basically starch.

If the flavour/taste are spot on have you thought about a little cornflour slurry? 1 tsp cornflour 2 tsp water stir to dissolve cornflour and then add to pot while simmerinh

Yes more lentils. And stock. Have you thought about following a recipe since you’ve not done it before?

Try reducing it by simmering, or add some double cream.

I’d add more lentils. If possible, cook them separately using the excess water from the OG soup so that your veggies don’t get all the nutrition boiled out of them.

I thought I’d share my go-to recipe for Scottish lentil soup. So easy and it’s delicious and good consistency every time.

Ingredients

• 300g lentils rinsed and drained
• 2.0 L Water
• 2 ham/veg stock cubes
• 2 medium sized carrots diced
• 1 small turnip (swede) diced
• 2 medium onions diced
• 2 medium potatoes diced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

• Place the lentils, water and ham stock into a large saucepan.
• Allow to simmer for 1 hour.
• Add all the diced vegetables and allow to simmer for a further 30 minutes until tender.
• Season to taste & serve

A small-chopped-up potato added at the beginning of cooking goes to liquid and gives a rich texture.