How To Prevent Gluey Potato Soup Before It's Too Late (2024)

FAQs

How To Prevent Gluey Potato Soup Before It's Too Late? ›

Searing or roasting your potatoes does more than just add extra flavor to your soup. It can actually prevent your broth from becoming gluey. When you get your potatoes fired up in the oven or on the stovetop, you expose their starches to the Maillard reaction that creates a nice, darkened crust.

The recommended method here is to press the potatoes through a ricer (instead of using a blender), which gives the soup a light and clean texture and eliminates the gluey consistency common in other recipes.

Potato starch is actually sold commercially as a glue. In order to avoid this, you have a few choices. First, you can reduce the time in the blender. If the solids are all cooked through, my guess would be that 10 to 30 seconds is all the blending that's needed.

For the best, balanced texture, use a potato masher to gently mash some of the boiled potatoes directly in the soup pot. If you need to use a food processor, only blend about ⅓ of the soup in short pulses to preserve some of those tasty potato chunks.

That's because when you blend potatoes, it causes swollen starch granules to burst, which makes the whole thing sticky, like melted cheese or dough."

The main way we combat this problem is by rinsing away starch, both before and after cooking potatoes for fluffy mashed potatoes. Rinsing off starch means that there is less of it that can end up in the dish. When breaking down the potatoes, it's important to take care not to "overwork" them.

When potatoes are mashed, starch is released. The more you work the potatoes, the more starch gets released. When too much starch gets released, the potatoes become gummy, gluey, and unappetizing.

Adding/mixing water in the soup makes the soup less thick. (discrepencies apply. You could use more vegetables/fruits/ingredients with water in them in your soup or just plain ol' pour in water, though ratio applies.

How do you prevent potatoes from getting mushy in potato soup? Keeping the skins on the potatoes will help prevent them from getting mushy. Chopping them into larger pieces will also help because the smaller the pieces, the faster they are going to cook.

Don't overmix the potatoes! For mashed potatoes that are smooth without being gummy, a potato ricer is your best bet. It gently presses the potato into fine pieces, so all that's left to do is add your liquid and a pat or two of butter.

Does sour cream make potato soup thicker? ›

Potato Soup Tips

A dollop or two of sour cream or Greek yogurt are also lovely ways to thicken potato soup while also adding a little tang. If you have leftover mashed potatoes on hand, toss them in! They'll also work wonders at giving this soup a little extra body.

Once there is too much starch in your mashed potato mixture, the texture will quickly turn from fluffy to gummy. Instead of using an electric hand mixer, food processor, or blender — all of which will overwork the potatoes — use a ricer, food mill, or hand masher to gently break down the spuds, per The Spruce Eats.

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.

Soup Thickening Method: Cornstarch Slurry

Cornstarch is flavorless, easy to mix up, and versatile, which makes it a go-to pantry ingredient. I made a classic slurry by whisking cornstarch and hot broth until smooth in a small bowl.

Most creamy potato soup recipes call for a dairy product of some kind. If you plan to make a thicker version, try using thicker dairy from the outset. For example, if a recipe calls for whole milk, try adding heavy cream instead toward the end of the cooking process (set the burner no higher than medium heat).

Stirring milk or cream into a pot on the stove tends to happen at the tail end of the cooking process to prevent curdling, however, if you're making potato soup in a slow cooker, evaporated milk is the best option to avoid separation.

Whisk 2 tbsp (25 g) of cornstarch or 2 tbsp (30 g) of flour with ¹⁄₄ cup (59 mL) of cool water. Once the starch is completely dissolved, pour the slurry into the main pot. Heat the soup to boiling for 1 minute, then reduce the heat and simmer until the soup is as thick as you'd like it.

Add cream and butter to the potatoes after they're at room temperature. Let 1 tablespoon (15 mL) of butter and 0.5 cups (120 mL) cream or milk sit outside of the refrigerator before mixing them into the mashed potatoes.