Five Steps to Making Cream Soup
1. Cook the starch
Most cream soups have a flour base and often an onion for flavoring. Sauté the onion in butter. Add the flour and cook while stirring until the butter and flour are combined into a thick paste. The cooking should only last a minute or two and the flour should not be browned.
2. Cook the soup base
While still cooking, pour a little of the stock into the flour and stir to dissolve. Gradually add the rest of the stock, stirring with each addition. Continue cooking until the base simmers–which is bubbling, just below the boiling point. It will thicken as it cooks to the consistency of a light sauce.
3. Add the vegetables
Add the vegetables and cook them until they are tender.
4. Puree the soup
Pour the soup into a blender in batches and puree until smooth. Pass the pureed soup through a strainer to catch any lumps. Press the lumps through the strainer with the back of a spoon. Discard any solids.
5. Finish the soup
Add the cream, thin with more water if necessary, and adjust the seasoning.
What if my soup is too thick?
Add more liquid—either water, cream, or broth to the soup.
What if the soup is too thin?
Put a tablespoon of flour into a small bowl and stir in two or three tablespoons of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer again. As the soup simmers, the starch granules in the flour will burst and thicken the soup.
If it is still not thick enough, do it again.
What if my soup is lumpy?
A whisk will often take the lumps out. If not, pour the soup through a strainer before adding the veggies.
Lumps may form if the flour is not thinned enough before beginning to cook or with an addition of flour when thickening the soup.
Cream Soup Recipes
You can use this recipe to make a cream soup from most vegetables. Consider this recipe for asparagus, fresh pea soup, carrot soup, celery soup, and more.
Ingredients
- 1 sweet onion, diced
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups vegetables of choice, diced
- 2/3 cup cream
- Salt and pepper as desired
Directions
- Sauté the onion in the butter. Add the flour and cook while stirring until the butter and flour are combined into a thick paste. The cooking should only last a minute or two and the flour should not be browned.
- While still cooking, pour a little of the stock into the flour and stir to dissolve. Gradually add the rest of the stock, stirring with each addition. Continue cooking until the base simmers–which is bubbling, just below the boiling point. It will thicken as it cooks to the consistency of a light sauce.
- Add the vegetables and cook them until they are tender. Cooking time will vary with different vegetables.
- Pour the soup into a blender in batches, two or three cups at a time, and puree until smooth. Pass the pureed soup through a strainer to catch any lumps. Press the lumps through the strainer with the back of a spoon. Discard any solids.
- Add the cream, thin with more water if necessary, and adjust the seasoning, adding more salt and pepper as desired.
