How to Use Flour or Cornstarch to Thicken Sauce, Gravy, and Soup (2024)

FAQs

How to Use Flour or Cornstarch to Thicken Sauce, Gravy, and Soup? ›

Browning adds more flavor to the gravy and gets rid of the raw flour taste. You're basically making a roux. We find that a flour-based gravy holds up better and reheats better later, which is why we tend to prefer using flour over cornstarch to make gravy unless we have a guest who is eating gluten-free.

Browning adds more flavor to the gravy and gets rid of the raw flour taste. You're basically making a roux. We find that a flour-based gravy holds up better and reheats better later, which is why we tend to prefer using flour over cornstarch to make gravy unless we have a guest who is eating gluten-free.

The most classic and surefire way to thicken a broth-based soup is with a cornstarch slurry. Whisk together equal parts cornstarch (or arrowroot) and water or broth, then whisk it into the pot of soup. A good ratio to get to a pleasant thickness without your soup tasting goopy or heavy is one tablespoon.

Cornstarch is a common thickening agent in the culinary arts, but if you add it directly to the liquid you want to thicken, it will clump up. To thicken a sauce or soup with cornstarch, you first need to make a slurry, which is a mixture of equal parts cornstarch and liquid (usually water, stock or wine).

To make a good cheese sauce or gravy, you need a thickening agent. Cornstarch and flour are two common thickening agents in the home kitchen. Both are cereal starches and when they're mixed with a liquid and then heated, they gelatinize.

If your gravy is on the skimpy side, you can thicken it quickly with flour or cornstarch. But don't add your thickener directly to the gravy, which will create lumps. Instead, try stirring in three or four tablespoons of flour or cornstarch into a small amount of cold water until you have a smooth paste.

Cornstarch needs heat (in the ballpark of 203°F) in order for “starch gelatinization”—that is, the scientific process in which starch granules swell and absorb water—to occur. In other words, if you don't heat your cornstarch to a high enough temperature, your mixture will never thicken.

If you're cooking hot liquids like sauces, stock or broth, 1 tablespoon of corn starch per cup of liquid will give you a thin to medium consistency that's appropriate for soups or very thin sauces. 2 tablespoons per cup will give you a thicker, more gravy-like consistency.

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

What do restaurants use to thicken sauces? ›

Cornstarch has twice the thickening power of flour. When a gravy, sauce, soup or stew recipe calls for flour, use half as much cornstarch to thicken. To thicken hot liquids, first mix cornstarch with a little cold water until smooth. Gradually stir into hot liquid until blended.

Corn starch is pure starch. It dissolves in water. It has to be dissolved in cold water before adding to a hot soup, because it thickens on contact with the heat, making it lumpy. Flour has proteins that become sticky when exposed to water.

Another way to thicken gravy with flour is by making a roux. A roux is a mixture of fat and flour, and it's an easy way to thicken a sauce. If you make a roux, it should also be added incrementally. A final option is making a beurre manié, which is made by rubbing flour into butter to create a dough or paste.

The most readily available sauce-thickener is flour. For a too-thin sauce, try adding a slurry (equal parts flour and water, whisked together) or beurre manie (equal parts softened butter and flour, kneaded together to form a paste)—both are ideal thickeners for rich and creamy sauces, such as steak sauce recipes.

Because cornstarch is pure starch, it has twice the thickening power of flour, which is only part starch. Thus, twice as much flour is needed to achieve the same thickening as cornstarch. To thicken sauces, cornstarch is combined with cold water first, which is called a slurry.

Roux is commonly made with flour, but you can also sub in cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Mix the cornstarch or arrowroot powder with water to form a slurry before adding it to the pan and cooking it with the fat.

Make a Slurry

If you want to use flour, mix 2 tablespoons of flour per 1 cup of cool liquid. Whisk the slurry until it is smooth and lump-free, then add about 1 tablespoon at a time to your hot pan drippings and liquid mixture, using a whisk to thoroughly combine.

In sauces. Both self-raising and plain flour are fine for thickening sauces. Any air bubbles you get from the raising agents in self-raising flour will pop and evaporate as the sauce cooks, although plain flour usually tastes better.