13 Ingredients To Thin Out Homemade Soup That Aren't Water

Soups are a favorite food for plenty of people, likely because of the sheer variety of flavors one can add to them. While experienced soup makers are hardly ever in danger of running out of their favorite recipes, sometimes reheating can be a challenge. Some soups can thicken over time, so a once-loved dish may be less appetizing when it's left overnight. Water is the typical go-to ingredient for thinning out soups, and why not? The mild ingredient certainly adds liquid volume to soups, and its absence of flavor means almost none of the seasonings will be affected. In fact, water can sometimes enhance certain flavors, a feature most often exemplified when discussing whiskey. 

This leads to a natural question: Is there anything that could thin out homemade soups better than water? It's no secret that adding other ingredients can lead to a more robust flavor profile, something that's strongly considered when trying to make soups thicker. When it's time to thin out soups, though, choosing a flavorful liquid instead of water might make for an even more delicious second helping. The final decision often depends on what kind of homemade soup you're trying to thin, but there are tons of great options for every flavor profile!

When thinning out soups, chicken broth is probably the second-best option after water since it doesn't change the soup's flavor much. The poultry broth is ideal for most clear soups, like Italian wedding soup or chicken noodle, or for recipes that have a hearty base — the rich umami of the chicken can enhance each bite. You'll likely want to choose a chicken broth option that's labeled as "no salt added," or else your soup may taste like the sea after reheating. Plus, it's usually a good idea to reduce your sodium intake to protect your heart health. 

You can even up the health benefits of your soup by choosing a bone broth-based chicken stock, but it will likely cost you a bit more. If you stick to standard chicken broth, though, it can be a very affordable way to stretch your soup across multiple meals. Purchase chicken broth either in a can or in a box to easily pour in the desired amount.

Vegetarians love soup just as much as everyone else, but thinning out a homemade soup with something other than water can be a challenge. However, when it comes to clear soups, such as minestrone or even some types of ramen, vegetable stock is an obvious solution to add liquid volume without using water. As with non-vegetarian broths and stocks, you'll want to make sure that you choose a "no-salt-added" version, unless you're okay with a lot of saltiness. In general, vegetable stocks are usually free of seasonings, but they are often made with aromatic veggies to offer flavor.

On the other hand, vegetable broth tends to have some seasoning included, though you can still avoid added salt with most brands. Vegetable broths and stocks may also be vegan. Carefully review all of the ingredients listed on the packaging to determine whether the brand you chose is vegan or just vegetarian.

Clear soups are usually pretty easy to thin out, but things can get a little trickier when it comes to creamy homemade soups. However, there's still a quick and easy option for thinning out creamy soups: milk. It may seem like the obvious answer, but this dairy product is a great option since most people have some in their fridge. Any percentage of milk will do, though you should keep in mind that the fattier milks, such as whole milk, will be creamier. Although you could opt for half and half, that might end up making your soup thicker than it started.

Another reason that milk is an excellent choice for thinning out soups is the fact that it's largely flavorless. Sure, there is a bit of sweetness, but once it starts getting heated, the flavor changes to something more neutral. You won't have to worry about added salt or other seasoning when you throw in a bit of milk. But that also means that some of the existing flavor may be muted; you'll want to do a taste test of the soup before serving, and possibly add some more seasoning while reheating.

Adding water to a cream-based soup usually isn't a great idea, since the water will likely need to mix with a variety of fats and oils from the cream source. While milk is a great option, it's also not very flavorful. Condensed soup is a good middle-ground option that's also easy to add, tasty, and affordable. Condensed soups come in a variety of flavors, from cream of broccoli to cream of chicken, and they often include extra bits of either vegetable or meat that release flavor as they mix with the rest of your soup. 

Typically, it's a good idea to choose a condensed soup that matches an ingredient already in the pot. For example, cream of celery is a fairly mild option for creamy chicken soup and should pair well, given that many recipes for the dish call for celery. Adding condensed soups to your homemade soup to thin it out can be a fun way to experiment with flavors while stretching your meal for a few extra servings.

When it comes to vegetarian soups, vegetables reign over all. Even when it comes to soups thick with grains such as pasta or rice, veggies can save the day during a reheat. Tomatoes are famously juicy, filled with tasty liquid that makes thinning out homemade soups a cinch. They're one of the best hydrating vegetables due to their being about 95% water. The sweet, earthy taste can add flavor while remaining neutral enough to use in various soups.

The red coloration will darken clear soups, but tomatoes fit especially well with any red soup, such as lentil soup or even some chilis. They work for cream-based soups, too, though you'll have to be a bit more selective to match the right soup with the flavor of tomatoes. For instance, tomato bisque may lose creaminess if you add just watery tomatoes. To add the most liquid to a soup, simply blend the tomatoes in a blender or a food processor. If you'd like the added texture of tomato chunks, cut them up into bite-sized pieces and let the liquid slowly release into the soup as you reheat it.

For those who cook in a Hispanic kitchen, or who simply love Hispanic cuisine, sofrito is a mainstay in the fridge. This simple mixture is made by finely chopping, or even blending, fresh produce. Depending on which country's recipe you're following, homemade sofrito is often a mix of green bell pepper (and sometimes other colors like red, yellow, or orange bell pepper), cilantro, garlic, and red onion.

Given that these vegetables are fairly water-heavy, it makes sense that the resulting mixture is nearly a liquid. For spicy, aromatic soups, adding some sofrito will not only enhance the flavor, but it will also help thin it out. Using sofrito to thin out soups is an especially good idea if your homemade soup has lost some of its flavor along with its liquid. Although salt is normally optional when it comes to sofrito, make sure you know exactly how much seasoning is in each bowl, so that one flavor doesn't end up overpowering the rest. If your sofrito doesn't have enough liquid, try blending it more than usual, as this helps release liquids trapped in the veggies.

There are plenty of great soups that utilize fish or fish stock, including many pork and chicken recipes. While these often come with a strong flavor, those who enjoy seafood want exactly that, so using water to thin out the soup isn't the best option. The Japanese fish stock called dashi is an alternative ingredient that can bring out the taste of seafood in your homemade soup.

As you might imagine, dashi goes best with Asian soup recipes, complementing dishes such as miso soup very nicely, especially since that soup can get quite thick after storing, thanks to the absorbent tofu and seaweed. The one downside to relying on dashi to thin your homemade soup is that it isn't readily available at every grocery store. In many cities, you will need to go to a specialty Asian grocery store to find robust dashi fish stock. For those who love a strong fish flavor with their soup, it's an extra shopping trip worth their time.

Sometimes you eat soup for health, and sometimes you eat it for comfort. While those two ideas don't have to be mutually exclusive, they often are, since some of the tastiest foods are typically higher in sugar, salt, or fat, like donuts, ice cream, and fried foods. When your delicious homemade soup leftovers are just too thick, you don't want to lose the hearty, warm flavors by adding bland water. Instead, consider melting butter to add liquid volume to your comfort soup. Adding this to a soup is ideal if the ingredients are starch-heavy, like potato soup or some stews.

You can choose butter with salt added or without, and of course, adding other herbs and spices is easy to do with a simple compound butter recipe. The mild flavor of butter complements various ingredients, and the sweet, fatty dairy can make the liquid in your soup creamier. Clear soups wouldn't likely be improved with butter, but plenty of cream-based soups would.

Coconut milk has gained a lot of popularity in recent years, thanks to a combination of a desire for more milk alternatives and the proliferation of Indian and Southeast Asian cuisine. There are all kinds of tips and tricks for using coconut milk, so it's no surprise that it's also useful for thinning out homemade soups. However, this does come with a pretty big caveat: Coconut milk has a distinctive flavor that makes it difficult to use in many Western recipes. For home chefs who love Asian cooking and experimenting with food, that's not a problem, though.

If your homemade soup is something like an Indian curry or Thai coconut soup, using coconut milk is the perfect choice. The flavor of coconut milk goes well with South Asian ingredients, so it will highlight the various components a little better than water. Coconut milk is somewhat easy to find at the store, and there are many uses for it other than mixing into soup, so it may be worthwhile to keep some on hand all the time!

Wine is well-known for elevating dishes, even in home kitchens. Both red and white wines are ideal options for thinning out hearty, protein-heavy soups. Stews and chicken noodle soups are two of the best types of recipes to pair with wine for thinning. These soups get thick over time because of their heavy use of starchy ingredients, such as potatoes and noodles, but they also pair well with the rich taste of wine.

Don't try to add wine to your homemade soup in a slow cooker, though. Wine doesn't reduce properly when in a slow cooker, so you'll need to either reduce it before adding it or add the wine to your soup over a stovetop. You may still need to cut the wine with water, as its reduced form brings less liquid than you might think. If your soup recipe already contains wine, then use the same kind of wine to thin it out, such as Shaoxing wine in a drunken chicken soup. 

Beer is usually reserved for sipping, but when it comes to creating magic in the kitchen, a good summer barbecue usually ends up commandeering a few bottles of brew. When it's time to reheat soups, it's easy to take a page from those barbecue recipes and throw in a bit of beer to thin your homemade creation. In fact, beer is considered a great secret ingredient for cozy soups.

Thanks to its strong, pungent flavor, beer is another great option for hearty soups, such as stews or cheesy soups. For instance, adding beer to gumbo is a nice little trick that elevates the flavor greatly. Reheating dark soups using a bit of beer will help thin out the liquid a bit. In general, hoppy and nutty beers are great for cheese soups, while porters tend to help beef soups best. Of course, it's important to remember that beer will need to be reduced while cooking, which means you shouldn't rely on a slow cooker or some other type of enclosed appliance. However, reheating your soup over a stovetop should work out well and deliver a homemade soup with renewed flavor in no time flat.

When chunky, hearty soups thicken in the fridge, it can be frustrating to try to thin them out with water while adding in a bit of extra flavor using dashes of seasoning. In cases where you are reheating meaty soups, like stews, gravy may surprise you with its versatility and ability to thin liquids.  The flavorful seasoning and meaty components add a heavy helping of rich umami flavor to any dish.

You can get it in a can, jar, or even just a powdered mix that you can make yourself, putting you in direct control of how much liquid you end up with. Plus, there are all kinds of gravies available, from turkey to beef to chicken. Each variety tastes a bit different, so you can choose an addition to complement the flavors of your dish. It may not be the first thing you think of, but if you need to thin out a thick homemade soup without losing any meatiness, gravy may be an excellent choice.

Not all spicy food is created equal, and spicy soups are often an outlier within their own category. As the soup cooks, its spicy flavor can often be reduced by other ingredients, such as cream or potatoes. Some hot sauce brands, such as Frank's Red Hot, are very liquidy, which makes them ideal for thinning out soups. If the sauce is thick, you won't be able to thin your soup. 

Be careful not to choose hot sauces with flavors that are contradictory to your dish. For example, hot sauces with fruit or liquid smoke might overpower your soup. If the hot sauce is very spicy, even thinning your soup a little bit may make it unbearably hot. Many hot sauces have little effect on cream-based soups, so you can add quite a bit before it becomes too hot. As for clear soups, you may want to temper the amount of hot sauce you add before deciding that enough is enough. If you don't have a strong heat tolerance, using hot sauce might not be the right move for you. However, if you're trying to add liquid to a hot soup such as gumbo or jambalaya, you can likely get away with quite a bit of hot sauce thrown in.