How To Achieve Chunky Vs Smooth Textures In Your Potato Soup

Despite their mild taste and unassuming appearance, potatoes are truly one of the most versatile ingredients around. They can be sliced up and fried, baked into a casserole, or turned into a creamy soup. Even when transformed into a pot of soup, the root vegetable can take on a thick, chunky texture or a smooth one in a matter of minutes.

Though the end goal of any bowl of soup should be to bring warmth and comfort, different soups go about it in different ways. A smooth, velvety broth slinks down the throat easily, warming you up without much effort. Bulkier soups have a stark textural difference, requiring you to chew a little with each spoonful. Potato soup is a rare kind that can fit easily into either camp.

If you like yours a little thicker, simmer the potato cubes slightly before gently mashing them up. This brings out the creaminess of the root vegetables while ensuring that your soup is still plenty thick. To get some bite-sized pieces, only mash half of the potatoes and make sure to leave a few lumps when you do. For soup with a smoother consistency, simply puree the potatoes with a regular or immersion blender or regular blender; you can add stock as you do this. If it ends up too thin, thicken the soup with some instant mashed potato flakes.

Both chunky and smooth potato soups are delicious, but they're elevated when paired with ingredients that match their textures. The right ingredients can complement the consistency of the potato, making it stand out even more. With classic potato leek soup, for example, the alliums turn silky when sauteed and boiled in a broth. Blending the potatoes with the leeks further enhances the creaminess of the soup.

Chunky potatoes are almost a requirement for rib-sticking hamburger soup. The dish takes ground beef, chopped tomatoes, celery, and carrots and cooks them in steamy chicken or beef stock. The thin texture of the stock paired with the bite-sized ingredients ensures that the soup isn't overly hearty. Slightly mashing the potatoes gives the veggies a smoother texture while still ensuring that you can chew on them with the rest of the ingredients.

For a soup that works perfectly with both textures, try creamy potato and pea chowder. The peas and leeks break up the broth, so you can blend half of the potatoes for a thicker soup base while mashing a few of them up. Both peas and leeks get tender when cooked, allowing them to melt in your mouth along with the slightly mashed potatoes.