Get Those Mushy Vegetables Out of My Soup (2024)

FAQs

How do you keep vegetables from getting mushy in soup? ›

Start by sautéing onions, garlic, maybe celery, then adding the water and beans, and simmering. Add the carrots in the last half hour or so or when the beans are close to tender. That way the carrots will come out cooked but not mushy. THE SAME GOES FOR ALL THE OTHER VEGGES.

Cover and simmer.

If you want to leave the vegetables intact, take the soup off the heat now. If you want the vegetables very soft for puréeing, keep cooking until they are falling apart.

Cut the potatoes into rissolettes and blanche them (i.e. cook them briefly, not to full doneness). Use the water you used in the soup and put the potatoes back in when you go to warm the soup again for serving. Since they're cut fairly small, they should be just about done without being mushy when you go to eat.

In fact, they contain over 90 percent water! That often makes them great for salads or meals that need a little more moisture, but they can be a pain to cook on their own if all you want is a crispy vegetable. To combat that, give them a good salt bath before cooking.

Wait to cut vegetables just before cooking, rather than letting them sit longer in water and reducing their crunch factor. 3. Vegetables cut into small pieces are not preferable: this increases the exposed area which increases the chance of them becoming mushy.

Toss the vegetables with cornstarch.

They recommend tossing each pound of raw veg with “a tablespoon of starch,” olive oil and any spices before roasting them. Since this ingredient doesn't absorb oil, it stays on the surface and crisps up when heated.

As an alkaline compound, baking soda will start to break down more delicate fruit and vegetable skins and surfaces after the recommended 12–15 minutes, and can even soften beans and other pulses under longer exposure.

For most produce, you can submerge the food in a bucket or large bowl of ice water. Then, put the container with the vegetables in the fridge to keep the water cool. Let the food soak for 15 to 30 minutes. Heartier produce, such as root vegetables, may need longer, or up to one hour.

Quickest: slice and boil in salted water; done in a few minutes. Best tasting: clean carrots, toss in oil and a little bit of salt. Arrange on a baking pan, put in moderately hot oven (450 f degrees or so) and allow to roast until soft. Add interesting spices if you like.

Whether it's the classic French mirepoix of onions, celery, and carrots cooked in butter, the New Orleans holy trinity of onions, celery, and bell peppers sweated in oil, or perhaps just some leeks and garlic cooked down in olive oil, most stews and soups start the same way: sautéeing veggies.

Why add celery to soup? ›

But once those vegetables are exhausted, they're strained and switched out for a fresh set of thinly sliced celery and carrot. These are added for the final 4–5 minutes of cooking so that they're tender but nowhere near mushy. You get the sweet luxury of long-cooked vegetables and the freshness of crisp-tender ones.

While you can wait for the water to boil before adding in the potatoes, they will cook more evenly if you add them to the pot while the water is cold. Potatoes added to boiling water can turn out mushy on the outside and tough on the inside. When the water reaches a boil, reduce it to a simmer and cover.

Salt Your Vegetables Ahead of Time

The salt draws out any excess moisture that would get in the way of your vegetables crisping,” says Chef Hong. After adding salt, beads of water are released from the vegetables. Before you cook them, make sure to dry them well with a paper towel.

Milk: Milk enhances the sweetness of the vegetables. We like to use whole milk here, but whatever you've got on hand works well.

Vegetables get mushy when cooked because the cell walls burst. There's no way to restore that cellular structure that by cooking more. You might be able to dry them out by cooking for longer but you will never restore their turgidity.

Salt Your Vegetables Ahead of Time

That's when the flavor becomes profound. The salt draws out any excess moisture that would get in the way of your vegetables crisping,” says Chef Hong.

In the event that your goal is to keep moisture in—like when your pot of soup, stew, or sauce is already at the right consistency, but you want to keep cooking the vegetables and melding the flavors—leave the lid on to keep any more liquid from evaporating.