How to thicken a stew
No matter how many times you’ve cooked a certain stew, casserole or pie filling, sometimes you end up with a little more liquid than you expected and the sauce is too runny.
This happens more often with dishes made in a slow cooker, as slow cookers don’t allow water to evaporate – they trap in the moisture. At least with stovetop dishes, you can bring the dish to the boil to reduce some of the liquid, however this can affect the flavour and may overcook the ingredients. Here we have some fail-safe ways to thicken up your stews, sauces or casseroles so you can nail it every time. If need more tips to add flavour to your stews, check out this article for some great advice.
How to thicken sauce with flour
Flour can be used in 2 different ways:
- Toss meat pieces in flour prior to browning. The flour helps to thicken a stew as it cooks.
- Whisk a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water to make a slurry, then stir into the stew as it's cooking.Don’t add dryflour directlyto the stew as it may clump. After adding theslurry, bring the stew to boil. This will cook out the flour taste and allow the starch to swell. Only add one teaspoonat a time, bringing to the boil before adding more.
How to thicken sauce with cornflour
Mix one teaspooncornflour with a tablespoon of room temperaturewater and add to your stew. Then bring to the boil and cook until desired thickness is reached.
Cornflour is a great gluten-free thickener. Ithas aslightly more gelatinous texture, so only add a teaspoonat time or yoursauce may become a bitgoopy.
Use cornstarch to thicken your stew towardsthe end of cooking,as cooking it for a long time canbreak down the starch and your stew willthin out again.
How to thicken sauce without flour or cornflour
If you don’t like using flour or cornflour, a simple sauce reduction does the trick. Letyour sauce simmer overheat, uncovered, to evaporate excess liquid.
Before you begin to reduce your sauce, removemeat and large vegetable pieces if possible. Chunks of other ingredientswill prevent a high-quality reduction, and the ingredientsmay overcook.
By reducing your sauce, it will thicken andconcentrate theflavours, though reducingcan take longer than the other methods.
Thickening slow cooker stews and casseroles
The nature of slow cookers is that they operate at a lower heat, so this means any thickener may never get hot enough for the starch to swell. Once your stew is cooked, transfer the sauce only to a saucepan, stir in flour or cornflour slurry and bring to the boil. Or you can do the reduction method, as per the tip above.
Get the recipe:Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Fruit Chutney
This slow cooker casserole with chutney is just how mum used to make it! Those sweet and savoury flavours are always a classic.
GET THE RECIPE:Creamy One Pot Roast Chicken
If you prefer a thicker sauce you can use the cornstarch method to thicken thecreamy sauce for this delicious roast chicken.
GET THE RECIPE:Mushroom Raguwith Creamy Polenta
This rich mushroom ragu uses cornflour as a thickener, use the tips above to thicken your sauce even more if you prefer.
