1,055 thickener recipes

Pureed vegetable soup with broccoli florets: silky potato-thickened base of carrots, celery, onion, and garlic with thyme and nutmeg, then scattered with steamed broccoli florets for bite.

Pasta salad with chopped spinach, daikon, red grapes, and a guar-gum-thickened raspberry-honey-mustard dressing. A fat-free dressing that coats like oil without the calories.

Double-crust blackberry pie with a flaky shortening pastry and a simple sugar-and-flour-thickened filling. The kind of late-summer fruit pie that lets the berries do the talking.

Vegan vegetable broth made with tomato juice, soy sauce, onions, garlic, and basil. A 6-ingredient pantry-staple broth for cooking seitan, soups, or thickening into a quick mushroom-style gravy.

Fresh pear salad with halved pears on lettuce, filled with cottage cheese and topped with a chilled pear-orange fruit dressing thickened with cornstarch. A vintage composed fruit salad.

Mom's brown stew with beef cubes simmered for two hours in a Worcestershire and lemon-spiked broth with potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions, finished with a flour-thickened gravy.

Whipped cream frosting with raspberry sauce: sweetened whipped cream and a cornstarch-thickened raspberry coulis, both ready in under 20 minutes. A clean, fruity finish for cakes and desserts.

Red wine, tomato, and rosemary sauce simmers a French mirepoix with red wine, tomato paste, and fresh rosemary, then thickens with arrowroot for a glossy, fat-free finish. Versatile for meats, polenta, and pasta.

Pineapple shrimp in a sweet-sour glaze of pineapple syrup, Chinese pickles, and chopped dill pickles, thickened with cornstarch and spooned over rice. A quick 15-minute retro weeknight dinner.

Vegan garlicky chili made with TVP (texturized vegetable protein) instead of ground beef. Five cloves of garlic, two ounces of chili powder, and masa for thickening deliver hearty, meaty character.

Easy oxtail soup with onions, carrots, and turnip simmered together in one pot. The flour stirred in at the end gives the broth body without needing a roux or separate thickener.

Homemade cranberry orange sauce studded with dried apricots and raisins. This fruity, jewel-toned holiday condiment can be made up to 4 days ahead and thickens beautifully as it chills.

Red pepper garlic sauce made from fresh-juiced bell peppers and garlic, thickened with arrowroot and finished with red wine. A vibrant, naturally sweet sauce for grilled meats and fish.

White Michigan bean soup is a three-ingredient classic: white navy-style beans simmered slowly with a smoked ham hock, then partly mashed to thicken. Old-school, no-fuss comfort.

Vegetable gumbo is a lighter, meatless take on the Cajun classic: the holy trinity simmered with okra, corn, tomatoes and paprika, thickened naturally by the okra. No roux, no meat, just hearty vegetable comfort.

Annie Mae Jones' ham and white bean soup, a simple old-fashioned recipe that uses a leftover ham bone, white beans, and a few aromatics. Thickened with mashed beans the traditional way, no roux or cream required.