The Popular Snack You Can Easily Use To Thicken Soup (Plus, It's Vegan)

There are times in everyone's cooking journey when you desperately need to thicken a piping-hot pot of homemade soup and the pantry is bare of your go-to cornstarch. Fortunately, Chowhound was able to get some useful advice on the subject from PepsiCo Foods and Tostitos culinary advisory board member, chef, and TV personality Tiffany Derry.

When Derry wants to thicken soup, she turns to a popular snack-time favorite: tortilla chips. While you may have heard of using bread to thicken soup in a snap, tortilla chips are equally easy to incorporate and give many soup varieties a pleasant corn-infused taste. Derry says, "All I do is add the crushed chips in a blender with the soup and blend until smooth. The prep is simply to crush the tortilla chips — you don't have to cook them; you can add them when you are ready to puree your soup."

At the last minute, Derry's method works best in soups that already require some amount of blending, like tomato or black bean soup. But you can add crushed tortilla chips to unblended chilies, soups, and stews earlier in the process for thickening. Derry also advises that you can substitute tortilla chips in soups that traditionally require hearty starches, like rice or potatoes. Just make sure that whatever soup you're making can benefit from the earthy flavor of corn chips. 

You can easily blend tortilla chips into a Mexican-inspired tomato soup made with chipotles in adobo or in bean-heavy recipes like tomato and herb vegetable soup. But when incorporating this crunchy snack, start by adding a small amount of chips. Then, check the consistency of your soup after a few minutes on the stove. Tortilla chips absorb excess liquid, but you need to give any thickener a few minutes to work its magic before adding more. Also note that tortilla chips don't necessarily replace thickeners like cornstarch, as they may not thicken quite as much.

Chef Tiffany Derry gives one hint that could totally remake many old standards. She suggests playing around with different tortilla chip flavors, like lime or salsa verde.

But if you're specifically crafting a soup for a vegan crowd, read the ingredient label on the tortilla chip bag to ensure you choose a brand that's free of animal-based additives. While at their most basic, tortilla chips are naturally vegan, manufacturers may rely on non-vegan ingredients for texture or flavor. For example, they might fry them in lard or tallow, and some flavors, such as ranch or cheese, may have dairy additives. Other products may even contain flavors or colors that are tested on animals.