Sauces

How to thicken with a cornstarch slurry

Cornstarch stirred into cold liquid, then added to a hot sauce to thicken it.

Step by step

  1. Stir 1 tablespoon cornstarch into 2 tablespoons cold water until smooth.
  2. Bring the sauce to a simmer.
  3. Stir the slurry again (it settles), then pour it in while stirring.
  4. Simmer for a minute or two until the sauce turns clear and thick.

How you know it's done

The sauce goes from cloudy to glossy and clear and coats the food.

Common mistakes

  • Adding dry cornstarch straight to hot liquid, which makes lumps.
  • Boiling hard for a long time afterward, which can thin it out again.

Simmerbee recipes that use it (3)

In those recipes the word is underlined in the steps; tap it for the short version. In hands-free cook mode, ask “How do I slurry?”

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