Cooking frozen vegetables without a watery result
Adjust liquid, batch size and finishing time to the dish you are making.
Practical guide
Watery sauce: reduce, thicken or change the assembly
Find the source of excess liquid before correcting texture and overcooking the dish.
Find the water source
Vegetables, tomatoes, fresh cheese or a lid trapping steam can add liquid. Notice when it appeared. A sauce becoming thin after courgettes may need precooking or draining rather than extra flour.
Reduce uncovered
Evaporation concentrates flavour as well as salt. Use a wide vessel, simmer and stir. Remove cooked vegetables temporarily and reduce their juices separately if necessary. Taste before adding salt.
Use existing ingredients
Softened red lentils thicken their own cooking liquid. Blending some soup changes texture if suitable for the dish. For pasta, add reserved cooking water in small amounts only as needed, not all at once.
Choose a suitable thickener
A thickener changes the recipe. Mix starch into cold liquid first, add gradually and follow product cooking instructions. Do not drop a lump of flour into hot sauce. Wheat flour introduces gluten and needs appropriate cooking.
Adjust next time
Precook courgettes for a bake, use less watery pizza toppings and reserve some soup liquid until after blending. Note whether vessel size, liquid quantity or the order of cooking caused the problem.