A clear soup is any soup made from a transparent broth or stock, without thickening agents like cream, flour, or pureed ingredients. You can see through the liquid to the bottom of the bowl. This simple test separates clear soups from thick soups, which make up the two broad categories nearly all soups fall into.
The term comes up in two different contexts: cooking and medical diets. The definition shifts slightly depending on which one you’re dealing with, so both are worth understanding.
The Culinary Definition
In professional kitchens, clear soups start with a well-made stock or broth, typically from meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables simmered with aromatics. The liquid stays thin and translucent. What makes a soup “clear” isn’t the absence of solid ingredients floating in it (many clear soups contain noodles, vegetables, or dumplings) but the broth itself remaining see-through rather than opaque or creamy.
The two foundational types are broth and consommé. A broth is the simpler version: stock seasoned and served as is, sometimes with garnishes. A consommé takes things further. It’s a broth that has been deliberately clarified to remove every trace of cloudiness, producing a crystal-clear liquid with concentrated flavor. Auguste Escoffier, the father of modern French cuisine, defined clear soups in his 1903 guide as “clear consommés with a slight garnish in keeping with the nature of the consommé.”
Thick soups, by contrast, get their body from a roux (a cooked mixture of flour and fat), pureed vegetables, cream, cheese, or starchy ingredients. Chowders, bisques, cream soups, and purees all fall into this category.
Common Examples Around the World
Clear soups appear in nearly every cuisine. Some of the most familiar:
- Chicken noodle soup, the classic broth-based soup with noodles and vegetables in a golden, translucent liquid
- French onion soup, built on a clear beef broth (though the melted cheese on top blurs the line)
- Japanese clear onion soup, commonly served at hibachi restaurants as a starter, made with chicken broth, mushrooms, scallions, and sometimes tofu
- Consommé, the refined French soup clarified to a jewel-like transparency
- Pho broth, the Vietnamese soup base made from long-simmered beef or chicken bones with star anise and charred aromatics
- Minestrone (some versions), when built on a clear vegetable broth rather than a tomato-heavy base
- Bouillon, a simple, strained broth often served plain or used as a base
The base can be chicken, beef, fish, or vegetable stock. Chicken broth is the most common starting point for clear soups worldwide, though beef broth produces a deeper, stronger flavor.
How Consommé Gets Crystal Clear
Making a regular broth reasonably clear just takes careful skimming and straining. But consommé requires a specific clarification process that’s one of the more fascinating techniques in classical cooking.
The cook mixes egg whites (sometimes combined with ground meat, diced vegetables, and herbs) into cooled stock, then slowly brings it to a simmer. As the mixture heats, the egg whites coagulate and rise to the surface, forming a thick mass called a “raft.” This raft acts like a filter, trapping tiny particles of fat, protein, and sediment that make stock cloudy. After simmering gently for several minutes, the cook breaks open the raft and ladles the now crystal-clear liquid through a fine cloth to catch any remaining wisps.
The ground meat isn’t just for filtering. It adds flavor back into the broth as it simmers, so the final consommé tastes richer than the stock it started as. Some chefs use raw blended chicken breast instead of egg whites, which works through the same principle of protein coagulation and avoids diluting the soup’s flavor.
Clear Soup on a Medical Diet
When a doctor puts you on a “clear liquid diet,” typically before a colonoscopy or after certain surgeries, the definition of clear soup gets much stricter. In a medical context, clear doesn’t just mean broth-based. It means the liquid itself must be fully transparent, with nothing solid in it at all.
The Mayo Clinic defines clear liquids as those you can see through, including fat-free broth and consommé. Foods that melt into a clear fluid at room temperature also qualify. But anything with pulp, particles, or bits that require chewing does not. That means a chicken noodle soup, which counts as a clear soup in a culinary sense, would not qualify for a medical clear liquid diet because of the noodles and vegetable pieces. You’d need to strain it down to plain broth.
Color is allowed. Clear liquids can be yellow, brown, or amber and still qualify, as long as the liquid is transparent. The one exception: if you’re prepping for a colonoscopy, red and purple liquids are typically prohibited. Stanford Healthcare’s colonoscopy guidelines specify that liquids must be clear and contain nothing red or purple in color, because these dyes can stain the lining of the colon and mimic the appearance of blood or abnormal tissue during the procedure.
Acceptable options on a medical clear liquid diet include plain bouillon, consommé, and fat-free broth of any flavor.
Nutritional Differences: Clear vs. Thick Soups
Clear soups are significantly lower in calories and fat than their thick counterparts. An 8-ounce serving of chicken noodle soup runs about 90 calories and 2 grams of fat. Garden vegetable soup comes in at just 50 calories. Compare that to clam chowder at 225 calories and 12 grams of fat, broccoli cheddar at 200 calories and 14 grams of fat, or baked stuffed potato soup at 230 calories and 13 grams of fat per the same serving size.
Sodium is the one area where clear soups don’t necessarily win. Garden vegetable soup packs 720 milligrams of sodium per 8-ounce serving, and chicken noodle hits 700 milligrams. Those numbers are comparable to many thick soups and represent roughly a third of the recommended daily limit. If you’re watching sodium, the type of soup matters less than the brand or recipe.
Protein content in clear soups tends to be modest, typically 2 to 6 grams per serving, unless the soup contains substantial meat. Thick soups with beans or lentils often deliver more protein (split pea with ham, for instance, provides 12 grams per serving) along with considerably more fiber. Clear soups are better thought of as a light starter or a gentle option for sensitive stomachs rather than a filling, nutritionally complete meal on their own.
How to Tell If a Soup Counts as Clear
The simplest test: put a spoonful in a clear glass. If you can see through the liquid portion, you’re looking at a clear soup. It doesn’t matter if there are noodles, sliced vegetables, or pieces of meat sitting in it. The broth itself is what determines the classification. If the liquid is opaque, creamy, or thick enough to coat a spoon, it’s a thick soup.
Some soups sit in a gray area. A miso soup, for instance, starts clear but becomes slightly cloudy when the fermented paste is stirred in. A tomato-based broth can be translucent or opaque depending on preparation. When in doubt for medical purposes, the rule is straightforward: if you can’t see through it, skip it.