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• purée
  purée

  noun

  a cooked food, especially a vegetable or fruit, that has been put through a sieve, blender, or the like.
• puree
  puree

  noun

  an unleavened flaky Indian bread, that is deep-fried in ghee and served hot

purée

American  

[pyoo-rey, -ree, pyoor-ey] / pjʊˈreɪ, -ˈri, ˈpjʊər eɪ /

Or puree

noun

• purées
  plural

1. a cooked food, especially a vegetable or fruit, that has been put through a sieve, blender, or the like.

2. a soup made with ingredients that have been puréed.

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verb (used with object)

puréed, puréeing

1. to make a purée of.

purée ¹ British  

/ ˈpjʊəreɪ /

noun

1. a smooth thick pulp of cooked and sieved fruit, vegetables, meat, or fish

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verb

1. (tr) to make (cooked foods) into a purée

puree ² British  

/ ˈpuːrɪ /

noun

1. an unleavened flaky Indian bread, that is deep-fried in ghee and served hot

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• purées
  plural

Etymology

Origin of purée

1700–10; < French, noun use of feminine past participle of purer to strain, literally, make pure; see pure

Explanation

A puree is a very smooth, crushed or blended food — like applesauce or mashed potatoes. To puree something is to blend, chop, mash, or strain a food until it reaches this soft consistency. If it tastes like mush, then it's a puree! You might think of purees as baby food, and it's true that a vegetable or fruit puree is the perfect first food for a baby to eat before she has teeth. There are plenty of things that adults like to puree too, though, like chickpeas (to make hummus) and avocados (to make guacamole). Puree is from the French purée, "pea soup."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

purée puree purées puréed puréeing

A can of pumpkin purée for making pies on Thanksgiving is $5 on the American food store website, and it’s difficult to find a turkey.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

Blend for body A partial purée — just enough to thicken—gives you richness without the need for long reduction.

From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2026

“It’s sparkling water, sugar-free pineapple, sugar-free peach, sugar-free vanilla, raspberry purée with a fresh lime.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

Mango purée is especially cheap right now, driven by a good harvest in India.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2025

The jerricans smelled of petrol, and I saw packs of batteries, bottles of oil, and cans of tomato purée in one box.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

In the course of the 20th century, tomatoes became ubiquitous enough in Egyptian cuisine to make “salsa” a usual word for sauce and, more specifically, tomato puree.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

One weekend around the year 2000, Teheux wanted to turn a giant pumpkin into frozen puree for pies.

From Salon ● Jan. 3, 2025

It is not uncommon to puree this soup, but generally each bowl would then be garnished with a whole oyster or two and some chunkier bits of artichoke.

From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2024

A green pouch advertised as broccoli-pear might turn out to be little more than pear puree.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2024

Soon after, she decided our nightly mealtime battles just weren’t worth it, and she started to puree my meat and serve it to me with noodles.

From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles

Baby food brand HiPP has recalled its entire range of jarred purées sold in Spar supermarkets in Austria over fears they may have been contaminated.

From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026

I learned more from my sister-in-law in Montreal—who made her own baby purées and taught her kids to eat fruit before dessert—than from medical professionals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 18, 2025

Into the cream base, he purées whole croissants to produce Morning in Paris, swirled with raspberry jam; he blends bananas and Nilla Wafers to make Banana Pudding.

From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2023

These ultra-processed toddler foods often contain ingredients like fruit pastes, purées or concentrates.

From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2022

Sauces for cold sweet dishes are custards, whipped cream, canned or preserved fruit, fresh fruit juices, or purées.

From The Century Cook Book by Mary Ronald

“I was on a tube feeder then a puréed diet for a couple months. Then speech and swallow therapy. Then a vocal coach.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026

Per Ziata, strawberries hold their shape well, even when puréed.

From Salon ● May 23, 2025

But demand has grown in recent decades as scientists have trumpeted the fruit’s health benefits and as packaged forms — frozen, puréed, freeze-dried, powdered — have made it more accessible.

From New York Times ● May 12, 2023

Then, the vegetables and broth are puréed together.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 16, 2023

Plain, canned, puréed pumpkin can serve as a treat, but not spiced pumpkin pie filling.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 23, 2022

This time-saving hummus recipe calls for soaking dried chickpeas overnight and puréeing them with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and a little bit of ice water.

From Salon ● May 6, 2022

Okara is the sediment left over after puréeing soybeans to make soy milk, and it is very perishable.

From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2021

You can use fresh or frozen berries for this; if frozen, thaw and retain the juice before puréeing.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 20, 2021

Finally, after puréeing, the soup is strained through a fine sieve and the seasonings are adjusted.

From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2019

As the chefs prepped for lunch back in the kitchen — browning rabbit legs and puréeing warm beans with their cooking water and olive oil — Ms. Shi set up in the dining room.

From New York Times ● Jul. 17, 2018