a cooked food, especially a vegetable or fruit, that has been put through a sieve, blender, or the like.
a soup made with ingredients that have been puréed.
1700–10; < French, noun use of feminine past participle of purer to strain, literally, make pure; see pure
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."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Police in Austria have warned about potentially poisoned HiPP baby food circulating in the country, after a sample of the brand's purée tested positive for rat poison.
From BBC ● Apr. 19, 2026
The meal begins with scallop brightened with currant and rye-seasoned buttermilk, then slow-cooked reindeer, sirloin and tongue, finished over wood, mushroom purée beneath and fermented cabbage cutting richness.
From Salon ● Mar. 8, 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
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
A can of pumpkin puree, leftover from a recent loaf, joined in.
From Salon ● Nov. 18, 2025
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
Sarah Champion’s comments come after a BBC Eye Investigation found that tomato puree sold in four leading UK supermarkets appeared to contain tomatoes produced using harsh and coercive forced labour in Xinjiang.
From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2024
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
As I puree tomatoes in a blender, Mom leans on the kitchen counter, sipping her tea.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
Her agency has fielded all sorts of parenting requests: providing equestrian nannies who travel to tournaments, baby chefs to prepare culturally specific purées for infants, personal stylists for the children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
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
Some toddler foods marketed as "no added sugar" or "all natural" are in some cases, up to 50% fruit sugar in the form of fruit purées or concentrates.
From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2022
Ali Slagle’s version can be made with fresh, canned or frozen corn, and she purées some of the kernels to thicken it up.
From New York Times ● Oct. 10, 2022
Cream soups and purées are so nutritious that with bread and butter, they furnish a satisfactory meal.
From The International Jewish Cook Book 1600 Recipes According to the Jewish Dietary Laws with the Rules for Kashering; the Favorite Recipes of America, Austria, Germany, Russia, France, Poland, Roumania, Etc., Etc. by Greenbaum, Florence Kreisler
“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
I checked the ingredients: puréed tomato, carrots, onions, red bell pepper, spices, olive oil and salt.
From Salon ● Mar. 18, 2023
In the baby food aisle, pouches of puréed blueberries and spinach are in; Gerber’s glass jars of stewed pears are out.
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2023
In a food processor or high-speed blender, pulse the oranges until smooth with a bit of texture but not puréed.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 27, 2022
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
He last wrote about a neuroscientist who has made groundbreaking discoveries by puréeing brains.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2019
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
