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 blender is used to purée the soup in batches before it’s simmered one last time and finished with more butter, salt and pepper.
From Salon ● Jul. 25, 2026
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
“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
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
Or, if you rather, opt for simply garlic salt, garlic powder or even a garlic puree to avid any sort of texture whatsoever.
From Salon ● Apr. 5, 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
For dinner we had a woodcock with souffle potatoes and puree de marron, a salad, and zabaione for dessert.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
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
Her idea was to serve super cold soda with a twist, like lime, fruit or purées.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
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
In the winter, it makes root vegetable purées really easy — no potato masher required.
From Salon ● Mar. 11, 2023
Sauces for cold sweet dishes are custards, whipped cream, canned or preserved fruit, fresh fruit juices, or purées.
From The Century Cook Book by Ronald, Mary
“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
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
Superkhana has always reserved some of its housemade achar in puréed form in the refrigerator since opening almost four years ago.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 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
He started puréeing ingredients together, persistently spinning new mixtures until they were fine enough to freeze.
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2023
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
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.
