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
Blend for body A partial purée — just enough to thicken—gives you richness without the need for long reduction.
From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2026
For the main course, I enjoyed a classic — butter chicken — alongside a poached lobster tail in a green coconut masala with Mexican chili and coriander-mint purée.
From Salon ● Mar. 7, 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
She uses tweezers to nestle the roasted halves on a swirl of verdant puree, then tops it off with crispy fried leaves.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
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
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
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
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
And nearly a third of savory foods for toddlers contain fruit purées, as well.
From Salon ● Nov. 28, 2022
Finely chopped meat and vegetable purées have been given in this way when the digestion of the patient was not impaired, but when conditions rendered it necessary to resort to this method of feeding.
From Dietetics for Nurses by Proudfit, Fairfax T.
“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
As soon as my firstborn started eating solid foods, I puréed her fresh vegetables and exotic fruits.
From Salon ● Mar. 16, 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
It starts with puréeing herbs into olive oil, then whisking that fragrant oil into a stiff mayonnaise with avocado, garlic and anchovy.
From New York Times ● Apr. 24, 2018
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.
