Meaning & use
whip food
Last updated
Meanings
verbtransitive
to beat food quickly with a fork, whisk, or mixer so that air gets in and the mixture becomes light or stiff.
Grammar: Takes an object naming the food: whip the cream. The object can also come before the particle in related phrasal uses.
Patterns
- whip something until it forms soft peaks
- whip something for two minutes
- whip something with a whisk
Whip the cream until it holds a soft peak, then fold in the sugar.
She whipped the egg whites for several minutes before adding them to the batter.
You can whip the potatoes by hand, but a mixer is much faster.
verbtransitiveinformal
to prepare a dish quickly by mixing or stirring its ingredients together.
Grammar: Often used with up: whip up a meal. The object is the finished dish, not the tool.
Patterns
- whip up something
- whip something together
- whip up a meal
He whipped up a simple pasta sauce from tomatoes and garlic.
Give me ten minutes and I'll whip something together for lunch.
phraseuncountabletechnical
the action or process of beating food to make it light or stiff.
Grammar: Used as a noun phrase when talking about the technique itself; it takes no plural.
Patterns
- gentle whipping of food
- the whipping of cream
The recipe calls for a long whipping of the egg mixture.
Over-whipping of cream turns it grainy and buttery.
Word forms
| third person singular | whips food |
|---|---|
| past tense | whipped food |
| past participle | whipped food |
| -ing form | whipping food |
Common combinations
- whip cream
- Whip the cream just before you serve the dessert.
- whip egg whites
- Whip the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl.
- whip until stiff
- Keep whipping until stiff peaks form.
- whip up a meal
- She can whip up a meal from whatever is in the fridge.
- lightly whipped
- Add lightly whipped cream to the top of the cake.
- whipping cream
- Buy whipping cream rather than single cream for this recipe.
Synonyms and how they differ
- beat
- Beat is the general word for mixing fast with a spoon or mixer, while whip stresses adding air to make the food fluffy or stiff.
- whisk
- Whisk is close in meaning but usually suggests a wire tool and a lighter, quicker motion than whip.
- blend
- Blend means mixing things until they are smooth together; it does not usually mean adding air.
Word family
Commonly confused: whip food or whip (punish)?
whip food vs whip (punish)
The same verb also means to hit someone or something with a long thin strip; context such as cream, eggs, or batter shows the cooking sense.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses whip food in the correct cooking pattern.
Choose one answer.
Whip takes the food directly as its object, so 'whip the cream' is correct. The other options add a preposition that is not used with this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “whip food”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.