A Beginner's Guide To Upgrading Canned Soup

We've all had it at some point. Whether it was a quick meal during a hurried lunch break, a creamy addition to a casserole, or a quick fix for a sick day as a child, canned soup is nothing new. However, you can turn this top item to keep stocked in your pantry into something out of the ordinary, unexpected, and altogether more delicious than what you've had in the past — all it takes is a few upgrades.

Elevating the contents of an ordinary can of soup doesn't need to be difficult or expensive. In many cases, it only takes adding a few fresh ingredients, some common pantry items you already have on hand, or even leftovers in your fridge. Any and all of these can all go a long way to taking a boring can of your average cream of chicken or bland tomato soup to something scrumptious and dinner-worthy. With a few tweaks, you might even find that you prefer the canned stuff to the (gasp!) homemade. Here are a few easy ideas for upgrading your next can of soup.

If you eat canned soup on the regular, you've likely run into some mystery meat. Sure, the can says it's chicken, but to the naked eye, it might resemble something more like a pink, gelatinous cube. Or maybe the can says it's beef, but in reality, the beige chunk in your dish looks anything but. Whatever the case may be, canned soup just doesn't always win in the protein department.

Speaking in an interview with the Greatist in 2021, Michelin star-rated chef Josiah Citrin explained that one of his favorite ways to upgrade canned chili is by purchasing vegetarian chili and then adding fresh protein at home. According to Citrin, not only is it a quick process (and very customizable, as you can add whatever protein you want), but it gives your chili a texture and flavor that it just can't get from the can alone. 

You can do the exact same thing with any canned soup; just look for the vegetarian option and then cook and add your favorite protein right before you eat. No time to cook at home at all? Pick up a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store for a quick upgrade to your canned soup. 

Even if you're not familiar with the term "mirepoix," you likely know what it is, even if not by name — there's even a chance you've used it many times if you're a seasoned home cook. In essence, mirepoix is a vegetable mixture that calls for two parts onions, one part celery, and one part carrots, per none other than Martha Stewart herself. Though not to be confused with the Holy Trinity — a similar mixture made of equal parts onions, celery, and bell peppers popular in Cajun and Creole — both mirepoix and the Holy Trinity are popular bases for soups and stews, lending aromatic flavors to dishes synonymous with comfort food cooking. So, if you're looking to upgrade an otherwise bland canned soup (looking at you again, chicken noodle!), consider starting with a mirepoix, or even the Holy Trinity. 

Mirepoix can also be used to upgrade a basic boxed broth, to use in a pot for homemade soup, enhancing the broth flavor but expediting the process of blending those flavors together. Just chop your ingredients and simmer them in the bottom of a saucepan or soup pot until soft, and then pour in your canned soup or broth, and continue preparing your soup as normal — canned or otherwise.

If you already know you prefer creamy soups to those that are broth-based, then adding milk or cream to your canned soup is just a given. In a 2014 article, Spoon University writer Becca Berland recommended adding milk or cream to any soup that's on the creamy side already, like tomato soup or chowders, explaining that doing so can "add a fresh taste to a food that's been sitting on a shelf for several weeks (or months)." If you're going fully plant-based, coconut milk or cream, rather than its dairy counterpart, can also be a good addition to a canned soup for the same reason.

When adding a cold dairy liquid like milk or cream to a hot liquid like a simmering soup, there's one important thing to keep in mind: You want to be careful that you don't let the dairy curdle. To avoid this, it's recommended that you temper your milk by adding a small amount of the warm soup to your larger amount of desired milk, allowing the milk to slowly come to a warmer temperature. Then, once warm, add the milk to the soup. If your soup is already curdled, you can try to "shock" it back to normal by throwing in an ice cube, turning down the heat, and whisking heavily. You can also try running the curdled soup through a blender.

Sometimes your canned soup isn't lacking so much in the flavor department — instead, its texture, not flavor, that leaves more to be desired. If that's the case, then rice has you covered. However, it's important to realize that you can't just toss in a cup of rice while your soup heats on the stovetop. You'll have to do a little thinking first.

According to the Livestrong Foundation, first, you have to decide whether you'll add cooked or uncooked rice to your canned soup. If you add cooked rice, things are simple. Just toss your rice in right before your soup finishes heating, giving the rice enough time to heat through. Don't add the rice too early in the cooking process, or you might overcook the rice. 

If you decide to add uncooked rice to your canned soup, keep in mind that you'll have to add extra liquid, too, as the rice will soak up some of the existing liquid. (After all, you don't want to end up with a pot of all rice and no soup). Additionally, adding uncooked rice will also require extra cooking time. For the easiest soup upgrade, stick with the pre-cooked rice, either some leftovers from a past meal or store-bought pre-cooked rice that you can easily zap in the microwave. (And don't forget to sing along to Carol King's "Eating Chicken Soup with Rice" if you decide to go that route!)

If you've forever relied on cubed or powdered bouillon, your mind is about to be blown by the flavor-heavy, umami wonder that is bouillon paste. One of the most popular bouillon paste brands is Better than Bouillon, which offers a line of products that are made from meat, vegetables, and spices, but with less salt than its traditional bouillon counterparts. A number of chefs use bouillion for a variety of dishes; beloved author, media personality, and chef Anthony Bourdain even waxed poetic about the ingredient in his 2002 memoir "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly" (via The Kitchn). As Bourdain noted in one "Kitchen Confidential" passage, his classmates in culinary school couldn't "figure out how I coaxed such hearty flavor out of a few chicken bones, or made such wonderful fish fumet with fish racks and shrimp shells, all in the limited time available"; as you might have guessed, the secret was bouillon. If it's good enough for Anthony Bourdain, it's good enough for us.

Adding a touch of bouillon paste to your canned soup can take that canned broth to a whole new level. Just make sure that you match your paste to your broth (so chicken paste in a chicken broth-based soup and so on). Start with only a little bouillon paste at first, then gradually add more and taste as you go; it can pack a punch, and you don't want to add too much.

If you're heating up a can of a chicken broth-based soup, then there's one ingredient you need to retrieve from your produce drawer: a fresh lemon. No matter what type of chicken broth-based soup you're making, the publication says, lemon can help add much-needed brightness and freshness to a dish that can otherwise be a bit dull and salty. Think of the way an acidic vinaigrette adds a new depth of flavor to a simple salad; a lemon in your chicken soup can act much the same way. (Here's another way to put it: Think like "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat" author and the Netflix adaptation's star chef Samin Nosrat.)

If you want to use a lemon in your soup, add a squeeze of lemon juice only after you've portioned the soup into your bowl. You don't want it heated. In addition to this, consider removing the seeds from your lemon before squeezing, so you don't inadvertently end up with seeds in your soup. And if you're all out of lemons but have a few limes on hand, you can use them in the exact same way as the former — especially if you're heating up Mexican or Asian-inspired canned soups.