10 Secret Ways to Make Canned Soup Taste Homemade (2024)

FAQs

10 Secret Ways to Make Canned Soup Taste Homemade? ›

Start with an aromatic base. Pretty much every can of soup already contains aromatics. But to put some pep back in your soup's step, you're going to want to add more. Start by sautéing any combination of finely chopped vegetables and alliums—like onion, garlic, carrots, celery, bell peppers, and ginger.

Start with an aromatic base. Pretty much every can of soup already contains aromatics. But to put some pep back in your soup's step, you're going to want to add more. Start by sautéing any combination of finely chopped vegetables and alliums—like onion, garlic, carrots, celery, bell peppers, and ginger.

Garlic and onions make everything tastier! While the soup is cooking on the stove, sautee onions and garlic, adding them into the soup towards the end of cooking. Or for an aromatic that'll give a refreshing flavor, add chopped ginger into the soup while it's still cooking, stirring it in to blend the flavors together.

Fresh herbs like parsley, basil, and cilantro lose their flavor quickly if simmered in a hot soup, but they add freshness and bright flavor when sprinkled over top just before serving.

It may sound a bit strange and unusual for some, but vinegar is a common ingredient in some soup recipes, and there is a good reason for it. If you think about it, vinegar is really a flavor-enhancer (umami). That's why it is so often used in cooking, sauces, and salad dressings. The same is true with soups.

"Ground paprika, turmeric, nutmeg, ground ginger, and other powdered spices add a touch of color and spiciness to broths," she says. As a general rule, use fresh herbs at or near the end of cooking and dried herbs and spices early on. This helps you get the flavors you're looking for in the right balance.

Brown your base first, that is if you use any meat, garlic, ginger, onion, celery, carrots, or peppers, brown them first, add a bit of salt when browning, then bloom your spices and herbs by adding them to the saute veggies and saute them for a minute or two before you add the broth.

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

A squeeze of citrus, a dollop of yogurt or a drizzle of cream, a dusting of cheese or a good chile powder, a sprinkling of some herbs or croutons — all can take a perfectly fine soup into the realm of the delectable. Even a spiral of good olive oil to finish and some coarse sea salt can do wonders.

Adding Worcestershire Sauce To Soups

It will work in a broad range of dishes from your favorite French onion soup to velvety tomato bisque. It definitely does a great job of amping up the meaty flavors of a beef stew as well as giving vegetable soups a flavor lift, too.

What is the secret ingredient in secret ingredient soup? ›

Ping, about the secret ingredient in his famous secret ingredient soup. Mr. Ping : The secret ingredient is… nothing!

As well as adding flavor, vinegar can preserve food, improve the appearance of a dish, and even fill in for missing ingredients. For example, if you've run out of fresh lemon or lime, you can always use ½ teaspoon of vinegar in place of a teaspoon of citrus juice for that flavorsome tang!

If a soup is tasting bland in the bowl, consider adding acid rather than salt. A squeeze of lemon or lime, or a dash of yogurt or sour cream can add brightness to the bowl. Our Lemony Chicken Soup will make your mouth water.

Warm Spices

Cardamom pods, allspice berries, cumin, coriander, yellow mustard, fennel, and peppercorns are all fair game. Per quart of stock, toast any of those ingredients—check your pantry and pick two to four—in a dry pot until fragrant, then add the stock and simmer.

If you love food with some zing to it, drizzling in some hot sauce can be a great way to bring on the heat and give your soup an extra edge. Or, mix in some parsley, dill, or other fresh herbs to lend different tasting notes to your meal.

Garnishing your soup with fresh herbs will bring out the taste of the soup really well. You may go for basil leaves for your bland tomato soup while crushed cilantro would go well with tortilla soup. However, if it's chicken noodle soup then adding chopped thyme would be the tastiest idea.

Fresh herbs and spices will definitely make canned soup taste better and fresher. Depending on the type of soup, dill, basil, rosemary are all good choices. I also love cumin in soups and stews. You can add hot sauce or hot red pepper flakes if you like a little heat.