Spend A Few Extra Minutes To Give Canned Soup A Richer, Homemade Feel

There are few quicker ways to get food from the pantry to the table than a good old can of soup. You always have them on hand, and when you need something warm and comforting without needing to do much more than lift a finger, they are there for you. Straight off the shelf, however, canned soup can leave a little bit to be desired, tasting a bit like, well, like it came from a can. If you have a couple of minutes to spare, though, one simple addition can make all the difference. All you need to do is make a roux.

If dishes like soup from a can are your specialty in the kitchen, the concept of how to make a roux can seem intimidating. Even just the name, with that unusual "x" and French pronunciation, can be a bit daunting. Fortunately, however, it's actually quite simple. All you need to do to make a roux is melt some butter and then cook in an equal amount of flour.

A roux is a traditional thickener for dishes like soups and gravies, with the starch in the flour lending a sumptuous texture to whatever liquids they are combined with. A roux stirred into a can of soup straight off the shelf lends it a luxuriant homemade quality that really takes it to the next level. But the color of your roux matters too, as the degree to which it is cooked can have a strong influence on the flavor of the dish. A lightly-cooked blond roux will thicken just as well as a nutty brown roux, but the latter also lends delicate toasty notes to the soup's aroma.

If you are going to the effort to add a roux to your canned soup, you might consider a few other simple additions while you're at it. There are plenty of simple techniques to improve store-bought canned soup that can really transform the meal.

Adding a roux to your canned soup overhauls the texture, but you may as well dial in the seasoning while you're at it. This can be as simple as adding a pinch of dried herbs to create some subtle aromatic intrigue, or it can mean really bending the flavor of a can of soup to your palate. A good tip for seasoning soup is to try to find a balance of the major tastes. Canned soups typically come with plenty of salt, but adding a touch of sugar or a splash of acidity can have truly transformative results.

Once the seasoning is dialed in, garnishes are the next step to turn a simple soup into a meal worth fawning over. A sprinkle of chopped fresh herbs or a scattering of freshly-made croutons are both excellent ways to garnish soup, each changing the character in its own way. Adding something crunchy breaks up the monotony with intermittent bursts of texture, while fresh herbs result in varying aromatic qualities between bites. Or you can add some decadence by swirling cream into your soup. There aren't many soups that don't benefit from a touch of cream.

Should you choose to play with all of these variables, your soup will be a bit more work than what you normally get from the can. It is still, however, much less work than cooking from scratch, and the result is hardly recognizable as the store-bought staple you started with.