Make Canned Chicken Noodle Soup Taste Homemade By Adding A Few Fridge Staples

Since there are so many chicken noodle soup brands to choose from, you may prefer to consume jars or cans of this premade meal instead of making an involved multi-ingredient recipe from scratch. However, in doing so, you're sacrificing the signature flavor that comes with homemade chicken soup for the sake of convenience. Fortunately, there's an easy way to upgrade the flavor of canned chicken noodle soup so it tastes more like a rich, time-honored recipe. All you need is a Parmesan rind, fresh herbs, and a bit of lemon juice.

While most brands of canned chicken noodle soups include flavorful ingredients like carrots, celery, and spices such as salt and garlic powder, they can contain watery, flavorless broth. Parmesan rind, fresh herbs, and lemon juice are solid options since they require very little prep work yet pack a hefty amount of flavor.

Start by heating your canned soup over the stove with a small Parmesan rind. The rind is full of savory, cheesy goodness that will naturally enhance your chicken soup with umami-rich flavor during cooking. Once your soup simmers on low for 15 to 20 minutes, remove the rind and stir in a sprinkle of freshly chopped herbs such as Italian parsley, oregano, thyme, and sage. Upon serving, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to balance your soup's new and improved savory flavor.

To build on these three primary ingredients, if you enjoy the taste of fresh lemon juice but want to give your canned soup a more prominent citrus flavor, add some zest to the mix. Unlike lemon juice, lemon zest houses essential oils, which can add a more powerful lemon flavor to your soup. Specks of lemon zest also give canned chicken noodle soup a more noteworthy appearance.

Additionally, if you love the umami flavor of Parmesan rind, feel free to top your next bowl of soup with freshly grated Parmesan cheese for an extra cheesy finishing touch. Also, since Parmesan lends itself to Italian-inspired dishes, you can include more Italian herbs in your soup like fresh basil. To take this meal even further, you can even give store-bought chicken noodle soup a tasty transformation with pesto sauce. Traditionally made with toasted pine nuts, fresh basil, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese, pesto is an all-in-one ingredient that packs a ton of flavor into every spoonful.

There are yet more ingredients worth grabbing from your fridge in addition to Parmesan, herbs, and lemon to upgrade your next can of soup. For one thing, why not supercharge the nutritional value of canned chicken noodle soup with fresh spinach? Other worthwhile additions include kale, Swiss chard, and chopped green onions.