We've all got cans of food stashed away in our cupboards for days when the fridge is bare – but why wait, when you can use them to create dishes with real wow factor? From spaghetti hoop stew to tuna kedgeree, we've compiled 30 genius recipes that use those reliable store cupboard favourites in delicious new ways.
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the incredible meals you can whip up with canned foods, listed A-Z by ingredient.
Shakshuka is usually considered a breakfast or brunch dish, but there's no reason why you can't rustle it up for dinner, adding a tin of protein-packed baked beans to make it more filling. In a large pan, gently fry a chopped onion, add garlic and paprika, then tip in a can each of chopped tomatoes and baked beans. Turn up the heat to reduce. Once thickened, reduce the heat to medium-low, crack in the eggs and cook to your liking – typically, it takes around five minutes for the whites to set. Scatter over some crumbled feta and a handful of chopped parsley or coriander to serve.
If you're in the mood for comfort food, this warming dish is for you. Here, baked beans and butter beans are mixed with chopped tomatoes, stock and herbs – and the whole lot is then topped with sweet potato mash and grated cheese. Cover with foil and bake for around half an hour, then uncover and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the whole dish is bubbling hot.
A can of condensed soup makes a creamy sauce for a crowd-pleasing pie. To make, fry chopped chicken and onions until lightly browned, then pile into a pie dish along with the cooked root vegetables of your choice. Add the can of soup, along with the same quantity of chicken stock. Cover with ready-made shortcrust or puff pastry and bake at 180°C (350°F) until the pastry is light golden brown and the filling bubbling.
Cooking pasta in chicken soup makes for a rich and creamy carbonara-style dish. For 8oz (225g) spaghetti or other type of long pasta, you'll need one can of condensed chicken soup and 30fl oz (850ml) chicken stock. Cook the spaghetti in the soup and stock mixture, but don't drain it. When the pasta is done, add some crispy bacon and plenty of grated cheese. You could also stir in blanched peas or chopped spinach at the end.
Canned cranberry jelly makes a great marinade for sticky chicken wings. Take a 14oz (400g) can of jellied sauce, chop it into cubes, then mix it with two tbsp each of Dijon mustard, hot chilli sauce, soy sauce and the zest and juice of a lemon. Add plenty of black pepper, then use to coat 3lb (1.3kg) chicken wings. Bake your wings in a hot oven on a tray lined with oiled foil, turning occasionally, until cooked through and well browned.
Slow-cooked red cabbage makes a great side for roasted meat and it also freezes brilliantly, so it's worth making a big batch. You can swap the cherry jam in the recipe below for jellied cranberry sauce, but make sure you don't skip the warming cloves, cinnamon and mixed spices – along with the oranges and apples, they take the dish to the next level.
Always a crowd-pleaser, pork simmered slowly in spices, garlic and soy sauce can be used in so many ways, from tasty burger bun and wrap fillings to stir-fries and pies. It can also be made extra tasty with the addition of jellied cranberry sauce; simply substitute it for the tomato ketchup in this recipe (gently heat to melt it before adding to the cooking sauce).
Green bean casserole is a classic Thanksgiving dish in the US, but we think this staple should be in everyone's cupboards, all year round. The sauce is made from another canned favourite: condensed mushroom soup. Heat the soup with a little milk, some grated cheese and shards of crispy bacon. Pour over drained green beans, add more cheese and breadcrumbs, then bake at 180°C (350°F) until browned and bubbling.
Next time you've got a can of green beans hanging around, try a super quick, Sichuan-style stir-fry. Add chopped chilli, garlic and ginger to a hot wok, then tip in drained and rinsed beans, a splash of soy sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil. As the beans are already cooked, you'll only need to stir-fry them long enough to coat in the sauce. Scatter with sesame seeds to serve.
You're probably more familiar with potato gratins made with cream, but they're great made with condensed mushroom soup too. Thinly slice 2lb (900g) potatoes and a large onion. Mix the soup with 5fl oz (150ml) milk and a good pinch of paprika. Layer the potatoes and onion into a baking dish, adding some of the soup mixture to each layer, then pour the rest over the top. Scatter with grated cheese, cover with foil and bake at 190°C (375°F) for an hour, then remove the foil and bake for a further 30 minutes.
Here's a one-pot dish that's certain to become a firm favourite. Mix a can of mushroom soup with 10fl oz (300ml) water, 13oz (375g) long grain rice and 1 tsp dried oregano. Cut four chicken breasts into chunks and brown them in a little oil. Arrange the chicken over the base of an ovenproof dish along with a sliced onion, pour over the rice mixture and cover with foil. Bake in an oven preheated to 190°C (375°F) for 40 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the chicken cooked through. Leave to sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Level up your canned sausage game by adding them to a Thai-style stir-fry. Fry chilli and garlic in a little oil, then add shredded carrots, sliced spring onions and chopped sausage. Throw in a good handful of basil towards the end of cooking – use Thai basil if you can find it, but if you can't, regular basil will work perfectly well. Serve on a bed of noodles or rice.
This warming lentil soup is perked up with the addition of canned sausages. Follow the recipe below, swapping the bacon lardons for cooked, canned sausages for an even heartier soup and a deliciously smoky flavour.
The combination of pasta and chickpeas is an Italian favourite. In this clever recipe, the sauce is rinsed off the spaghetti hoops, so you have cooked pasta ready to add to your stew. Gently simmer tinned chickpeas with garlic and stock for 40 minutes, before adding canned chopped tomatoes, vinegar and dried herbs. Cook for another 10 minutes, then add in the drained spaghetti. It's the perfect dish for when you're craving something easy yet substantial.
Why not add an extra dose of carbs to a baked vegetable pie by stirring in some spaghetti hoops? Mix your hoops with canned lentils and tomatoes, add cooked, diced vegetables of your choice (carrots, celery and onion, for example), then top with mashed potato and grated cheese. Bake in a hot oven until fully heated through and golden on top.
A chunky chowder makes a great lunch or light supper dish. This recipe is full of Caribbean flavours, with a good kick of chilli to go with the butternut squash, lentils and corn, which are all simmered in coconut milk. The warming spices pair well with the sweetness of the corn and squash to make a thrifty yet delicious meal.
Using canned sweetcorn instead of cutting fresh kernels off the cob makes corn fritters even easier to rustle up. To serve two people, whisk an egg with 4fl oz (120ml) milk, then slowly add 3oz (85g) self-raising flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder. Tip in 5oz (145g) tinned corn, then season. Set a frying pan with a little oil over a high heat and, working in batches, add spoonfuls of the mixture (around 2fl oz/60ml per fritter) to the pan. Cook the fritters for a few minutes on each side and serve with poached eggs. You can also add smoked salmon, if you like.
You might not usually think of putting sweetcorn in a curry, but you should give it a go – it adds a touch of sweetness that balances out the spices beautifully. Try adding canned corn to a smoky rogan josh or whip up our North Indian lamb and sweetcorn curry, fragrant with coriander, cumin, ginger, cloves and chilli.
Spaghetti with tomato sauce is a classic dish for a reason: the combination of fresh tomatoes, passata and canned chopped tomatoes, all cooked down in olive oil with garlic, makes it a winner every time. You can pair the sauce with any long pasta, such as pappardelle or linguine. Top with pieces of torn buffalo mozzarella to serve.
You'll never look back once you've made your own butter chicken. Fry off onion, ginger and garlic, then add spices, canned tomatoes and thick Greek yogurt. The sauce, a combination of tandoori masala spices and that all-important butter, is irresistibly rich and tasty.
Homemade potato gnocchi are incredibly light, wonderfully tasty and deceptively simple to make. The sauce in this recipe is easy, too. Add sliced mozzarella and pop under a hot grill and you've got yourself a speedy, made-from-scratch supper.
Tomato sauce from a can is more like passata (puréed and sieved tomatoes) than ketchup. We love using it in this baked risotto, which takes 10 minutes to prepare – then you can just leave it to cook in the oven, stirring once halfway through. It's simple to make and can be elevated with homemade pesto, but jarred will work just fine if you're pushed for time.
Any savoury recipe with Florentine in its name means that spinach is involved somewhere and here, pancakes are stuffed with a mix of spinach, ricotta and Parmesan. The pancakes are then packed into a dish, covered with both passata and béchamel sauce, topped with more Parmesan and baked in the oven. Our recipe uses buckwheat flour for the pancake batter, but they taste just as good made with plain.
This recipe is a real store cupboard feast, making use of both tomato sauce and canned beans (in this case, black beans and kidney beans). The only extra ingredients you'll need are carrots, garlic, a jalapeño pepper and some chilli flakes. It's really quick and simple – everything goes into a saucepan together and cooks up for 10 minutes. This chilli is great served with rice and it's vegan, too.
Here's an easy way to upgrade classic tomato soup. Sauté chopped onions, carrots and celery until softened, then add to a saucepan of tomato soup along with some small, cooked pasta shapes and a drained can of kidney beans, butter beans or chickpeas. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, then add a glug of olive oil, a little basil and grated Parmesan to serve.
This blast from the past is essentially a pasta bake with soup used to make the sauce. Cook pasta according to pack instructions, then drain and transfer to a baking dish. Mix a can of soup with the same quantity of water and a generous glug of double cream. You could also fry some mushrooms or minced beef to add to the sauce. Pour the saucy soup over the pasta and mix well. Add lots of grated cheese, then bake at 180°C (350°F) for around 30 minutes, until browned and bubbling.
A can of tomato soup makes a great sauce for baked meatballs. First, fry off your meatballs until browned. Then, to make the sauce, mix the soup with a can of chopped tomatoes and 1 tsp mixed Italian herbs. Transfer the meatballs to a baking dish and pour over the tomato sauce. Bake until piping hot all the way through, then cover the dish with grated cheese and return it to the oven until melted and golden.
This dish has all the elements of a Niçoise salad – canned tuna, olives, green beans, potatoes, anchovies and egg – but instead of being served cold, it's scattered with Parmesan and baked for 15 minutes to give a crispy, cheesy topping. It's substantial enough to feed four, making it the perfect midweek dinner.
A classic Anglo-Indian dish, kedgeree is traditionally made with smoked haddock, but it works brilliantly with canned tuna too. Sprinkle in a little turmeric when cooking the rice to add extra colour. You'll usually find this dish on breakfast menus, but it also makes an excellent (and filling) midweek dinner.
Who can resist a great tuna melt? Make a classic tuna mayonnaise mixture, adding a pinch of chilli powder or paprika for extra interest. Toast two slices of thickly cut bread – sourdough works well – spread the tuna mayo over one piece and top with cheese. Grill until the cheese is bubbling and fully melted, then pop the second slice on top to make a sandwich.
Now discover our collection of speedy suppers – all of which can be made in under 15 minutes
Last updated by Clare Thorp.