The Canned Soup You Need For Quick And Creamy Pasta

Pasta is one of the easiest and most satisfying go-to dinners, but what do you do when there's no pasta sauce in sight? Sure, whipping it up from scratch would be great, but we don't all have the culinary skill or the energy at the end of a long day. Instead, reach for the can of cream of mushroom soup in your pantry.

Yes, that one can of soup can be the key to a creamy and fast dinner. Condensed mushroom soup can be very similar to a jar of premade pasta sauce when prepared correctly. If you have the time to melt and simmer butter, garlic, mushrooms, thyme, and other ingredients to make your pasta sauce, then hats off to you. But, if a quickly heated can of soup gets my bowl of noodles ready sooner, then let's bust out the can opener.

We're all about ease in the kitchen and getting creative with what you have. There's no need for a last-minute grocery trip when there's cream of mushroom soup on hand and pan to heat it all up.

Canned mushroom soup comes packed with the flavor and creaminess that you would want in a pasta sauce. Take, for example, the average can of Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, which contains mushrooms, garlic, and fresh cream. While the can itself suggests adding a full can of water to thin out the condensed mixture for a soup, you can add less than that to create a creamy pasta sauce.

Numerous cooks have already proven that cream of mushroom soup cooks well with noodles in casserole recipes. In the case of a pasta sauce, the process is essentially the same. Just cook the noodles and heat the condensed soup, either in the microwave or on a stovetop. Your meal will be ready to go in minutes.

Of course, you can always spice things up with additional ingredients like more vegetables or protein. If you want to get fancy, you can use a can of cream of mushroom soup for a one-pot beef Stroganoff dinner. With a little beef broth, strips of sirloin, noodles, milk, yogurt, and seasonings, you've made a filling meal from a single can of soup.

Once again, this is all about preference and willingness to experiment with not-so-typical pasta dishes. Overall, the benefit of using canned mushroom soup is that it will achieve the level of thickness and flavor you would get from an average jar of pasta sauce.

By that logic, most condensed cream soups could also be substitutes for pasta sauce. For example, cream of chicken soup, cream of broccoli soup, and even tomato soup could easily serve as quick pasta sauce substitutions. In the case of tomato soup, you may need to add more seasoning or cream to help thicken the soup/sauce rather than thin it out as you would with the mushroom variety. Cream of broccoli soup can make for a greener alternative to traditional Alfredo sauce, and mixing in just a bit of soup stock will add flavor and help thin out the soup to make for a better sauce. The list of possibilities for what you can do with a can of condensed soup is basically infinite depending on how creative you want to get with your dinner.