Give Canned Soup The Hands-Down Best Flavor With A Sprinkle Of This Pantry Powder

Canned soup is a lifesaver when you want a quick, cozy meal, but it's not exactly bursting with flavor directly out of the can. Transforming it with a tasty breakfast staple, meat, or veggies upgrades the contents, but enhancing the foundation is as simple as reaching for a common pantry staple. Tossing in some chicken bouillon powder turns a humdrum filler into a rich, flavorful meal in minutes. 

Powdered chicken bouillon is a concentrated flavor bomb that features savory dehydrated chicken broth as its base. Vegetable extracts and various spices elevate the profile, and chicken fat is frequently used to give the bouillon powder a burst of umami. Not to be confused with chicken powder, which is generally made sans vegetables and spices, powdered chicken bouillon adds richness and complexity that's often desperately needed in canned soup.

Typically, sprinkling in a teaspoon per 8 ounces of soup will do the trick, but you'll want to give it a taste test before diving in to make sure it hasn't become too salty. Along with concentrated savory spices and extracts, bouillon powder usually has a significant amount of sodium. All that extra sodium can quickly turn an umami boost into a salty disaster, making your soup worse than if you'd done nothing to it.

Starting with a low-sodium canned soup helps to avoid that tragedy. Adding a low-sodium bouillon powder to elevate the flavor can also avert a salty fiasco. However, if you do go a little overboard with regular chicken bouillon powder, a simple fix is diluting the soup with some low-sodium broth or even just unsalted liquid like water.

Like many other ingredients, the brand of chicken bouillon powder used to upgrade your canned soup game can make a big difference. Every company's signature recipe is a closely guarded secret, but some of the featured stars can be seen on the list of major ingredients. Some highlight garlic extract for richness, whereas others lean on ingredients like carrot powder to level up the flavor. While they should all taste similar, it doesn't hurt to experiment with different brands to find the one that hits the mark for you.

Chicken bouillon powder works especially well in brothy soups like chicken noodle, but that's not to say it can't provide a flavor boost to something like a creamy baked potato soup as well. However, some soups might benefit from another type of bouillon powder. A canned minestrone would welcome a dash of vegetable bouillon, and a beef stew — you guessed it. You can find the perfect match for your favorite soup by experimenting with various pairings.

There's also the option of making your own bouillon by combining a few other pantry staples in a food processor. Nutritional yeast acts as the backbone of homemade powdered bouillon, giving it that savory foundation. Add seasonings such as onion and garlic powder and dried herbs like basil and oregano to lift the profile before blending everything together. You can get creative with other seasonings to make a powdered bouillon tailored to upgrading your favorite canned soup.