It's gonna be a hot dish, we're gonna have a hot dish tonight

August 22, 2024 7:50 AM

When a hot dish recipe calls for adding two cans of condensed soup, do you just add the condensed soup, or do you also add the additional water called for in the soup can's (but not recipe's) instructions?
posted by I EAT TAPAS to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Issuing the caveat first that I've had limited experience with this (I'm usually cooking serves-one quantities), but every time I've tried I only add the condensed soup. If you think about it, the soup in its condensed state is a sort of thick gravy consistency, and that's the function it's serving in the dish so leaving it as-is would be what you need. The juices from the other ingredients tend to leach out during cooking and thin it some as it is, adding more water would just make it far too watery.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:54 AM on August 22 [5 favorites]

I would imagine that if it wanted you to add the water, it would say so. Or it would just say to use soup, not condensed soup. Why would it specify condensed if it wants you to add the water anyway?
posted by number9dream at 7:58 AM on August 22 [3 favorites]

Just the can. You aren't making soup.
posted by msbrauer at 8:02 AM on August 22 [5 favorites]

No, just the soup.

Bona fides: 100% midwestern, born and raised, plus former chef.
posted by cooker girl at 8:09 AM on August 22 [18 favorites]

Best answer: As a Minnesotan, I can assure you that they mean just the contents of the can.
posted by advicepig at 8:09 AM on August 22 [47 favorites]

In any non-soup recipe using condensed soup, just add the soup without water unless the recipe specifically states otherwise. The soup is supposed to have a creamy consistency in these contexts not a soupy one.
posted by BlueJae at 8:10 AM on August 22

After long years in Wisconsin and Minnesota, I can assure you it’s just the contents of the can. Adding water would be an interesting choice, as they say.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:23 AM on August 22 [7 favorites]

Also a Minnesotan. It's just the contents of the can. It is serving as a substitute for white sauce.
posted by shadygrove at 9:37 AM on August 22 [1 favorite]