How to make a can of Campbell’s soup?

Campbell’s soup is a staple in many households. With its comforting flavors and convenience, it’s easy to see why this canned soup has been popular for over 100 years. While you can easily heat and eat a store-bought can, learning how to make Campbell’s soup from scratch can be a fun cooking project with delicious results.

Overview

Making your own Campbell’s soup allows you to control the ingredients and customize the flavors to your liking. The basic process involves making a flavorful broth, preparing any vegetables or meat, combining everything together, and canning the soup for shelf-stable storage. With a pressure canner, proper sanitation, and by following canning guidelines, you can make and preserve homemade Campbell’s style soups that are tasty and safe to enjoy for months to come.

Ingredients

When making your own Campbell’s soup, you can use your choice of broth, vegetables, herbs, and seasonings. Some good soup broth options are chicken, beef, or vegetable broth. For vegetables, you can use carrots, potatoes, peas, green beans, corn, celery, or onions. Beans or pasta make nice additions too. For seasonings, you can’t go wrong with salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, and other soup spices. If you want a cream soup, you can blend in milk, cream, or a roux. Finally, you can add cooked chicken, beef, or other ingredients for more protein. The possibilities are endless!

Equipment Needed

To make homemade Campbell’s style soups, you will need:

• Large pot for cooking
• Immersion blender or countertop blender
• Canning jars
• Pressure canner
• Canning rack
• Jar lifter
• Bubble remover and headspace measuring tool
• Lids and bands for mason jars

Prep the Ingredients

Making the soup starts with preparing your ingredients:

1. Wash, peel, and chop any vegetables or herbs.
2. Cook any meat until fully cooked through.
3. Make your broth if not using store-bought. Simmer bones/veggies for 1-2 hours before straining.
4. Make any roux or thickener if making a cream soup.
5. Measure out any dry rice, pasta, or grains.

Cook the Soup

Now you’re ready to start cooking!

1. In a large pot, heat up some oil or butter over medium heat.
2. Saute any chopped veggies until softened, about 5-10 minutes.
3. Add in broth, milk/cream, seasonings, herbs, and any other ingredients except for rice/pasta/grains.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. If adding rice/pasta/grains, cook them separately according to package directions.
6. Once soup has simmered, add in any cooked rice/pasta/grains.
7. Use an immersion blender to puree if making a cream soup.
8. Adjust seasoning to taste. Add more salt, pepper, herbs as desired.

Your homemade Campbell’s style soup is ready to can!

Fill Jars

Next, you’ll fill the canning jars with the finished soup:

1. Wash canning jars and lids in hot, soapy water. Rinse well.
2. Use a funnel to fill the jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace.
3. Run a bubble remover or skewer along the inside of the jars to release any trapped air bubbles.
4. Wipe jar rims with a clean, damp cloth.
5. Center lids on jars and loosely screw on bands.

Pressure Can the Soup

Now it’s time to process the filled jars in a pressure canner:

1. Place rack and 2 inches of water in the bottom of canner.
2. Load filled jars onto rack using a jar lifter.
3. Fasten lid securely.
4. Over high heat, allow canner to vent steam for 10 minutes.
5. Once steaming, add weighted gauge or close petcock to pressurize the canner.
6. Process pints for 25 minutes, quarts for 30 minutes at 11 PSI.
7. Turn off heat and allow canner to depressurize naturally.
8. Once fully depressurized, carefully open lid.
9. Remove jars with jar lifter and allow to cool undisturbed for 12-24 hours.

Check the Seal

After cooling, check that the jars have properly sealed:

1. Press center of each lid. It should not flex up and down.
2. Check that the lid is concave, sucked down onto the jar.
3. Rap your knuckle on the top of each lid. It should make a ringing “ping” sound.
4. If any jar did not seal properly, refrigerate and consume soon after opening.

Date and Store

Lastly, date and store your jars of homemade Campbell’s soup:

1. Write the canning date on a piece of masking tape and stick to each sealed jar.
2. Wipe down the outside of any sticky jars.
3. Store in a cool, dark place for up to 1 year.
4. For best quality and safety, try to use within 6 months to a year.

Serving Suggestions

Now that you have delicious homemade Campbell’s soup waiting on the shelf, here are some ideas for serving it up:

• For a quick lunch, heat and serve the soup with a grilled cheese sandwich.
• Add cooked noodles and chicken for homemade chicken noodle soup.
• Use as a base for casseroles like green bean casserole.
• Pour into a bowl and garnish with croutons, cheese, or chives.
• Simmer with milk or cream to make a quick cream soup.

The possibilities are endless for how to serve and enjoy your homemade canned soups. Be creative and have fun with recipes!

Common Troubleshooting

If you run into any issues when canning soup, here is some troubleshooting advice:

Issue	Solution
Jars did not seal properly	Ensure lids are centered properly before tightening bands. Only tighten bands finger tip tight. Check headspace is correct. Use new lids each time. Make sure rims are cleaned before putting on lids.
Liquid leaked from jars during processing	Always use a rack in the bottom of the canner. Make sure jars are not touching each other or canner sides. Tighten bands properly before processing.
Pressure canner won’t pressurize	Check that vent pipe is clear. Make sure lid gasket is in good shape. Ensure petcock or weighted gauge is operating properly.
Burning smell or blackened liquid	Do not let canner boil dry. Always keep adequate water in canner pot when processing.
Floating food pieces in jars	Be sure to remove air bubbles before sealing jars. You can alternatively run a knife along inside of jar to release trapped air.

Conclusion

Canning your own Campbell’s style soups from scratch is a very rewarding DIY project. While it requires some time and effort, you’ll end up with delicious home-preserved soups that will be a pantry staple you can enjoy all year long. Just be sure to follow proper canning methods and guidelines. Let your imagination run wild coming up with fun new soup creations to can up and impress your family and friends. Homemade Campbell’s soup – made with love by you!