It’s amazing the amount of great dishes you can conjure up from your pantry, without needing access to fresh ingredients. Hopefully you’ll have a few essentials in your freezer too. You’ll be surprised at how simple it can be to create really great food from everyday items. These are our best recipes you can make from pantry essentials.
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Corn fritters
Corn fritters, made with canned sweetcorn, make a great breakfast, brunch or light meal. They’re a quick and easy savory base for poached eggs and salmon, or if you’re more limited with fresh foods, serve with fried corned beef or tomato chutney. If you don’t have fresh eggs, dried egg white powder, which you reconstitute, will do the job to bind the mixture together before frying.
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Hummus
Hummus makes for a great light lunch. If you don’t have fresh lemon juice, you can use lemon juice from a bottle. Jazz it up with some puréed red peppers from a jar, or a purée of frozen broad beans. Cracker thins or breadsticks are great to dip into this chickpea and tahini dish.
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Salmon fish cakes
A can of salmon is a very useful store cupboard item, especially to make fish cakes. If you’re limited, use frozen mashed potato or canned ready-cooked potatoes rather than making fresh mash. Our recipe uses smoked salmon and smoked mackerel, but just substitute the same weight of canned salmon, or mix it up with some canned sardines.
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Pasta puttanesca
With not a fresh ingredient in sight (unless you have fresh herbs to hand), pasta puttanesca is one of the ultimate pantry recipes. It’s best with a long pasta, like spaghetti or linguine, and all you need for the sauce is canned tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies, dried chili flakes and olive oil.
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Thai red pepper soup
This spicy Thai-inspired soup uses jarred roasted red peppers and red curry paste, and is topped with spicy seeds. The topping requires an egg white but you can substitute with oil or egg white powder. Served with bread, crunchy flatbreads or crackers, it’s an easy, nourishing meal.
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Potato and mushroom bake
Swap out fresh cream in a potato bake with a can of condensed mushroom soup thinned with the same quantity of milk (from powder then reconstituted if you need to). Chop up some canned ham or flake some tuna, then layer it with thinly sliced canned potatoes, pouring the soup over each layer. If you have any fresh herbs, add those too. Bake in a hot oven until browned and bubbling.
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Tarka dahl
Tarka dahl, meaning spiced lentils, is a nourishing, high protein dish which you can serve with rice. Lentils are a brilliant pantry savior and you can find prepared garlic and ginger pastes in the supermarket too. If you don’t have any fresh cilantro, dried will do the job. Substitute fresh chili for chili flakes, and you’re on your way to a great meal.
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Tomato pasta sauce
This may be a traditional student standby but it’s perfect for a quick dinner. Sweat down onions – remember, you can find them frozen if needs be – then add canned tomatoes, a pinch of sugar, dried oregano or dried mixed herbs. Season well with salt and pepper. Simmer gently until the sauce has thickened. If you want more protein, add cooked lentils or re-hydrated ground soybeans. Serve it with any dried pasta you have in the cupboard.
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Veggie bean chili
With cans of different beans in the cupboard, combined with a can of tomatoes or passata, you can have a high protein meal on the table in no time at all. You could combine kidney beans, black beans and white beans – whatever’s available. Add the rinsed beans to fried onions or carrot. If you have some grated cheese in the fridge, even better. Try our recipe which you can adapt to what you have.
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Chickpea curry
This spicy and fragrant curry feeds four with just three cans of chickpeas and a can of tomatoes, plus dried spices from the cupboard. Instead of the fresh ginger, you can use ginger paste from a jar and if you’ve got any fresh veg that needs using up, just chuck it in. Serve with rice or, our personal favorite, poppadoms. Make sure you have a box of the dried thin, crispy flatbreads in stock which you can shallow fry when you want them.
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Tomato risotto
A risotto with a twist, this version is baked in the oven and needs just one stir. It’s made with passata and served with a homemade winter pesto, but you can just use any sort of pesto from a jar. The Parmesan chips which go with it are divine.
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Beans and potato pie
A true comfort food dish, you can use all different types of beans, including baked beans, to make this sweet potato mash-topped pie. You could also happily use frozen white potato mash or mash up a can of potatoes if you don’t have anything fresh to hand.
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Spaghetti with garlic and chili
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Mushroom risotto
You can make a brilliant mushroom risotto using dried mushrooms. To serve four, using 1lb 2oz (500g) risotto rice, you’ll need to soak 3oz (75g) dried mushrooms in hot water. Porcini are the best but they can be pricey, so use a mixture if you like. Strain after 15 minutes through a sieve, keeping the water as stock. Sauté the mushrooms before adding to the risotto. Follow our recipe as a guide.
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Corned beef hash
Even if you don’t have fresh potatoes, you can use peeled potatoes from a can and whip up a hash. Fry chopped potatoes with corned beef and onions until you have a crisp texture. Then add just enough tomato ketchup or passata to coat everything, a good slug of Worcestershire sauce and 1tbsp grain, Dijon or English mustard. Pop it under the grill until crisp. Serve with extra tomato ketchup on the side.
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Jackfruit curry
Jackfruit comes ready-prepared in a can so this spicy curry, with tomato passata and coconut cream, needs only 10 minutes of preparation. It has a good kick of chili, ginger and garlic (again you can use a prepared jar). It’s served on a bed of rice but you could enjoy alongside any grain you have, such as quinoa or bulgur wheat.
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Bean and pasta broth
When you’re in need of a healthy, nourishing meal, bean and pasta broth really hits the spot. Use whichever canned beans or even chickpeas you have in the cupboard. Our recipe uses vegetable stock which would be even more warming if you replace half the stock with tomato passata. If you don’t have macaroni, use any small pasta shape you have to hand such as fusilli or orecchiette.
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Stir-fried noodles
It’s quite a challenge to make a tasty stir-fry without fresh meat, fish or fresh vegetables. But we’ve hit on a winner. Try combining tofu with canned beansprouts and cashew nuts. Add a few teaspoons of toasted sesame oil just before serving with a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds. You could incorporate some thawed, frozen peas or broad beans too.
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Pasta and chickpea stew
A rather ingenious recipe using 100% pantry items, including a can of spaghetti hoops! For this take on the classic Italian dish, pasta e fagioli (which literally translates to pasta and beans), you could substitute the hoops with the same amount of cooked macaroni. It’s a recipe the kids will love, although you may prefer to omit the chili at the end.
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Curried lentil and tomato soup
Soup, fortified with hearty lentils, is a wholesome meal in a bowl. For four, fry an onion then add garlic paste and ginger (from a jar), 1tsp of each. Add 1–2tbsp medium curry powder or paste. Stir well, add 7oz (200g) red lentils, plus a can each of chopped tomatoes and coconut milk. Simmer gently until the lentils are cooked and season with salt and pepper. If you have fresh cilantro or mint, add it at the end. It also freezes brilliantly.
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Marmite (yeast extract spread) spaghetti
You’ll need just three ingredients for this comforting dinner: spaghetti, yeast extract spread (like Marmite) and butter or oil. While the pasta is cooking, melt butter or oil with yeast extract spread. Then add the cooked pasta with some pasta water to the buttery, tangy mixture, and coat. Serve immediately, with some Parmesan if you like.
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Frozen pea risotto
One of the best standby recipes when there’s not much in the house is a frozen pea risotto. Use our risotto recipe as a base and add around 7oz (200g) thawed, frozen peas. You could even purée half the peas to stir in at the end. Or mix and match with frozen broad beans or canned asparagus spears.
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Fish curry… or make it veggie
If you have white fish or prawns in the freezer, you can easily rustle up a Southern Indian-style coconut curry. No fish? Make up the base curry sauce from our fish curry recipe but instead, add 3.5oz (100g) cashew nuts, soaked in water for 30 minutes, and chopped drained pineapple from a can. Towards the end of cooking, add a handful of dried curry leaves.
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Tuscan tomato soup
This rich, warming soup is made from canned tomatoes which are slowly cooked to bring out the sweetness. Used croutons from a packet if you don’t have any bread to hand. Fresh basil is a lovely addition but it’s fine if you don’t have any.
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Soda bread
Soda bread is the easiest bread you can make. It doesn’t require any kneading – in fact, the less you handle it the better, or it will become tough. There’s no yeast in the mixture, so there’s no rising or proving involved either.
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Tuna and bean salad
Make the most of the canned beans in your cupboard by making up a salad with the beans, tuna and a sharp, mustardy vinaigrette – a perfectly healthy and filling lunch. Whisk together 1tbsp Dijon mustard with 2tbsp red wine or white wine vinegar. Slowly whisk in olive or sunflower oil until you have a thick dressing, around 6tbsp oil. Season well. If you have any sliced onions to add, even better. You could mix in some pitted olives, chopped pickles and capers too.
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Pasta with sardines
A can of sardines makes a great sauce for pasta. Once your onions are soft, add a drained can of sardines and cook them gently until they break up and melt, before adding a can of chopped tomatoes. You could also add a couple of anchovies to the sardines. Or try it with wedges of polenta. Cook the polenta with vegetable or chicken stock, spread onto a baking tray to cool, then slice and fry in oil.
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Tuna burritos
There’s a wide variety of combinations you can create for a burrito, even from the pantry. Mix drained tuna with sweetcorn, black beans and kidney beans. Add a flavorsome kick with some sriracha sauce or chili sauce. You could also mix in thawed sliced onions from the freezer. Before rolling, spread a little mayonnaise on the wraps.
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Piña colada bread
This is sunshine in a cake, made with coconut milk and canned pineapple. It makes a large cake but you could freeze half or use any leftovers for toasting. It’s made from a yeasted dough so you will need to allow time for it to rise.
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Peanut butter puddings
Peanut butter, chocolate and caramel – how can you resist? You will need a little butter or margarine for this recipe and some aquafaba, the drained liquid from a can of chickpeas. The puddings are accompanied by a chocolate sorbet which makes this recipe a real treat. It’s the warm caramel sauce poured over which is really the icing on the cake!
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Fudgy espresso chocolate brownies
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Blueberry and macadamia cheesecake
You might not believe it but you won’t need soft cheese to make this divine cheesecake. Macadamia nuts or cashews are blitzed with coconut oil and a few other ingredients for the filling, which is poured on to a nutty, coconut base. It’s then simply frozen for a few hours before serving. If you have frozen blueberries for the sauce, fantastic. Otherwise, make a purée of dried apricots.
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Slow-baked chocolate cookie
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Salted caramel cake
An easy cake which is ready in 20 minutes – what more do you want? And no eggs or butter are needed. The recipe calls for almond butter but it will be equally great made with peanut butter instead.
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