Turn your tins into dinner: tinned food recipes to try

Tinned foods are a budget-friendly essential for busy families – great value, long life, and ready when the fridge is running low. From baked beans to a can of soup, these humble staples can be transformed into surprisingly delicious, nutritious meals.

Food Editor

Malou Herkes

Best tinned foods for cooking

Tinned foods are a budget-friendly lifesaver for busy families – long-lasting, great value, and full of delicious potential. Not just a quick fallback when the fridge is looking bare (ham, egg and beans anyone?), tinned foods are your midweek life hack – from baked bean shakshuka to mushroom risotto using Cream of Mushroom Soup, you’ll be surprised how versatile tinned food recipes can be.

Browse our tins More ways to save

The best tinned foods to make into dinner

1. Tinned soups

As well as a comforting meal, tinned soups can be a flavour-boosting ingredient in their own right. Use a tin of rich, velvety Cream of Mushroom Soup to create a shortcut mushroom risotto, adding creaminess to your dish for a sumptuous dinner. Or add it to this creamy one pot chicken recipe for a chicken-and-mushroom match made in heaven. Got a tin of tomato soup in the cupboard? Bolster it with a tin of white beans and macaroni in this minestrone recipe worthy of your dinner table. If you like, add odds and ends from your veg drawer (think: chopped leafy greens or root vegetables, like carrots, potatoes or celeriac) for extra flavour and nutrition.

2. Tinned baked beans

More than just a tasty addition to egg and chips or your weekend fry-up, a tin of baked beans is more versatile than you might think. Transform a tin into this baked bean shakshuka, with a dollop of fragrant harissa for added depth and spice. Balanced with eggs, this twist on a brunch favourite will boost your protein, and the beans add a lovely hint of sweetness.

3. Tinned beans

Whether it's white beans, chickpeas, kidney beans or cannellini, get your protein and fibre from a delicious tin of beans. Plan your week's meals and make up a batch of Sam Holland's Mexican bean stew, then use it in three different ways – pack your spicy beans into cheesy quesadillas, load them on toast with a fried egg for brunch, or serve up with rice, guac and sour cream. Super versatile, great value and exciting meals, guaranteed.

More bean recipes

4. Tinned sweetcorn

Buttery-sweet sweetcorn is a kid favourite, so try these new and exciting ways to make the most of it. Make these moreish sweetcorn fritters by combining a tin of sweetcorn with flour, eggs, cheddar and spring onions, plus any leftover veg you like. Throw a tin into a batch of bubbling chilli or these beef chilli burritos, or pair your sweetcorn in these all-round favourite, budget-friendly tuna melt baguettes.

5. Tinned fish

While we're talking tuna, tinned fish will guarantee healthy protein when you’re short on time. Make a Tuesday-night jacket potato extra special with our roasted purple sweet potato recipe, topped with tuna, crispy chickpeas and spiced with our shawarma kebab seasoning and harissa. Or add a tin to our family-favourite tuna pasta bake recipe, made with our white wine garlic and herb pots for quickfire flavour. Up your omega-3 with tinned fish for lunchtime sarnies and salads – load it onto toast, like this chilli sardines on toast recipe, using our Collection Sardine Fillets in Olive Oil with Chilli, match tuna and pesto in this elevated tuna, avocado and pesto sandwich or throw a tin into salad, and use the olive oil for your salad dressing, too.

Tinned tuna recipe ideas