Fresh ingredients get plenty of love in the kitchen, but sometimes the smartest move is to reach for a can. Even professional chefs rely on canned foods to save prep time, deliver consistent results, and make delicious meals with less work.
The trick is knowing which canned foods deliver great results and when fresh ingredients are worth the effort. From tomatoes that make a rich pasta sauce to chickpeas that work beautifully in curry, these nine canned foods have earned a place in professional kitchens.
Whole Peeled Tomatoes
Fresh tomatoes are wonderful in a summer salad, but canned whole peeled tomatoes often work better in a simmering sauce. They offer consistent flavor and texture, especially when fresh tomatoes are out of season.
Recipe developer J. Kenji López-Alt recommends canned tomatoes for cooked dishes like channa masala. Culinary expert Daniel Gritzer also favors them for sauces during colder months, when supermarket tomatoes may lack the flavor of ripe summer produce.
The best part? You can turn a can of whole peeled tomatoes into a smooth sauce, chunky pasta topping, or hearty soup. Crush them by hand for a rustic texture or blend them for a smoother finish.
However, when tomatoes star in a fresh salad or raw sauce, ripe fresh tomatoes still deserve the spotlight.
Pumpkin Purée
Making pumpkin pie from scratch sounds charming until you’re standing in the kitchen trying to turn a giant pumpkin into smooth purée. That’s where canned pumpkin comes in.
Chef Tim Hollingsworth recommends canned pumpkin because of its creamy, consistent texture. Unlike homemade purée, which may contain excess moisture, the canned version is ready to measure and mix into your favorite recipe.
It works beautifully in pumpkin pie, muffins, quick breads, cakes, and scones. You also skip the roasting, scooping, blending, and draining that homemade pumpkin purée often requires.
Just remember to choose plain pumpkin purée instead of pumpkin pie filling. The latter already contains sweeteners and spices, which can throw off your recipe.
Sweet Corn
There’s something special about biting into fresh corn on the cob, especially during summer. But when you’re adding corn to a busy weeknight dinner, canned kernels can make life much easier.
Chef Barry Tonkinson recommends canned corn when a dish needs a little sweetness and color without all the preparation.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver also uses canned sweet corn in his spicy corn-and-chickpea burgers. His recipe combines the drained ingredients into patties while keeping some texture instead of blending everything completely smooth.
You can also toss canned corn into chowder, fritters, salads, or a quick skillet meal. Fresh corn might win when you’re serving it straight off the cob, but canned kernels are incredibly handy when corn is just one part of the dish.
Butter Beans
Butter beans have a soft, creamy texture that makes them perfect for comforting meals. If you’ve ever cooked dried beans, you know they can take a lot of time and planning.
Gordon Ramsay uses canned butter beans in his tray-baked chicken recipe with leeks and spinach. You add the beans straight to the dish after draining and rinsing, skipping the need to cook dried beans separately.
Their mild flavor works well with garlic, herbs, chicken, and rich sauces. They’re also excellent in soups, warm vegetable dishes, and creamy bean dips.
For busy home cooks, canned butter beans offer an easy way to make dinner feel more substantial without adding another pot to the stove.
Chickpeas
If you’ve ever forgotten to soak dried chickpeas overnight, you already know why canned ones are so appealing.
J. Kenji López-Alt actually compared canned chickpeas with dried chickpeas cooked from scratch when developing his channa masala recipe. Although he initially expected the dried version to perform better, he found the differences shrank after cooking them in the seasoned sauce.
That’s good news for anyone who loves a quick chickpea curry.
Canned chickpeas also work in hummus, veggie burgers, and tomato-based stews. For curry, López-Alt recommends draining and rinsing the chickpeas before simmering them in the sauce for about 30 minutes.
That extra simmering time allows them to absorb more of the dish’s flavor instead of tasting like plain chickpeas added at the last minute.
Olive-Oil-Packed Tuna
Fresh tuna steaks have their place, but canned tuna can make an excellent meal without grilling or searing.
Ina Garten uses Italian-style tuna packed in olive oil for her tuna-and-hummus sandwiches. She combines the fish with lemon, mustard, cornichons, and some of its own packing oil.
That last detail is particularly useful. Instead of throwing away all the oil, she saves a little to bind the ingredients.
Good canned tuna works beautifully in sandwiches, pasta, and hearty salads. Its texture makes it especially suitable for dishes where you flake the fish and mix it with other ingredients.
It won’t replace a perfectly seared tuna steak, but for an easy lunch, it’s hard to beat.
Related:10 Unhealthy Condiments and Their Healthier Substitutes
Artichoke Hearts
Preparing fresh artichokes can feel like a cooking project. There’s trimming, boiling, and removing the fuzzy choke before you finally get to the tender heart.
Fortunately, canned artichoke hearts eliminate much of that work.
Chef Cat Cora uses canned artichoke hearts packed in water for her spinach-artichoke dip. She also incorporates them into an artichoke spread served with bread and eggs.
Because these dishes call for chopped or blended artichokes, you don’t need to start with whole fresh artichokes.
For the best results, drain the hearts before adding them to dips. Also, check whether you’re buying water-packed or oil-marinated artichokes, since the extra seasonings can change the finished dish.
Related: 6 Canned Foods You Can Enjoy Straight from the Can
Coconut Milk
Coconut milk can transform a simple curry or soup into something rich and comforting. And thankfully, you don’t need to grate and press fresh coconut to enjoy it.
Chef Shea Stewart recommends coconut milk for curries, soups, braised dishes, and desserts. He looks for products with a high coconut concentration and a rich consistency, not overly diluted options.
Canned coconut milk works well in coconut curry, pumpkin chowder, seafood stews, and creamy puddings.
You may notice that the coconut cream sometimes separates from the thinner liquid inside the can. That’s not necessarily a problem. Simply stir the contents together unless your recipe calls for using the thick cream separately.
Chopped Clams
Fresh clams make an impressive seafood dinner, but preparing them can involve more work than you expected.
Canned chopped clams offer a practical shortcut, particularly for recipes where the clams will be mixed into a sauce or topping.
Chef Tony Liu has used canned clams for garlic clam bread at the Queensboro restaurant in New York. Pizza expert Peter Reinhart also recommends canned clams for his white clam pan pizza.
One useful trick is to save the liquid in the can. Both chefs have used reduced clam juice to add more flavor to their dishes.
Canned chopped clams can also work in pasta sauces and seafood soups. They won’t recreate the experience of freshly steamed whole clams, but they’re a convenient option for recipes that call for chopped seafood.
The Bottom Line
Fresh food doesn’t automatically mean better cooking, and professional chefs understand that convenience and consistency matter.
The real secret is knowing when a canned ingredient fits the recipe. Tomatoes are excellent for simmered sauces, pumpkin purée simplifies baking, and canned chickpeas make homemade curry much easier.
So the next time you’re grocery shopping, don’t rush past the canned food aisle. Some of the ingredients sitting on those shelves might be exactly what your next delicious meal needs.
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