Canned soups: our recipes, ready to serve

Soups are liquid dishes based on broth, either clear with garnish or thickened with cream, vegetables, and potatoes. In this category, you will find ready-to-serve soups in 400 ml cans: simply heat them in a pot and eat them directly, without needing to add water or powder. All varieties come from Manufaktur U, the soup brand by Leni & Hans from Nordhorn.

Clear broth or thickened soup: two families in the pot

Every good soup starts with a broth. For a meat broth, soup bones, meat, and root vegetables are simmered in water for a long time until the flavor has been extracted. If the broth is then simply seasoned and served with a garnish, the kitchen refers to it as a clear soup. Classic garnishes include marrow dumplings, egg custard, pieces of meat, or Maultaschen (German-style ravioli). Oxtail soup belongs to this group, as does the "festive soup" (Festtagssuppe) that many families serve before the Christmas roast.

Thickened soups get their creaminess from cream, flour, potatoes, or puréed vegetables. These include cream soups like potato, tomato, or mushroom cream soup, and stew-like varieties such as pea or goulash soup, which are almost an entire meal with their meat, potatoes, and vegetables.

What "ready to serve" means for canned soups

A ready-to-serve soup is fully seasoned and has the right consistency as soon as it is hot. This distinguishes it from soup concentrates and instant broths that first have to be mixed with water. In the can, the soup is heated after sealing and thus preserved, so it does not need a refrigerator when unopened. This is practical for supplies, the office, and vacation homes: a can in the cupboard replaces a delivery service on hectic days.

Manufaktur U: the soup brand by Leni & Hans

Behind Manufaktur U are Kerstin and Stephan Uhlenbusch from Leni & Hans. The ideas and recipes come from them, and the cooking and canning are done according to these recipes in a manufacturing facility they have chosen for this purpose. Each variety bears a name in the first-person singular; the U stands for Uhlenbusch.

The clears: broth with garnish

The oxtail soup is a robust broth made from soup bones and oxtail with marrow dumplings and morels, refined with red wine, sherry, and Madeira. The festive soup contains beef, egg custard, and marrow dumplings in a beef broth, seasoned with pepper and cloves. And the Maultaschen soup features four small Maultaschen floating in a beef broth made from bones and root vegetables.

The creamy and hearty

Our top seller is the potato soup with bacon and cream, seasoned with marjoram and nutmeg. Also very popular are the tomato soup with basil dumplings and the goulash soup with beef, bell peppers, potatoes, and a splash of red wine. For autumn, there is the porcini cream soup with button mushrooms and the game cream soup made from venison and deer bones with venison dumplings. The pea soup with Vienna sausages and cured pork is the heartiest variety on the shelf.

From a quick lunch to a holiday first course

During the week, a can of soup is a lunch in five minutes. Hearty farmhouse bread goes well with goulash soup, rye bread and mustard with pea soup, and ciabatta or a cheese toast with tomato soup. Sprinkle fresh chives over the Maultaschen soup, or slice a sausage into the potato soup.

On weekends and holidays, the clear varieties become a starter: oxtail soup before a Sunday roast, game cream soup before venison roast or venison goulash, and festive soup as the first course at Christmas. With little effort, you can make every variety your own: roasted croutons, a dollop of sour cream, chopped parsley, a few drops of good oil, or sautéed mushrooms on top. If you want to stretch the broth, add cooked pasta or vegetables.

Buying soups: what to look for

• Clear or thickened: Clear soups are lighter and suitable as a starter; thickened soups are filling.
• Garnish: Marrow dumplings, egg custard, Maultaschen, or meat are already included in our cans.
• Base: All varieties from Manufaktur U are based on meat or game broth; there are currently no vegetarian soups in this category.
• Ingredients and allergens: The complete list is available for each product and on the can.
• Storage: Store unopened cans in a cool, dry place; the best-before date is on the can. After opening, transfer leftovers to a lidded container and place them in the refrigerator.
• Heating: Heat in a pot over medium heat while stirring; heat cream soups slowly so they do not stick to the bottom.

More from Cooking & Enjoying

The soups are part of our Cooking & Enjoying category. If you are looking for more, you will find prepared meals in jars by Benz under Meals, such as beef roulades, beef goulash, and pulled pork. And under Pasta, there are small colorful farfalle that make a good soup garnish.

Order soups online

Whether potato soup for a lunch break or oxtail soup for the festive table: at Leni & Hans, you can order soups online, and the cans will reach you in 1–3 days. Unopened, the cans wait in your pantry until you need them.