This Canned Good Makes Meatloaf 10x More Flavorful

Meatloaf is a quintessential boomer-era comfort food that, surprisingly, dates back to ancient Rome. Countless variations have materialized in the several centuries it's existed. Before making your usual recipe, consider adding canned French onion soup to meatloaf for ten times the flavor.

This pantry ingredient will take your meatloaf to the next level. It brings a savory, allium-rich flavor to every bite. It can be added to the meat mixture and used as a gravy. More importantly, canned French onion soup guarantees a tender, moist texture, which is key for a dish that can turn out notoriously dry. Canned French onion soup delivers all the concentrated flavor of fresh onions without sacrificing the meatloaf's consistency; large pieces of raw onion can result in a crumblier end result. The canned item also saves you time at the cutting board and stove, considering it takes 45 minutes or so to properly caramelize onions. Quick tip: You can use dried French onion soup mix as a binder in place of breadcrumbs.

With so many canned French onion soups on the market, how can you know which is the best option for adding to meatloaf? Experts have good things to say about canned French onion soups by Cuisine Adventures, Rao's, and Campbell's.

If you prefer to make French onion soup from scratch, don't worry about buying a canned or powdered substitute. A homemade version is totally fair game, and it'll bring nuance and deep flavor to your meatloaf just the same. Meatloaf is a delicious way to use leftover soup, so you don't even need to make it fresh when you make your meatloaf. 

Now that you know this clever pantry hack, it's time to make meatloaf. Start with a traditional meatloaf recipe as the base. Substitute the half-cup of ketchup typically called for with canned French onion soup, saving the rest for the glaze on top. Use the soup to moisten the meat as you mix it or simply caramelize onions and stir them into the meat for a subtler soup-inspired flavor. We also recommend this air fryer meatloaf recipe, which calls for chopped onion; add the canned soup in place of the onion and milk.

You can also turn French onion soup into a thick gravy to go atop your meatloaf in lieu of the expected ketchup glaze. You can partially reduce the soup, then stir in a cornstarch slurry to thicken it into a gravy. Alternatively, you can stir a brown roux into the canned soup until it's gravy-thick in consistency.