Soup, beef broth or bouillon canned, ready-to-serve

This canned, ready-to-serve beef broth is fully cooked and can be poured straight from the can into a pot as the base for soups, stews, French onion soup or braising liquid for pot roast, or used to deglaze a pan after browning beef for a quick jus-style sauce. It's a convenient substitute for homemade beef stock when time is short, and it also works stirred into gravy in place of pan drippings, or simmered with barley and root vegetables for a quick beef and barley soup.

Once the can is opened, transfer any unused broth to a sealed container, refrigerate, and use within a few days, or freeze in smaller portions for later recipes rather than letting an open can sit in the refrigerator. Per 100g it's light at 7 calories and 372mg of sodium, with a cup serving of 240g totaling around 17 calories, so it works mainly as a flavorful, low-calorie cooking liquid rather than a meaningful source of protein, which sits at just 1.14g per 100g, or fat, at 0.22g per 100g. That makes it useful for building a savory base under a soup or braise without adding much bulk to the overall calorie count of the finished dish.