Soup, chicken broth, ready-to-serve

Ready-to-serve chicken broth comes fully cooked and seasoned, ready to sip on its own from a mug or to use as the base liquid for soups, risottos, gravies and sauces, or for cooking rice, quinoa and other grains in place of plain water for extra flavor. It's also useful for deglazing a pan after searing chicken or vegetables, scraping up the browned bits into a quick pan sauce, and it's a common substitute for water when steaming vegetables or simmering mashed potatoes for a savory background note.

Once opened, refrigerate in a sealed container and use within a few days, or freeze in portions like ice cube trays for smaller amounts later, since a full carton is often more than one recipe needs. Per 100g it's very light, just 6 calories and 371mg of sodium, with a cup serving of 249g landing around 15 calories, so it functions mainly as a low-calorie cooking liquid and flavor base rather than a significant source of protein, which sits at just 0.64g per 100g, or of fat, which is 0.21g per 100g. That makes it an easy way to add savory depth to a dish while keeping the overall calorie count of a soup or grain side low.