Easy recipes you can make from pantry essentials
Cooking from the larder

Corn fritters

Corn fritters, made with canned sweetcorn, make a great breakfast, brunch or light meal. They made a quick and easy savory base for poached eggs and salmon, or if you're more limited with fresh foods, serve with fried corned beef or tomato chutney. If you don't have fresh eggs, dried egg white powder, which you reconstitute, will do the job to bind the mixture together before frying.
Hummus

Hummus is just what you need for lunch when you are stuck indoors. If you don't have fresh lemon juice, you can use lemon juice from a bottle. Jazz it up with some puréed red peppers from a jar, or a purée of frozen broad beans. Cracker thins or breadsticks are great to dip into this chickpea and tahini dish.
Salmon fish cakes

A can of salmon is a very useful store cupboard item, especially to make fish cakes. If you're limited, use frozen mashed potato or canned ready-cooked potatoes rather than making fresh mash. Our recipe uses smoked salmon and smoked mackerel, but just substitute the same weight of canned salmon, or mix it up with some canned sardines.
Pasta puttanesca

With not a fresh ingredient in sight (unless you have fresh herbs in the garden), pasta puttanesca is one of the ultimate pantry recipes. It's best with a long pasta, like spaghetti or linguine, and all you need for the sauce is canned tomatoes, capers, olives, anchovies, dried chili flakes and olive oil.
Thai red pepper soup

A warm, comforting soup made from jars and packets is just what you need when you're stuck in the house. This spicy Thai-inspired soup uses jarred roasted red peppers and red curry paste, and is topped with spicy seeds. The topping requires an egg white but you can substitute with oil or egg white powder. Served with bread, crunchy flatbreads or crackers, it's an easy, nourishing meal.
Potato and mushroom bake

Tarka dahl

Tarka dahl, meaning spiced lentils, is a nourishing, high protein dish which you can serve with rice. Lentils are a brilliant pantry savior and you can find prepared garlic and ginger pastes in the supermarket too. If you don't have any fresh cilantro, dried will do the job. Substitute fresh chili for chili flakes, and you're on your way to a great meal.
Tomato pasta sauce

Veggie bean chili

With cans of different beans in the cupboard, combined with a can of tomatoes or passata, you can have a high protein meal on the table in no time at all. You could combine kidney beans, black beans and white beans – whatever's available. Add the rinsed beans to fried onions or carrot. If you have some grated cheese in the fridge, even better. Try our recipe which you can adapt to what you have.
Tuna burritos

Chickpea curry

This spicy and fragrant curry feeds four with just three cans of chickpeas and a can of tomatoes, plus dried spices from the cupboard. Instead of the fresh ginger, you can use ginger paste from a jar and if you've got any fresh veg that needs using up, just chuck it in. Serve with rice or, our personal favorite, poppadoms. Make sure you have a box of the dried thin, crispy flatbreads in stock which you can shallow fry when you want them.
Tomato risotto

A risotto with a twist, this version is baked in the oven and needs just one stir. It's made with passata and served with a homemade winter pesto, but you can just use any sort of pesto from a jar. The Parmesan chips which go with it are divine.
Beans and potato pie

A true comfort food dish, you can use all different types of beans, including baked beans, to make this sweet potato mash-topped pie. You could also happily use frozen white potato mash or mash up a can of potatoes if you don't have anything fresh to hand.
Spaghetti with garlic and chili

A fab 10-minute dish where fresh ingredients can easily be substituted. A jar or tube of garlic purée comes in very handy and, while you can use fresh chili, dried chili flakes work just as well.
Mushroom risotto

You can make a brilliant mushroom risotto using dried mushrooms. To serve four, using 500g (1lb 2oz) risotto rice, you'll need to soak 75g (3oz) dried mushrooms in hot water. Porcini are the best but they can be pricey, so use a mixture if you like. Strain after 15 minutes through a sieve, keeping the water as stock. Sauté the mushrooms before adding to the risotto. Follow our recipe as a guide.
Corned beef hash

Jackfruit curry

Jackfruit comes ready-prepared in a can so this spicy curry, with tomato passata and coconut cream, needs only 10 minutes of preparation. It has a good kick of chili, ginger and garlic (again you can use a prepared jar). It's served on a bed of rice but you could enjoy alongside any grain you have, such as quinoa or bulgur wheat.
Bean and pasta broth

When you're in need of a healthy, nourishing meal, bean and pasta broth really hits the spot. Use whichever canned beans or even chickpeas you have in the cupboard. Our recipe uses vegetable stock which would be even more warming if you replace half the stock with tomato passata. If you don't have macaroni, use any small pasta shape you have to hand such as fusilli or orecchiette.
Stir-fried noodles

Pasta and chickpea stew

A rather ingenious recipe using 100% store cupboard items, including a can of spaghetti hoops! For this take on the classic Italian dish, pasta e fagioli (which literally translates to pasta and beans), you could substitute the hoops with the same amount of cooked macaroni. It's a recipe the kids will love, although you may prefer to omit the chili at the end.
Curried lentil and tomato soup

Soup, fortified with hearty lentils, is a wholesome meal in a bowl. For four, fry an onion then add garlic paste and ginger (from a jar), 1tsp of each. Add 1–2tbsp medium curry powder or paste. Stir well, add 200g (7oz) red lentils, plus a can each of chopped tomatoes and coconut milk. Simmer gently until the lentils are cooked and season with salt and pepper. If you have fresh cilantro or mint, add it at the end. It also freezes brilliantly.
Marmite (yeast extract spread) spaghetti

Frozen pea risotto

One of the best standby recipes when there's not much in the house is a frozen pea risotto. Use our risotto recipe as a base and add around 200g (7oz) thawed, frozen peas. You could even purée half the peas to stir in at the end. Or mix and match with frozen broad beans or canned asparagus spears.
Fish curry... or make it veggie

If you have white fish or prawns in the freezer, you can easily rustle up a Southern Indian-style coconut curry. No fish? Make up the base curry sauce from our fish curry recipe but instead, add 100g (3.5oz) cashew nuts, soaked in water for 30 minutes, and chopped drained pineapple from a can. Towards the end of cooking, add a handful of dried curry leaves.
Tuscan tomato soup

This rich, warming soup is made from canned tomatoes which are slowly cooked to bring out the sweetness. Used croutons from a packet if you don't have any bread to hand. Fresh basil is a lovely addition but it's fine if you don't have any.
Soda bread

Soda bread is incredibly easy to make. Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Mix 150g (5oz) wholemeal flour with 150g (5oz) plain flour, 1tsp baking soda and 1tsp salt. Make a well in the center, then add 1tbsp treacle and 300ml (10fl oz) buttermilk or reconstituted milk from powder. If you’re using normal milk, add a squeeze of lemon juice to activate the baking soda. Knead briefly into a round and flatten into a 4cm (1.5in) disk. Put on an oiled baking sheet. Press a cross in the top, brush with milk and bake for 25–30 minutes. You could add mixed seeds or a few raisins.
Tuna and bean salad

Pasta with sardines

Piña colada bread

This is sunshine in a cake, made with coconut milk and canned pineapple. It makes a large cake but you could freeze half or use any leftovers for toasting. It's made from a yeasted dough so you will need to allow time for it to rise.
Peanut butter puddings

Peanut butter, chocolate and caramel – how can you resist? You will need a little butter or margarine for this recipe and some aquafaba, the drained liquid from a can of chickpeas. The puddings are accompanied by a chocolate sorbet which makes this recipe a real treat. It's the warm caramel sauce poured over which is really the icing on the cake!
Fudgy espresso chocolate brownies

This moreish recipe contains neither dairy nor eggs, so it's a perfect pantry bake. You don't even need to use coffee if someone's not too keen. It's a simple mixture which takes just 15 minutes to put together.
Blueberry and macadamia cheesecake

You might not believe it but you won't need soft cheese to make this divine cheesecake. Macadamia nuts or cashews are blitzed with coconut oil and a few other ingredients for the filling, which is poured on to a nutty, coconut base. It's then simply frozen for a few hours before serving. If you have frozen blueberries for the sauce, fantastic. Otherwise, make a purée of dried apricots.
Slow-baked chocolate cookie

This is a recipe for slow-cooker lovers. It makes one large cookie which will feed six and uses simple store cupboard ingredients. If you have ice cream in the freezer to serve it with, even better.
Salty caramel cake

An easy cake which is ready in 20 minutes – what more do you want? And no eggs or butter are needed. The recipe calls for almond butter but it will be equally great made with peanut butter instead.
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