A familiar ingredient in many recipes is a can of condensed cream soup such as cream of mushroom or cream of celery. But sometimes you need a quick substitute for a can of cream soup in your casserole or other recipe. For me this happened on a very cold and snowy winter day. I discovered I was missing my last needed ingredient of cream of celery soup and there was no way I was running to the store in a blizzard to get it. Instead I just made my own condensed cream soup substitute and now I’m using this strategy more and more!

Ingredients to Make Your Own Condensed Cream Soups

The ingredients needed for your homemade cream soups are familiar kitchen items. Many cooks will also recognize this as the method to make a “white sauce”, a versatile sauce that’s been around a long time and can be used in many ways.

And I think these ingredients are so easy to remember too. A couple of tablespoons of butter and a couple tablespoons of flour with a cup of milk. I then use a 1/4 cup of whatever I’m using to flavor my cream soup. I’ve used this for homemade cream of celery soup, and homemade cream of mushroom soup, but you could also do this with chicken, potato, or onion too. Finally I add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt which is equal to a low-sodium cream soup, but you can adjust the salt up or down to your liking.

Cooking Your Cream Soup Substitute

Once again, if you have ever made a white sauce you’ll be familiar with the cooking steps for this homemade version of a can of condensed cream soup.

To begin, you’ll melt the butter in a small saucepan with your finely diced celery, or mushrooms, or whatever flavor you are using. Once the butter is melted, you’ll saute the veggies for a few minutes.

Next you’ll stir in the flour until it’s well mixed in, and then you’ll slowly add in the milk, gently stirring as you go until there are no lumps. Finally, stir in the salt.

Now all that’s left to do is keep stirring your mixture for another 2 or 3 minutes over low heat and your mixture should thicken up nicely. Your homemade cream soup is complete!

Using Your DIY Condensed Cream Soup

Once I’m done cooking my DIY condensed cream soup, I usually let it cool off a bit so it’s done steaming before I add it to my casserole ingredients. If you let this homemade mixture set for several hours however, it will thicken up a bit more. If that’s the case, you may have to add a small amount of milk to make it smoother again.

You should find, however, that you can use this mixture in the same way you would use a store-bought can of condensed cream soup. Just substitute this mixture and stir it into your recipe instead of opening a can.

And you get to decide your level of sodium too. There’s no need to pay more for a can of low sodium condensed soup when you can use this mixture and control the salt yourself. Another bonus when you just make your own!