These seven simple ingredients (okay, eight!) result in the easiest soup on the planet.

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I made this soup on my Food Network show a few weeks ago, and it’s seriously one of those recipes that makes a person say phrases like, “Uh…could you repeat that?” and “Whaaaaa?” and “Crazytown!” and other questions/exclamations that convey surprise over how such a simple list of ingredients could result in something so, so good. 7-Can Soup has been around for a long time, and no two recipes are identical, but they basically amount to this:

* 7 cans of whatever you want. Don’t drain the cans. Just violently throw them into the pot.

* Some kind of gourmet cheese stirred in at the end. And just a warning: My choice of cheese is a little intimidating in its level of sophistication, so I apologize in advance.

Not.

Here are the cans you need for seven can soup! And you can change it up, swap, sub, switch…whatever cans you’d like to use!

From left to right, here are my crazy choices: canned chili (which admittedly is one of the most questionable-looking canned foods known to man), canned corn (I used the Fiesta kind!), canned black beans, canned pinto beans, canned kidney beans, and diced tomatoes.

Now, you may notice that there are only six cans in this photo. That is because I had forgotten to put the can of Ro*tel in the picture. (But I didn’t forget to put it in the soup. It just took me awhile to remember!)

Everything will all make sense in a minute or two, when I actually add an eighth ingredient to the 7-Can Soup that isn’t even a canned ingredient at all, so come to think of it, it won’t make sense in a minute or two.

But that’s what makes life thrilling around my house.

Crack open all the cans and starting pouring them into a pot…

And the magical thing about this soup…

Is that you don’t even have to drain the cans!

And I give you permission to chuckle as you pour in the chili. It’s just so…not a vision of loveliness.

But it is a vision of tastiness! I promise you that.

Stir everything together, bring it to a gentle boil…

And let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until nice and piping hot.

And then…

And then?

Throw in a hunk of Velveeta.

Now, the instructions below will tell you to dice the Velveeta and add it in.

But I love the bold courage of throwing tossing it into the pan in one huge hunk.

Reduce the heat to low and stir the soup until the Velveeta is totally melted. It’ll turn the base gorgeously creamy and you’ll want to dive right in. You will!

Dish it up and add a little cilantro if you have some lying around.

You may be in shock right now. You may be in disbelief. But you’ve gotta give this one a try. It’s curiously delicious!



