I Tried 5 Store-Bought Minestrone Soups & The Best Was Full of Veggies and Umami

Minestrone is a wintertime classic, whether you're "souping" to lose weight or just looking to warm up.

If you'd rather not spend the time to dice a mountain of veggies and simmer a tomato broth from scratch, you can find plenty of options for store-bought minestrone in the grocery aisles. But they're far from equal. Some soups are salt-free, others are beefed up with sausage or other atypical additions.

I sampled five canned and jarred options from easy-to-find brands in search of the best-tasting minestrone on the market. From Campbell to Rao's, I heated and tasted each minestrone straight from the jar to compare looks, nutrition facts, and, most importantly, taste.

Here's how these five store-bought minestrone soups ranked in descending order, from my least favorite to the very best.

Health Valley Minestrone Soup

This soup contains small shell-shaped noodles and organic veggies, including peas, green beans, and spinach. It has a tiny amount of sodium and added sugar in the form of evaporated cane juice. A can cost me $5.99.

The look: This was the thickest and most dense soup I sampled. It's stew-like with a darker brownish broth. The carrots are perfectly diced into tiny cubes and the large peas are bordering on brown.

The taste: This minestrone had a strong taste of the can and not much else. The broth was bland (not surprising, given the meager 45 milligrams of sodium), and the veggies and shells were mushy.

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Campbell's Chunky Minestrone with Italian Sausage

This is the only meat-containing minestrone I sampled. It's from Campbell's Chunky line and includes pieces of Italian sausage with spiral-shaped fusilli noodles. Thanks to the sausage, this soup has slightly more protein and more saturated fat than the others I tried. A can cost me $5.39.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

The look: Campbell's chunky minestrone had a nice ratio of broth to fillings. Unfortunately, most of the noodles were broken. The sausage was crumbled into small lumps, and the veggies (carrots, celery, and potatoes) were randomly chopped.

The taste: The sausage had become soft and flavorless, while the broth was overly salty. The noodles were very soft and almost dissolved into the broth. There was a good supply of vegetables, but the salty broth and a canned tomato flavor dominated this soup.

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Progresso Minestrone

Progresso's classic minestrone contains carrots, celery, kidney beans, green beans, peas, chickpeas, spinach, and penne noodles. It's sweetened with added sugar and enriched with soybean oil. A can cost me $4.43.

The look: This soup had the darkest broth of the bunch. It was brownish-orange with specks of dried herbs. The minestrone was thinner than others, with fewer veggies and beans compared to the amount of broth.

The taste: The Progresso minestrone was very herby with a strong oregano flavor. The beans and chickpeas stayed firm, and the noodles were intact. The veggies weren't too mushy, and though there was a lot of broth, it didn't taste overly salty.

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Amy's Minestone

Amy's vegetarian minestrone is made with organic ingredients, including the typical minestrone veggies plus potatoes, kidney beans, leeks, and herbs. The noodles are wavy little radiatore pasta. It has a moderate amount of sodium. A can cost me $5.99.

The look: This soup had a great ratio of broth to other ingredients. The broth was brighter red than others with a good amount of meaty kidney beans and veggies in the mix, especially leeks and onions.

The taste: This minestrone tasted lighter and fresher than others. It had a slight sweetness and the fun radiatore noodles added texture and chew. It's full of tiny diced onions, which likely enhance the sweetness.

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Rao's Minestrone

Rao's soups come in clear glass jars, rather than cans. The minestrone is made with whole and crushed tomatoes and dainty ditalini pasta. This soup also contains potatoes, zucchini, peas, green beans, and kidney and garbanzo beans. The 16-ounce jar cost me $5.54.

The look: The various vegetables are perfectly diced into quarter-inch cubes, which makes this soup easy to spoon. It has a deep red broth and lots of tube-shaped noodles.

The taste: The tomatoes gave this soup a rich, umami-packed flavor. The broth was well seasoned and herby but not overpowering or too salty. The veggies held their shape and crunch, and the noodles were intact and still had a touch of chew. I liked the garlicky broth and the note of richness from parmesan cheese.

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