The Ultimate Ranking Of Canned Cream Of Mushroom Soups

It's a good idea to keep some cream of mushroom soup on hand in the kitchen. Whether you want to use it as a base for gravy, sauce, or casserole, cream of mushroom soup offers a shortcut for a wide variety of applications. Of course, you could always just slice up some fresh mushrooms and make some cream of mushroom from scratch, which can be deliciously rewarding — but that definitely takes more time and effort. There's no doubt that it's much easier to just pop open a can and start cooking.

The trouble is that there are a lot of canned cream of mushroom soup brands to pick from. While some brands are cheap, they can also be rather bland and shockingly high in sodium. On the other hand, soup recipes that use higher-quality ingredients can be expensive. With so many different types to pick from in the soup aisle, it can be difficult to know which ones are worth it.

Even if you tend to stick with the same brand of cream of mushroom soup, you might find yourself wondering what other brands are better or at least worth trying out. In our quest to make grocery shopping a little easier on you, we've taken it upon ourselves to shine a light on some popular soup brands to help steer you in the right direction. Here is the ultimate ranking of canned cream of mushroom soups, leading up to the best.

Vogue Cuisine specializes in soup bases, many of which are low-sodium. Some of the company's flavors include Vegetarian Beef, Vegetarian Chicken, and an Instant Onion Soup Base. Although Vogue's beef and chicken soup mixes don't actually contain any meat, the company mimics a meaty flavor profile with a mix of vegetable-based ingredients like garlic powder, onion powder, soy flour, minced carrot, and turmeric. Vogue also produces a mushroom soup and seasoning base made with natural and non-GMO ingredients.

Credit where it's due: Vogue definitely gets points for keeping its recipes nice and simple. The company's mushroom soup is mostly just made with corn starch, maltodextrin, torula yeast, corn oil, and dehydrated mushrooms. The soup base is then mixed with milk or water and simmered. The issue here is with the taste and texture. Customers report that this mushroom soup is a bit bland and very resistant to thickening. Granted, mushroom soup tends to have a fairly simple taste, but at the very least, the earthy flavor of mushrooms should shine though. Yet, that doesn't seem to be the case with this soup mix. In fact, customers suggest that this functions better as a subtle seasoning than as a soup base.

At the end of the day, we're judging all these cream of mushroom soups by their ingredient quality, taste, texture, and affordability. Not only is this mix a bit expensive, it also doesn't really pack a punch when it comes to flavor.

Publix has its own line of store-brand goods that offers everything from potato salad and rotisserie chicken to old-fashioned lemonade and yogurt. Among its many products, Publix also offers a variety of canned soups, including cream of mushroom soup. Most of the time, Publix's brand offers good-quality products for great value, but every once in a while, it misses the mark. Such is the case with the company's cream of mushroom soup.

Publix's cream of mushroom soup is mostly made with water, mushrooms, wheat flour, and soybean oil. The problem here isn't necessarily with the ingredients but with the overall flavor of this soup. Shoppers tend to notice a strange aftertaste with this soup. While the initial taste of the soup starts off just fine, the flavor quickly devolves and unpleasantly lingers. Publix's soup is cheaper than most other brands, so it may be a good choice for shoppers on a budget — but the soup itself will probably need some doctoring to be more palatable. Perhaps a touch of extra cream, garlic, and onion would improve this. But because we are judging these soups based on their taste right out of the can, we are ranking this one on the lower end.

Without a doubt, the main thing Kroger's cream of mushroom soup has going for it is the price. At only about a buck a pop, this is definitely one of the cheapest canned cream of mushroom soups on this list. At a time when food prices are climbing the fastest they have in generations, shoppers are definitely feeling the squeeze, so we appreciate any brand that's putting low-cost food on the shelves. Kroger's inexpensive price lands it a few notches above the other soups on this list, but compared to other brands, the texture leaves much to be desired.

Some shoppers have reported that this cream of mushroom soup has a gooey texture that's quite unappetizing. When it comes to cream of mushroom soup (or any soup, for that matter) texture plays a major role in its overall appeal. Cream of mushroom soup shouldn't be too thick or too thin — we're looking for a happy medium that strikes the right balance. But Kroger's cream of mushroom soup ends up falling flat in striking that balance. Instead, it embodies a somewhat gelatinous consistency. This is something that can happen with corn starch, which is in the recipe. While this soup may not be ideal for eating straight out of the can, we could imagine this functioning better as an ingredient in a gravy or casserole.

Campbell's is one of the most familiar and recognizable soup brands in the country. Selling canned soups for more than a century, the company offers a wide variety of products, including chicken noodle soup and tomato soup. Campbell's also makes canned cream of mushroom soup that's mostly made with water, mushrooms, vegetable oil, modified cornstarch, wheat flour, salt, and cream. Campbell's cream of mushroom soup also contains monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Campbell's cream of mushroom soup has a decent mushroom flavor that's quickly overpowered by the taste of salt. The texture is creamy and there are little minced pieces of mushrooms scattered throughout the soup. This soup tastes best when the saltiness is tamed a bit with some added milk or cream, and then topped with some fresh sauteed mushrooms. But right out of the can, we feel this soup's saltiness is too strong, which makes sense: consuming a single 10.5-ounce can of this contains over 90% of the sodium recommended for an entire day. Still, Campbell's is so ubiquitous that it has a familiar taste that's undeniably comforting. Taking everything into consideration, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup will suffice in a pinch, but there are definitely tastier canned options on the market.

Great Value is one of Walmart's in-store brands. While Walmart is known for its low prices, the company's Great Value line tends to offer products that are even cheaper. The extent of Great Value's grocery goods is astoundingly expansive, selling everything from canned chili and tater tots to pickled jalapenos and slabs of hickory-smoked bacon. Great Value also sells a variety of canned soups, including cream of mushroom soup.

At under a dollar per can, this is certainly one of the cheapest canned soups we've encountered. The texture is a little on the thin side and customers seem to be divided over the quality. While some say that they can't detect any difference between this soup and bigger brand names, others report that this soup doesn't have much flavor beyond an intense saltiness. Equally disappointing is its jiggly texture. At the same time, others say it makes for a great gravy and has sizable chunks of mushrooms in it. We're giving the soup some points for its affordable price tag and chunky mushrooms, but also docking it a few points for being a little too salty to enjoy right out of the can as is. The bottom line is that Great Value's cream of mushroom soup is a cheap option for sauces and gravies. But if you just want a simple bowl of soup, there are better options.

Happy Belly is an Amazon food brand. It sells just about every type of food product imaginable, from trail mix and chocolate chip cookies to spices and coffee. Happy Belly also sells an assortment of canned goods like sliced peaches, garbanzo beans, and soups. Happy Belly's cream of mushroom soup is affordable and its ingredients mirror many of the other canned soups on this list. Mostly containing water, mushrooms, wheat flour, and soybean oil, this soup still somehow manages to taste better than Campbell's. With its cheaper price tag and richer flavor, it's no wonder that some shoppers are ditching Campbell's and opting for Happy Belly instead.

After more than 7,000 reviews from customers on Amazon, this canned mushroom soup has a nearly perfect rating. The general consensus is that this tastes just as good, if not better, than other leading brands. As a condensed soup, the texture on this is extremely thick — so thick, in fact, that customers say it won't even drip out of the can if it's turned upside down. Another good thing about this soup is that it features a peel back lid. This may seem like a trivial detail, but if you've ever found yourself without a can opener handy, you're well aware that a peel-off lid is a life-saver. While there is nothing necessarily wrong with this soup, there's also nothing really exceptional about it either, which is why it lands near the middle of our ranking.

Like Campbell's, Progresso is another big brand that's practically synonymous with soup. The company's eclectic product line includes traditional soups, low-sodium options, vegetable-based recipes, and even spicier soups under its Spice It Up section. One thing that makes Progresso's Creamy Mushroom canned soup a bit better than other canned mushroom soups is the fact that it uses portobello mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms are regarded for their rich flavor, which gives Progresso's Creamy Mushroom soup a deeper flavor.

The recipe for this soup also contains other ingredients, including mushroom extract, cream, butter, garlic powder, and dried parsley. The addition of dried parsley gives the soup a little touch of herbaceousness that's missing from a lot of other canned cream of mushroom soups. In fact, this soup is so tasty that some customers claim that it's their favorite Progresso soup on the market. Between Progresso's choice to use portobello mushrooms for some more pronounced flavor and some dried herbs in the recipe, this is definitely a solid choice as far as cheap canned soup is concerned. Still, there are other soups with higher-quality ingredients that are more flavorful than this.

Whole Foods is known for featuring natural and organic products. The company offers a higher caliber of freshness and quality that's typically harder to track down in other stores. Like many other grocery store chains, Whole Foods also produces its own line of goods, including cream of mushroom soup.

Whole Foods' cream of mushroom soup is mostly made with water, light cream, mushrooms, and onions. But the recipe also includes a few ingredients that nudge it ahead of the other soups on this list. The inclusion of sherry wine adds subtle notes of fruitiness and nuttiness to the flavor and aroma of this mushroom soup. There is also thyme in the recipe which imparts some earthy undertones. This cream of mushroom soup definitely offers a complexity of flavor that's hard to find in pre-prepared soups.

At the same time, like many products at Whole Foods, this soup is rather expensive. The cost of this is significantly higher than many other soups in our ranking. The richness of this soup pushes it ahead of many others on this list, but it's still hard to justify the price. If it were a little more affordable, this soup would place higher in our overall ranking of it.

It's not easy to find a cream of mushroom soup that's dairy-free. Whether it's due to dietary restrictions or other health issues, many customers prefer to reduce or eliminate dairy from their diets. Because cream of mushroom soup tends to be made with milk or cream, it's one of those canned soups that can be difficult to track down a dairy-free version of. The good news is that Imagine makes a dairy-free portobello mushroom soup that's a good option. One customer on Amazon happily reports, "This is the only decent dairy-free mushroom soup that I have found."

Among other ingredients, this mushroom soup contains portobello mushrooms, organic onions, organic potatoes, and organic celery. Even though there is no dairy in this soup, it still manages to deliver some remarkable creaminess, which is most likely due to a clever and tasty combination of potatoes and tapioca starch. We're giving this soup a boost in our ranking for achieving an impressive amount of creaminess without resorting to dairy, and for providing a viable dairy-free option for health-conscious consumers. This soup also happens to be relatively affordable considering it comes in a 32-ounce carton, which is much larger than many other cans on this list. Between its surprisingly good flavor, low cost, and healthy ingredients, Imagine's Portobello Mushroom Creamy Soup lands well above average in our ranking.

Compared to a lot of other canned soups, Health Valley contains a lot less sodium. One full can of Health Valley's Organic Cream of Mushroom Soup has about 33% of the daily recommended amount of sodium, which is far more reasonable than some other brands in this ranking. Of course, less sodium translates into a soup that's much less salty, which is a good thing in our book. We'd much rather be in more control of how much salt we add to our soup, rather than letting the manufacturer add a lot of it during production.

Some of the ingredients in this soup include organic portobello mushrooms, organic soy sauce, organic mushroom powder, and organic carrot puree. Customers report that although this soup is a little pricey, it tastes like it's homemade. At the end of the day, isn't that what we're all hoping for when we buy canned soup? Health Valley holds true to the promise of its name with this soup, offering a flavorful product with organic ingredients that are also lower in sodium. Factoring all of that in, we place Health Valley's mushroom soup into top-tier territory.

Simple Truth is an in-store brand by Kroger. Simple Truth aims to offer shoppers higher-quality food products for a good value with more natural and organic options. The company's cream of mushroom soup is certified organic and has a fairly short list of simple ingredients.

Some of this soup's ingredients include organic mushrooms, organic cream, and organic soy protein. A lot of other healthier soups tend to be a little on the thinner side, but that's not the case with this soup. It has a thicker consistency that makes it good for a hearty soup, but also great for other applications like sauces and gravies. It might be a little more expensive than some of the other leading brands, but it also contains much better ingredients. While the soup has a great flavor, it's also wildly high in sodium. Despite this, it somehow doesn't necessarily have an overly salty taste, but its high sodium makes us reluctant to bring this soup into our regular rotation. Instead, this one's better for occasional use. If this soup contained a little less salt, it would've placed even higher in our ranking.

Pacific Foods differentiates itself from many other brands by offering a wide range of plant-based soups and other plant-based products. The company offers everything from soups made with oat milk, organic cumin, and carrots to classic tomato soup and butternut squash soup. Pacific Foods also produces a few plant-based chilis, like White Bean Verde and Harvest Black Bean. Pacific Foods makes organic canned cream of mushroom soup with one of the shortest and simplest ingredient lists in our entire ranking.

Pacific Foods' organic canned cream of mushroom soup only contains water, mushrooms, cream, cornstarch, rice flour, sea salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Aside from the water and sea salt, all of those ingredients are organic. The end result is a soup that tastes fresher and much less processed than many other brands, which is why this soup has landed so high on our list. If the soup had just a little more complexity — a touch of dried herbs or bigger chunks of mushrooms, perhaps — this may have ranked even higher. Still, the flavor of this is rich and tastes great for a canned soup.

Known for its rich bone broths, Kettle and Fire simmers its bones for up to 24 hours in order to let the collagen fully break down. The company uses bones from cattle and chicken that are humanely raised and the broths don't contain any added preservatives or artificial flavors. The final outcome is nutritious and tasty and just about as close to homemade as you can get for pre-made soups and broths. Kettle and Fire's Mushroom Bisque has a velvety texture thanks to the organic chicken bone broth in the recipe along with plenty of other high-quality ingredients.

This mushroom bisque also contains organic heavy cream, parmesan cheese, thyme, lemon juice, and white pepper. The vegetable broth in the recipe is made with ingredients that include fennel, leeks, tamarind paste, and shiitake mushrooms. In other words, there's a lot going on here, flavorwise: bland, this bisque certainly is not. Still, at around 10 bucks a pop, this is definitely pricey stuff. When it comes to the quality of ingredients and flavor, this is definitely one of the best mushroom soups around. But we're looking for that perfect balance of taste, quality, and cost — and soup one fails to hit the mark for affordability.

Amy's was one of the first companies on the scene to mass-produce organic food products. In fact, as the Department of Agriculture developed its first standards for organic certification, it decided to get some direction from Amy's, since the company was so knowledgeable in the field. Not only are Amy's products healthier than a lot of other brands on the market, they're also tastier, too. The same certainly could be said for Amy's Mushroom Bisque, which takes the crown here for the best canned cream of mushroom soup.

This soup strikes the sweet spot when it comes to freshness, quality, and cost. Sure, it costs a little more than some of the brands on this list, but not so much that it's overpriced and vastly inaccessible. In this case, the extra couple of bucks it costs is worth every penny. Some customers have said, point-blank: "This is hands down the best canned soup I have ever tasted and I would also say the best mushroom soup period." Made with ingredients like wild porcini mushrooms, organic leeks, heavy cream, and cracked black pepper, this soup is buttery and infused with the rich taste of mushrooms we're hoping for in a canned mushroom soup. This soup doesn't just meet our expectations; it surpasses them in every way.