The Discontinued Store-Bought Soup We're Still Mourning

Soup is a dish that satisfies in all seasons, but for busy home cooks, it can be hard to find time to start from scratch. Instead, many find a favorite quick-and-easy, store-bought option and come to rely on that brand to feed themselves and their families. 

So, when you discover that a great go-to canned soup has been discontinued, it can be more than a little distressing. Sadly, it's a fairly common phenomenon as evidenced by our selection of 12 discontinued soups we aren't getting back. However, one brothy loss we're still majorly lamenting is Wolfgang Puck Organic Chicken Noodle Soup. 

This soup was packed with hearty flavor, thanks to quality ingredients like organic free-range chicken and savory veggie broth — along with a healthy dose of organic egg noodles. Although the Puck brand was acquired by Campbell's in 2008, it ultimately didn't survive the grocery store shelf wars. Eventually, it quietly disappeared from the market, and while we've had to pivot to find ways to replace this soup, we remember it fondly for many reasons. 

There is much to mourn about this particular can of comfort. For one thing, the ingredients were familiar and free of the filler, synthetic flavors, preservatives, and other additives common to some canned soups. It included elements like vegetable stock, egg noodles, carrots, chicken, and flavorful spices like paprika. And that organic designation applied to everything on the label, right down to the garlic and onion powder. Soup lovers could count on this brand to deliver all the goodness you expect from chicken noodle soup (and even included turmeric, a natural anti-inflammatory that also contributes flavor and color to dishes).

While the soup wasn't a friendly option for those who adhere to vegetarian or gluten-free diets, and at 37% of your daily value per serving size, the sodium level might have raised some eyebrows, it appealed to shoppers in search of non-GMO products. If you opted for the microwave method, it was also ready in under three minutes, making it a kind of "fast food" many consumers felt good about.

While Wolfgang Puck Organic Chicken Noodle Soup may be no more, there are alternatives that may fit the bill. In fact, we tasted and ranked 9 canned chicken noodle soups and can confidently say that Progresso makes a traditional chicken noodle that scratches the itch for a just-like-homemade soup.

Of course, if you just can't imagine another canned soup coming close to Wolfgang Puck's, you can always try your hand at a classic chicken noodle soup recipe at home, or go with a slow cooker version that allows you to be a little more hands-off while still achieving that artisanal flavor.

The Wolfgang Puck soup label suggested you lay fresh some dill over your bowl as an aromatic and flavorful garnish (that adds a pop of color, too). Just because we can't get our hands on this soup anymore doesn't mean we can't still apply this good advice to other options. And speaking of advice, when it comes to your favorite store-bought soup, always stock up — and savor every spoonful as if it may be your last.