14 Progresso Soups, Ranked Worst To Best

In the world of ready-to-eat canned soups, Progresso is a heavy hitter. The American company has roots that tie it to Italy, as it was started by a Sicilian immigrant, Giuseppe Uddo. Wanting to recreate the dishes of his homeland, he found there was a lack of proper Italian ingredients, even in a culinary mecca like his new home of New Orleans. First focused on importing canned tomato products, eventually the company grew and began canning their own foods, including the soups that would become synonymous with the Progresso name.

While Progresso's early soup offerings focused on Italian classics, today the company produces almost every soup variety you can think of. When I decided to taste and rank Progresso's soups, the selection was so overwhelming that it took me days to narrow it down to a number that a human, even a soup-loving one such as myself, could reasonably eat without actually becoming soup. I took a look at some of the top-selling Progresso soups from their Traditional and Vegetable Classics lines and pitted them against one another in a no-holds-barred, last-soup-standing taste competition. Which soups were winners, and which should you leave on the shelf? Read on to see my rankings, from worst to best. 

I love broccoli. I love cheese. I expected to love this soup. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. It's basically just a bowl of liquid cheese. There are bits of broccoli floating within, but they're chopped quite small and have a soft, almost mushy texture. It's made with real cream cheese, cheddar, and parmesan, but I found the cheese flavor to have an odd aftertaste that made me hesitate to go back in for another spoonful.

The texture of the cheese base is rich and smooth with a lovely creamy mouthfeel, which is the best thing this soup has going for it. I wanted it to have a more intensely sharp cheddar flavor, and the broccoli to have more bite. Since cheddar and broccoli are the two major elements of this soup, and I didn't particularly enjoy either of them, there wasn't much in this soup for me to like. It's just off.

Even my second-least favorite Progresso soup is still pretty good, and that honor lies with the chicken & herb dumplings variety. The main elements of this soup are chicken broth and spätzle, a type of dumpling that's one of Germany's best-loved dishes. These dumplings are made with egg and flour have a rustic, short noodle-like shape and a chewy texture. Each part of this soup is fine — there are also diced carrots and celery, bits of chicken, and plenty of herbs to enhance the flavor. They just don't come together.

The dumplings don't take up much real estate in this soup, and because they're thick and relatively heavy, they sink to the bottom. It's not a major problem, as it's easy enough to send your spoon on a diving exhibition to pick one up, but this does leave the majority of the soup dumpling-less. The chicken broth has a lovely savory, herbaceous flavor, and just eating that with the vegetables and chicken pieces is fine, it's just not what I signed up for. If the base of the soup was thicker and more concentrated, or the dumplings were lighter or more plentiful, this would work much better.

When it comes to opinions regarding clam chowder, tempers can run high. As a former Boston resident and current denizen of the San Francisco bay area, creamy New England clam chowder is the clearly superior version in my book. That said, I'm not a Manhattan clam chowder hater — it's not that dissimilar to cioppino, another classic San Francisco dish that stews seafood in a tomato-based broth. Progresso's take on Manhattan clam chowder isn't bad, it's just not that exciting.

The broth is described as "rich" but I found it to be fairly light, with a watery tomato flavor. There are plenty of big chunky potatoes and diced carrots to add texture. The best part of this soup is the clam element — the clams are chopped quite small, but that means you get some bits in every bite, and they add a prominent briny flavor to the broth that gives it a fresh, salty, oceanic quality. If you like a very clam-forward chowder, this could be the soup for you. I found it pretty unbalanced.

Part of the Vegetable Classics line, Progresso's creamy mushroom soup is simple. Simplicity is not an inherently bad thing, by any means, but it does make this soup a little bit boring to eat a full serving of. What this soup has going for it is the mushrooms, in both flavor and texture. Portobellos, which are among the most versatile types of mushrooms, are used here, chopped unevenly to give the soup some textural interest, and they have a good solid bite to them — they're not overcooked or mushy at all. Each drop of this soup is infused with a strong, earthy mushroom flavor.

The base of the soup itself is on the thin side for a creamy soup. Again, not necessarily a bad thing, but I did wish it had a touch more viscosity. It comes across more like milk than cream. I also found myself looking for something to add depth, maybe punchier herb or spice flavor, or even a teeny bit more salt to bring out the flavors. As is, it's somewhat one-note.

Progresso is not reinventing the wheel with their chicken noodle soup. One spoonful of this and I'm taken right back to my childhood, staying home sick from school and watching soap operas on the couch. The broth carries the flavor weight here — the noodles, carrots, and chicken are underseasoned and underwhelming on their own, and the chunks of celery are fairly flaccid — but take everything in with a big swig of broth, and it works.

Compared to the chicken soup with dumplings, I much preferred this variety, despite the fact that they're fairly similar soups. Here, the egg noodles float throughout the golden broth so you don't have to hunt for them, and they have a satisfying silky texture without being too soft. Cutting the carrots into larger coin shapes, rather than dicing them, adds more texture and keeps them from losing their structural integrity in the liquid. Overall, this is a solid version of a classic; just don't expect it to knock your socks off.

As a kid who grew up with family in both northern and southern California, I've eaten more than my fair share of split pea soup. For those unfamiliar, there's a golden state institution known as Pea Soup Andersen's, a restaurant and shop that sits right off of the I-5 freeway that beckons people in from their long drives with a charmingly out-of-place windmill and famous split pea soup. I'll spend the rest of my life comparing every bowl of split pea soup I have to those early memories, and while I still have yet to find one that stacks up, Progresso's version is very flavorful.

Bits of tender ham add a smoky, salty bite, and there's a generous amount of chunky vegetables that easily make their way into each spoonful. I enjoyed the combination of textures from the potatoes, carrots, and whole peas. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the soup base itself. Split pea soup should have some thickness, but this one borders on goopy. I had to double check the can to make sure I wasn't supposed to add water. Next time, I might stir in some water or broth to make this soup's texture more appetizing.

It's hard to be mad about any combination of dough, tomato, and cheese. In this variety, Progresso takes a vegetable-packed tomato broth and adds tortellini pasta pockets stuffed with cheese to make a soup that celebrates that classic trio of ingredients. Every element of this soup is tasty, but when they're put together, they don't quite add up to a cohesive whole.

The tortellini are on the large side and there are plenty of them, and the noodle's folded ridges work well as little reservoirs for the tomato broth. While the size is generous, it's also a bit of a drawback, as it's a challenge to eat an entire tortellini in one bite, especially when it's hot. The ricotta, parmesan, and asiago cheese filling can scorch your mouth if you aren't careful. The tomato base is flavorful but falls on the sweet side, especially with the selection of vegetables — carrots, zucchini, onions, and tomatoes all add to the impression of sweetness. It's a little too sweet for my taste, and could use another dimension to balance that out.

With Progresso's Italian roots, I had high expectations for their Italian-style wedding soup. Known as minestra maritata in its homeland, this style of soup varies in its composition by region, but the Italian-American version typically includes meatballs and bitter greens, as well as some kind of small pasta shape. Progresso's mini-meatballs are made from turkey and pork and are served swimming in chicken broth with carrots, spinach, and mezzanini rigati, a tiny, short tube-shaped pasta.

What I like about this soup is how jam-packed it is with ingredients. You'll be hard-pressed to get a spoonful of plain broth here, as the pasta, meatballs, and vegetables seem to enthusiastically leap into every bite. The spinach is well chopped so you don't get any long, slick, hard to eat greens, which I appreciate, and it pervades every ounce of the soup, giving it a unique vegetal and earthy tone. The meatballs are light but quite flavorful, with Romano cheese in addition to the two meats giving them salt and tang. Everything works well together, just like in a successful marriage.

Progresso's beef barley is a soup to keep on hand for a cold day. The broth is on the thin side, but has a deep, rich beef flavor, enhanced by touches of sweetness and umami from tomato paste and chunks of tomato. While generally I preferred soups with at least slightly thicker broths to keep the other ingredients from sinking to the bottom, this was an exception, because the taste was worth a little extra stirring.

A generous amount of diced pieces of beef ensure that, along with the broth, you get plenty of meatiness in every spoonful. There are also diced carrots and celery, which add texture and a sweet and vegetal contrast to the beefiness, along with the tangy tomato. Barley rounds the soup out with its mellow grainy, nutty flavor and firm, chewy mouthfeel. The variety of textures and flavors in this soup had me continually diving back in for another spoonful.

They say that less is more, and with Progresso's lentil soup, that old saw is particularly apt. For a mass-produced canned food, the ingredient list is shockingly short. As for the main elements, the broth consists of water and tomato paste, then there's celery and spinach, and, of course, lentils. Somehow out of that small humble group of, let's be honest, boring-sounding ingredients, Progresso crafts a hearty, rich, and satisfying vegetarian soup. After eating this, I felt full, healthy, and restored.

The lentils maintain their texture in the broth, and have a good size to them. They're also soft enough so that they melt in your mouth, making the simple broth seem richer and creamier than its vegan ingredients indicate. I have two issues with this soup, neither of which are dealbreakers because I still found it enjoyable, but which keep it out of the running for the top spot. First, the whole thing is a little underseasoned. I appreciate that it's not overly salty, but a touch more would be welcome. Secondly, the spinach and celery seemed unnecessary. Unlike in some of the other soups, both were fairly large here, making their mushy texture noticeable and unappealing. Overall, though, this is a tasty soup and a great option for plant-based eaters. 

I love classic New England-style clam chowder, but I'm always wary of any canned version, because I know how horribly it can go wrong. The combination of cream and seafood in the wrong hands can be downright foul, and I've suffered through many gloppy, mushy versions of this dish. Progresso's rendition, fortunately, isn't one of those. It's rich yet balanced, well-seasoned, and loaded with flavorful ingredients in every spoonful.

The soup base is creamy without being heavy or gummy, and has a subtle yet pleasantly salty clam taste. Speaking of clams, there are a lot of them, and they're chopped in fairly large pieces so you get lots of tender, chewy seafood bites. The potatoes, of which there are plenty, are cooked well so they add both firm texture and creaminess. Of all the soups on this list, this can contains the most calories and sodium, which means it's probably not a good everyday meal. As a special treat when you're craving clam chowder, though, it's well worth it.

French onion soup is one of my favorite dishes in the entire world. It's the ultimate combination of sophisticated and comforting. Making it from scratch is quite a challenge, as classic French onion soup needs time and attention to get every element right. Progresso's French onion soup doesn't include the traditional topping of toasted bread and melted Gruyere cheese, and I assumed that without those accoutrements that this version would be boring. To my surprise, I found it to be so wonderfully flavorful that after a few moments I forgot all about the missing toppings.

There's a rich, concentrated depth to the beef broth that's addictively savory, and slices of onion that are cooked to the point that they're soft, but still have a subtle touch of crunchy texture. I'm excited to try this soup with some cheesy toast, but it's also so delicious that I'd happily eat a bowl anytime without any accompaniments. 

I love a rich, comforting creamy tomato soup — preferably with a perfectly cooked, crispy grilled cheese sandwich, but I'll take it either way — and Progresso's version, with the addition of penne pasta, is nearly everything I hoped it would be. When I first tasted it, the sky was grey with rainclouds, and as I gazed out the window with my spoon in hand, I experienced a moment of pure soup bliss. In my mind, there's just no better soup for cold, wintry weather.

The soup base is the true star here. Tomato puree, chicken broth, and just the right amount of cream come together in a velvety, silky, rich liquid that has a bisque-like consistency. The sweet roasted tomato flavor is well concentrated, and there are chunks of tomato to add an extra pop of that flavor. The penne noodles are a bit soft, but not mushy, and have a silky consistency of their own. There's some chopped spinach floating around too, not a big part of the soup but does offer a subtle contrast to the intensity of the tomatoes. I will be enjoying this soup with a grilled cheese at the very first opportunity.

With Progresso's Traditional and Vegetable Classics soups, the general vibe is mellow. There's not a ton of flavor intensity or over-the-top richness or smack-you-in-the-face spice within most of these cans. That's why, when I finally got around to tasting their chicken and sausage gumbo, I was absolutely bowled over. Now, I don't pretend to be an expert in Creole or Cajun cuisine (although I am certainly an expert in eating it if it's put in front of me), and I'm sure this is not an authentically prepared gumbo like you'll get in Louisiana. That said, this soup is overflowing with flavor, brimming with spice, and as hearty and filling as any canned soup you'll find.

Smoky, savory Andouille sausage and chunks of chicken abound, sharing space in the chicken and tomato base with rice and loads of vegetables including green pepper, celery, and of course, okra. The varied textures of all of these ingredients make every bite unique and interesting. The soup base itself has a solid level of peppery heat, and the spicy sausage brings that up even further. There's a satisfying thickness to the base, but it's still liquid enough to fall into the soup category, though it's just as robust as any stew. Of all the Progresso canned soups, this is the one I'm most excited to have again.

Progresso has a massive selection of soup flavors, so narrowing it down was a process. First, I eliminated some of their specialty soup lines — rich & hearty, reduced sodium, light, protein, and spice it up — in order to focus on their traditional and vegetable classics selections. Then I checked multiple grocery store inventories to see which options from those lines seemed to be the most widely available and the best sellers, if that information was available for a particular grocer. I then narrowed the selection down further in an attempt to make sure I had a good variety of flavors with different bases and proteins.

Each soup was prepared on the stovetop, using the instructions on the can. I tasted each soup individually for my initial impressions, then re-tasted them all to fine-tune the final rankings. Since all of these Progresso soups are the same price, value was not a consideration. I looked purely at flavor and quality. Texture and seasoning were taken into account, and each element — the base or broth, and any vegetables, starches, and proteins — was evaluated on its own, as well as how well they all work together.