Whole Foods Prepared Soups, Ranked Worst To Best

Whole Foods may be best known for its abundance of organic groceries, but the store also boasts a treasure trove of prepared foods for those who need a meal in a pinch. There's the Whole Foods hot bar, which features items like macaroni and cheese, chicken, fish, and various steamed veggies. There's also the Whole Foods salad bar, which features all the fixings to build your own salad, along with plenty of pre-made pasta salads. Nestled somewhere amidst the maze of prepared foods is the unsuspecting soup bar, an extension of the hot bar that offers — you guessed it — various soups, all piping hot and ready to eat at a moment's notice. 

Though the daily lineup of soups does filter out somewhat, there are staple options that Whole Foods makes readily available daily and those that cater to just about any dietary preference imaginable. I purchased, tried, and ranked eight Whole Foods prepared soups, with flavors ranging from Chicken Noodle and Carrot Ginger to Vegan Lentil Dal. When sampling these soups, I based my ranking on how tasty the soup was, and if it had a nice balance of flavor. Also, I investigated if the soup felt representative of its supposed flavor or if it was just too bland to be worth purchasing again.

Minestrone is a classic soup, and one that's loaded with quite a few goodies. Whole Foods' version features ingredients like tomatoes, great northern beans, squash, celery, and ditalini pasta for a bowlful that should be bursting with texture and flavor. Unfortunately, this soup lacked both. It didn't have much flavor, and each bite left me more and more in awe of how a soup with so many ingredients could be so lackluster in flavor.

Indeed, I found this soup to be more watery than anything else. Hence the last place ranking on this list. I should acknowledge that minestrone isn't exactly my favorite soup to begin with, but I certainly don't have any personal grievances against it. When done right, minestrone can be pretty good, loaded with tomato flavors and varying textures that feel comforting and delicious without being overbearing. This version lacked flavor, and even the tomato-based broth tasted more like water with a just a hint of tomato. Also, despite featuring various ingredients like pasta and veggies, this soup didn't show any textural appeal. Instead, it came across as mushy, watery, and not worth the price.

Nana's Chicken Noodle Soup — Whole Foods' nostalgia-inducing take on classic chicken noodle — came up a little short in my book. Though there was nothing downright offensive about this soup (I'd actually be impressed to find a chicken noodle soup out there that managed to offend me), there was just nothing memorable about it. Right off the bat, I actually liked the fact that egg noodles were the noodles of choice, but ultimately, the noodles were just too bulky and the soup was just too plain.

I understand that, if anything, chicken noodle soup should be a bit plain. But simplicity doesn't inherently translate to blandness, and a good bowl of chicken noodle soup should taste super savory, salty, and rich. Whole Foods' Nana's Chicken Noodle Soup just didn't hit any of these flavor points, except saltiness, and the broth tasted more watery than anything else. Any chunks of chicken or veggies were also bland and forgettable, leaving me feeling pretty tepid as opposed to warmed and comforted after eating this soup. I'm sorry to say, but if your nana is making chicken noodle soup like this, it's time for her to find a new recipe.

It's hard to capture the goodness of chicken tortilla soup in a non-homemade version, largely because the tortilla part of the soup works best as a garnish added right before serving. That way, the crunchy integrity of the tortilla — be it in strips or chip form — stands a chance against the warm soup, at least for a little bit. A big-batch of chicken tortilla soup, like Whole Foods' version, features tortilla chips, but by the time you get to eat it, they get so soggy in the soup that you almost can't tell that they're tortilla chips. I'm sure there are some people out there who enjoy those soggy tortilla bites, but for me, the texture just makes for an unpleasant bowl of soup more than anything else.

As for the flavor of this soup, I definitely can't say that it was bland. The soup featured a spiced tomato base along with additions like chicken, corn, carrots, and, of course, the tortilla chips. There were some moments where I enjoyed the almost smoky nature of this soup, but nearly every bite was overshadowed by a bitter aftertaste. I think that the herbs, mainly cilantro, took on a bitter flavor profile after the long simmer. I wasn't a fan of this bitterness at all. If you're a big chicken tortilla soup fan, then maybe you'd enjoy this one more than I did, but realistically, you're better off sticking to a homemade version.

I enjoy a good tomato soup, and I find that it's pretty hard to mess up such a simple soup, unless you somehow use rotten tomatoes or roast them for far too long. For what it's worth, I do think that Whole Foods basically nailed a classic tomato soup. The flavor was nice and acidic, with a distinct tomatoey flavor shining through nicely. Of course, this wasn't meant to be just a plain tomato soup, but rather a Tomato Parmesan soup, and that's where Whole Foods lost me a little bit.

My biggest gripe with this soup isn't that it tasted bad, but rather that the alleged Parmesan flavor was nowhere to be found. It almost seems like Whole Foods randomly added Parmesan to the name to make it seem different or distinct from a plain tomato soup but didn't actually back it up with a true Parmesan flavor. (For what it's worth, Parmesan is indeed an ingredient in this soup, I just couldn't really taste it.) So, while I enjoyed the flavor of this soup, overall, it left me wanting a little bit more out of it. As a final note, I found the texture a little grainy for my taste, though it was something I could overlook. I didn't hate this soup, but I didn't love it — a good middle-ground option.

It's hard to deny the creamy deliciousness of a well-built chowder. A good chowder, somewhat different from a soup or stew, often features seafood, though it doesn't necessarily have to. Clam chowder is perhaps the most popular version of the dish, though corn chowder is also a strong contender. Essentially, you can make any one ingredient the star of your creamy chowder, and Whole Foods decided to use salmon as the main star in its version.

I was pretty excited to try this soup because I love salmon and have a particular fondness for chowders. Ultimately, I thought this chowder was pretty good; better than the canned stuff, but not better than homemade, as to be expected. I did appreciate the salmon as the main ingredient of choice, though it was a bit fishy for my taste, which may be due to the inclusion of fish stock and clam broth as opposed to the salmon. The creamy chowder broth was pretty tasty, hitting all of those rich notes that you'd expect, along with some added chunky goodness from potatoes. Overall, I did enjoy this chowder, but be warned — if you can't handle overly fishy flavors, then you'll want to steer clear of this absolutely fish-loaded soup.

If there was one soup on this list that I anticipated to be totally forgettable, it was the Carrot Ginger Soup. This pureed soup certainly didn't look like anything special, and while I enjoy both carrots and ginger, I found myself questioning how well the two ingredients would work together in a soup form. Much to my surprise, I ended up enjoying this soup and found that the two main flavor profiles — carrots and ginger — played together quite nicely.

Immediately with the first taste of this soup, it definitely tasted like carrots. It was earthy with a just a touch of sweetness. Then the ginger really kicked in, but again to my surprise, it wasn't overbearing. Fresh ginger root is a delicious ingredient, but a little bit goes a long way, and boy can it be strong and spicy. I felt like this soup really nailed the ginger aspect, as it was apparent but wasn't super spicy or intense. Also, I figured that the ginger might overpower the carrot, but alas, both ingredients managed to shine. Though this soup is certainly very simple compared to so many others on this list, I think the simplicity and the flavor balanced really shined here, ultimately making this soup rank higher than I thought it would.

Lentils are seriously slept on when it comes to soup, and they are often overlooked in favor of rice, beans, or noodles. But lentils have a lot of hearty goodness to add to any soup, though you'll mostly see them featured in vegan soups. Whole Foods' Vegan Lentil Dal with Spinach is no exception, a soup that features red lentils in a vegetable-based broth along with spinach, spices, and a little bit of coconut milk. Though pretty simple in terms of ingredients, I found this dal to be super tasty, with the lentil flavor shining through beautifully.

There was something so hearty and warming about this soup, it was hard to have only a spoon or two. The lentils provided a certain hearty quality, but then the inclusion of warming spices like cinnamon and cardamom made it through so there was an extra comforting factor at play. Ultimately, this soup also had a really nice balance of flavor between the earthy lentils, spices, and the veggie broth. I appreciated that it was on the thicker side as opposed to super thin, once again making this feel like a super robust bowl that hit all the right flavor notes.

There were quite a few tasty soups on this list, but none of them could quite compete with Whole Foods' Coconut Curry Chicken Soup. It's hard to beat a good curry in general, and Whole Foods' version is pretty darn good, all things considered. For starters, I really liked the thick, rich broth, which had a distinct creaminess to it thanks to the coconut milk. The broth also had a nice tomato flavor to it, and with the addition of classic curry spices like curry powder and cumin, this soup was delicious just based on the broth alone.

Of course, there was a lot more at play than just the broth. This soup featured chunks of chicken, potatoes, and carrots, and these chunks were absolutely abundant throughout. This soup was so successful not because it featured any surprising flavors, but because it stayed true to the elements that make a curry a curry. It was hearty, warming, and the farthest thing from bland on this list. If there's one soup worth scooping up at the Whole Foods hot bar, it would be the Coconut Curry Chicken.

When ranking Whole Foods' hot bar soups, I found that the biggest weakness of any soup was blandness. For example, the Minestrone soup just didn't have any redeemable flavors or qualities, and the inclusions were just as bland as the broth itself, making for an obvious last place. Another example is Nana's Chicken Noodle Soup, which had a bland broth, bland noodles, and bland chicken, making for a soup that simply wasn't any better than something you might get from a can. 

Middle-ground soups were those that tasted pretty good but were missing something special or any notable flavor notes. A good example is the Tomato Parmesan, a soup that certainly didn't taste bad, but it didn't really live up to the Parmesan aspect of its name. It was a fine tomato soup, but if it had a strong Parmesan flavor, it likely would have ranked higher.

Finally, the more highly ranked soups were those that I felt were true to the flavors they were supposed to have. For example, the Salmon Chowder definitely hit on both seafood and creamy notes, and while it was perhaps a bit fishy, it definitely wasn't skimping on flavor. My first place, the Coconut Curry Chicken Soup, had all the flavors you'd expect from a curry, and the soup as a whole was super balanced and cohesive, making for a clear front-runner.