Aldi's Worst Soup On The Shelves Has Next To No Taste

Most people know it's best to keep plenty of canned chicken noodle soup in the pantry for when the craving (or cold) strikes. But before you stock up on soup just for the sake of it, it's important to know that some chicken noodle soups out there miss the mark. Take, for instance, Aldi's take on the comfort food classic. While here at Tasting Table, we love an affordable store-bought brand, unfortunately, Aldi's chunky chicken noodle soup just doesn't do it for us, and for a big reason: It has next to no taste. In a taste test of nine Aldi soups ranked worst to best, Tasting Table writer Megan Hageman deemed the soup as the worst, citing the lack of flavor as the biggest determining factor.

Hageman writes that "even though one serving makes up 34% of your recommended daily sodium intake, it hardly tastes salty or flavorful at all." In a convenient canned soup, where chicken can be (and was in this case) dry or chewy and vegetables usually are a bit mushy, a deeply flavorful stock is usually the benchmark of a good product. While there might be room for a small portion of the population who may prefer what we felt was a "muted flavor throughout" compared to the upfront salty taste of other canned soups like Campbell's, overall, the soup needs more savory notes and more nuance, placing it among other Aldi soups you should avoid buying, like the store's broccoli cheddar.

While the soup's bland flavor could be a quality issue, it seems like the subpar taste and lack of flavor complexity have been an issue for a while. In a Reddit post on r/Aldi from 2023 regarding quality issues with several of the store's products, one user commented, "We bought the Aldi brand chicken noodle soups and all the cans were 99% broth. One can had a single noodle!" 

Our bowl of soup's noodles were its only real redeeming factor, but writer Hageman notes that the carrots and celery in the soup were hardly present. She suggests adding "a handful more carrots, maybe onions, and a sprinkling of herbs like thyme or oregano to give it life." When making homemade chicken noodle soup, a combination of sauteed vegetables, herbs, and seasoning is key to a flavorful broth. Considering the underwhelming stock, dry chicken, and skimped veggies, it's no wonder this soup misses the mark on what's important: taste.

At $1.65 a can (though prices may vary), Aldi's chicken noodle soup is an affordable choice. But still, the canned soup should have enough substance and seasoning to make it not only palatable but enjoyable. Luckily, some of Aldi's other soup options fared better and might be more worth your dime. Take, for instance, the retailer's creamy curry bisque, which scored points in our book for both flavor and product innovation.