7 Popular Better Than Bouillon Flavors, Ranked Worst To Best

When you want a flavorful base for soups, stews, risottos, and beyond, making your own broth at home is the way to go. A lot of recipes call for broth, but you may not want to make it from scratch every time you need it. In those instances, there are a few store-bought options available to you. First, you could buy a carton of broth. However, they don't go very far; you'll either have to stock up on them to keep in your pantry or go out and grab a new carton each time you need one. 

There are also bouillon cubes, which are definitely more convenient but may not have the depth of flavor you're looking for. Finally, there's Better Than Bouillon. It's a sort of concentrated paste that can be used to make broth, stirred into recipes for extra flavor, or used in a variety of other creative ways, making it a valuable ingredient to have on hand in your kitchen.

As a frequent Better Than Bouillon user, I tasted my way through seven of the brand's flavors dissolved in water to make broth and ranked them from worst to best. Hopefully, this ranking gives you a better idea of which varieties you may want to try for yourself. Of course, different flavors are best used for different dishes, but I evaluated these based on solo flavor alone, paying particular attention to the balance of salt, sweetness, umami, and other flavors.

I'll start by saying that the Seasoned Vegetable Base from Better Than Bouillon is better than basically any other store-bought vegetable broth I've ever tried. If you specifically need vegetable broth, this is going to be one of your best options if you decide you don't want to make it from scratch. Compared to the other Better Than Bouillon flavors I reviewed, though, it's my least favorite in the lineup.

This vegetable base is made with carrots, celery, tomato, and onion, in addition to other seasonings that give it a powerful punch of flavor. That flavor is rich and complex, and it doesn't taste less flavorful than the animal product-based bases on this list. The reason it ranks in the last spot is because of its intense saltiness. As much as I like really salty flavors, I think the salt in this base is too overpowering. Thinning it out with more water reduces that saltiness but also cuts the flavor intensity. If you are going to use this product, make sure to do so sparingly and taste as you go before adding more.

Better Than Bouillon offers both a standard line of flavor bases as well as reduced-sodium flavors, which I love. It ensures that even those who need to keep their salt intake to a minimum can benefit from this extremely useful product. However, not all of the reduced-sodium varieties are particularly flavorful. The Roasted Chicken Base Reduced Sodium, specifically, is lacking on the flavor front. It seems significantly less salty than its full-salt counterpart. Sure, that's kind of the point, but the flavor of the chicken falls flat without all that salt in the mix.

Admittedly, I think this stuff could be nice to use when you're trying to add a bit of extra flavor to a dish. However, if you're actually trying to make a flavorful broth (and you're not trying to watch your salt intake), there are better Better Than Bouillon flavors from which to choose.

Generally speaking, beef broth offers a much richer, more concentrated, and more intense flavor profile than chicken or vegetable broths. For that reason, Better Than Bouillon's Roasted Beef Base Reduced Sodium can be used in a lot of applications in which a chicken-flavored version of the product isn't going to cut it. Beef-based soups, for instance, can benefit from a dollop of this product, and it makes amazing marinades for meat, including beef and beyond.

I was disappointed to discover, though, that the Roasted Beef Base Reduced Sodium wasn't quite as flavorful as I imagined it would be. You can taste a pronounced beef flavor, which is important, but you don't get any complexity from added spices or herbs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since it allows you to personalize the flavor of whatever you're making a bit more, but this base falls flat compared to its competition if you're using it for broth on its own. Of course, this one is less salty than its full-salt version, which is also part of the reason it earns a lower spot in this ranking.

I didn't expect to particularly enjoy any of the reduced-sodium varieties of Better Than Bouillon, since I am someone who likes my food really salty. But I found that the Better Than Bouillon Seasoned Vegetable Base Reduced Sodium is much better than the standard version. Don't get me wrong — this base is still quite salty, considering it contains just 25% less salt than the original. But because of that modest reduction in sodium, you can taste the complexity of the mix of vegetables more. The flavors of the onions, carrots, celery, and tomato are much more pronounced here.

There are a lot of vegetable broths and bouillon cubes out there that are relatively weak in flavor compared to chicken or beef broth, but that's not an issue with this brand. Whether you're trying to keep your food plant-based or you're following a recipe that calls for vegetable broth or seasoning specifically, this Better Than Bouillon option has you covered.

The Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base Reduced Sodium wasn't my favorite of the bunch, so I assumed that I wouldn't much care for the regular Roasted Beef Base either. However, it's much better than its less-salty counterpart. Yes, there's more salt, which enhances all of the other flavors you'll find in this seasoning base. But, to me, it doesn't seem to be the saltiness that makes this variety stand out. Rather, all of the flavors taste richer and more intense, with a more pronounced beefiness.

Normally, I'd only use beef broth or bouillon for a recipe that calls for it specifically. This stuff is so good, though, that I think you can drink it straight as a broth. Where some beef broths are very heavy, this one seems light enough to sip on despite its flavor intensity. One thing is for sure: It tastes way better than any beef broth I've ever had from the carton.

It takes a notoriously long time to make pho broth. Some recipes project 12 hours or more of cook time, which isn't feasible if you're trying to get a quick meal on the table. Plus, it's not exactly a straightforward broth to make — there are many steps you have to take to get to that deeply aromatic, flavorful broth that the dish is known for. That may lead you to believe that you can't have pho at home and that every time you're craving the soup, you have to go out to a restaurant to get it. But Better Than Bouillon's Organic Beef Pho Base proves that idea wrong.

Although it's not nearly as good as real pho broth made from scratch, it comes close enough to homemade that it works for those times when you're craving pho but don't want to spend money on eating out.

This base is made with roasted beef, ginger, and anise, the latter of which is largely responsible for that signature pho flavor you know and love. Use it to make pho at home, or employ it as a marinade or flavor enhancer in other dishes that need a boost of flavor.

Chicken broth is an incredibly versatile ingredient, and it's used in so many different recipes. Therefore, I always like to keep some on hand. But Better Than Bouillon's Organic Roasted Chicken Base is definitely my go-to. Even though the reduced-sodium version isn't particularly flavorful, this one is. Yes, that's related to the extra salt, of course, but in general, the flavor concentration of this base seems to be much stronger. That means you only need a small amount of it to create a light broth. There's also some added sugar in the mix, which helps to balance out those savory flavors. It actually tastes like this flavor base was made with roasted chicken, thanks to its complexity.

This product can't compare to bouillon cubes or broth you get in cartons at the grocery store. If you can't make your own chicken stock at home, this stuff is your best bet. Plus, you can use it as a flavoring agent for tons of different foods, from meat to vegetables.

I use Better Than Bouillon products frequently at home in my own kitchen. I selected these Better Than Bouillon varieties based on availability at my local grocery store. I chose the Organic Roasted Chicken base because my store did not have the non-organic version stocked, but I chose the standard versions of all the other flavors listed here. I ranked these flavor bases according to flavor balance. I paid particular attention to salt level and flavor concentration. Those that had a nice balance between saltiness and other perceptible flavors ranked the highest on this list.