The Store-Bought Vegetable Broth To Avoid On Your Next Grocery Trip

Store-bought vegetable broth is a quintessential staple to keep on hand for when a good soup craving strikes. However, it's important to know that not all veggie broth products are equal. To help make the shopping decision easier, we sampled and ranked seven store-bought vegetable stock brands. Last on out list was Kettle & Fire organic vegetable broth. 

The vegetable broth rendition from the popular bone broth brand just didn't stack up when compared to others on the market, mainly due to its lack of flavor balance. "Sadly, though, I found it to be too acidic — probably because of the recipe's reliance on tomatoes," we wrote in the review.

We noted that when compared to other store-bought broths and broth bases like Pacific Foods or Better than Bullion, Kettle & Fire's version had a strong tomato flavor (organic tomato paste is high on the ingredient list and tomato specks are visible in the broth). While this is not inherently a bad thing, other broths featuring celery (notably missing from Kettle & Fire's ingredients) and a balance of vegetable and savory flavors were noticeably more comforting. While the product's comparatively lower sodium (480 milligrams per 1 cup serving) is an enticing attribute, in practice the lower salt level plus higher acidity just wasn't what we'd expect in a vegetable broth.

While you certainly could try Kettle & Fire's vegetable stock to see if it meets your taste expectations, it's probably best to choose another brand or stick with their bone broth products. Some consumers of the brand report liking the vegetable broth after adding seasonings to the mix to round out the flavor. While it is typical to doctor up a store-bought broth with aromatics like garlic, a good vegetable stock shouldn't necessarily require so many adjustments. Instead, it should inherently have a good balance of savory, earthy, and umami flavors.

Of course, flavorful soup stock doesn't have to be complicated. And Kettle & Fire's broth contains a simple ingredient list including tomatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, mushrooms, water, and salt. But perhaps it was the missing celery (key to a French mirepoix and the base of many good vegetable soups and stews) that makes this one miss the mark. Maybe the brand went too heavy on the tomatoes. This fact could be overlooked in vegetable soups that emphasize tomatoes already, such as a good homemade roasted veggie and tomato lentil soup.

However, for a versatile product, we say avoid Kettle & Fire at your next grocery shop and choose a vegetable stock with a more well-rounded taste. Take, for example, our top pick, Imagine organic vegetable broth, which we found to have a good balance of veggies and aromatics while avoiding being "overbearingly salty."