I Tried 10 Store-Bought Tomato Soups To Find Out Which One Is Worthy of Your Grilled Cheese

I'm one of those people who can eat soup year-round. In my opinion, there's nothing cozier than a gooey, buttery grilled cheese sandwich and a big bowl of hot tomato soup. And while homemade soup is great, when time is tight, there's no shame in heating up some soup for dinner, lunch or a snack. 

I've made tomato soup from scratch in my personal kitchen and as a line cook at a large school. I think it takes a lot of culinary skill to build flavors in a soup. Canned soup isn't going to be perfect, even if it says "slow simmered" or "homemade." But it's a quick and easy way to make a comforting meal.

When you're at the store in the soup aisle, things can get overwhelming quickly. There are so many brands and styles, even when you're just looking at the different tomato soups. To help you make the right choice for you, I scoured all of the stores near me and found 10 different store-bought tomato soupsto try.

To find the best of the best, my taste testers (AKA my husband and my two kids) did a blind taste test, sipping and dipping our way through classic, iconic brands and newer names in the soup space to find the best canned tomato soup. Read on to get all of the delicious details and to find out which brands came out on top.

Related: We Tried 10 Canned Chicken Noodle Soups and the Winner Won By a Landslide

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What To Look for When Buying Canned Tomato Soup

The canned soup aisle is a magical and somewhat overwhelming place for soup lovers. If you're looking for tomato soup, there are condensed versions that require an equal amount of water before heating. The majority of other versions are premixed and either shelf-stable or refrigerated. 

There are also creamy tomato soups, ones with basil, hearty options with tomato chunks, gluten-free options and soups combined with red peppers. Ultimately, the soup you choose comes down to what flavor and texture you like. I was able to find these 10 soups in my Chicagoland Walmart, Albertsons, Trader Joe's, Target and Meijer stores. I wanted to include Aldi, but their Chef's Cupboard tomato soup was sold out at all stores. 

Related: How to Make Canned Tomato Soup 10x Better

How I Tested These Tomato Soups

This is the second soup taste test that I, my hubby , daughter and son have been asked to participate in, so we have some experience in how to quickly and accurately rate soups. For this one, we thought it would be fitting to try the soups on our deck during a chilly Chicago evening. 

And, once I found out that we'd be testing tomato soup, my kids (jokingly, I think) demanded mini grilled cheeses to get an accurate, real-world taste duo. All in the name of science! We arranged our disposable bowls, spoons, mini sandwiches and heated the soups one at a time. 

Many of these soups were quickly dismissed after the first sniff and sip. The ones that were more appetizing sparked discussions about what made them stand out and there was some pretty robust debate about the top two contenders.

Related: How to Make Vegetable Soup 10x Better, According to My Chef-Husband

10 Store-Bought Tomato Soup Brands, Ranked Worst to Best

10. Great Value Condensed Tomato Soup

Tasting Walmart's Great Value tomato soup was like drinking watered-down tomato paste. This one needed a lot of flavor enhancements. With the water added, it was so thin that it didn't even coat the spoon. This was an immediate low ranker.  

Related: You Can Buy the World's Best Pepper Jack Cheese At Walmart

9. Pacific Foods Organic Creamy Tomato Soup

The color of this soup was much lighter than the others, probably because of the cream. The consistency and color reminded us of a pureed pumpkin soup. We didn't taste enough raw tomato or any flavor enhancements (e.g., salt, herbs). The cream was present, though. Overall, this one fell short for us in the flavor department and ended near the bottom of the pack.

8. Trader Joe's Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup

This was nearly identical to the Pacific Foods soup, but a tiny bit better. It had the same pumpkin color, smooth texture and blandness. I also didn't detect any roasted red peppers. Trader Joe's ranked higher because we detected the tomato, and it was slightly thicker. This isn't a soup that I would go out of my way to buy.
Related: The 15 Best Trader Joe's Dips, Ranked by a Former Employee

7. Annie's Organic Creamy Tomato & Bunny Pasta Soup

Annie's has two versions of this soup—a plain tomato and a creamy tomato with pasta . I wasn't able to locate the plain version, so I went with the bunny-shaped pasta soup. Remember the canned ravioli that some of us (not me) ate growing up? This is the soup form. It smelled and tasted like stewed pasta in tomato sauce. This option is great for kids, but as adults who have a more refined tomato soup palate, Annie's wasn't a winner for us. 

6. Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup

Campbell's has been in the soup business for more than 150 years, so they're not new to canned soup. I've had several condensed soups from Campbell's (their chicken noodle is pretty decent), but this tomato soup doesn't quite fit the profile that I'd expect. Of course, it got thinner when water was added, but it was still very thin and very sweet (like, really sweet). The positives were that it was smooth, had a good tomato kick, and hardly any acidity. It landed at number six because it was too sweet and thin for our taste. 

5. Amy's Light Sodium Organic Chunky Tomato Bisque

This soup has diced tomatoes and is also very sweet. Because it's light in sodium , we missed the added salt to bring the flavors together. It's a rich red color, but there weren't any visible seasonings. Amy's soup was semi-thick and sweet with some acidity. The flavor was ok and we thought the soup was a solid base that could be improved with some fresh or dried herbs.  
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4. Rao's Tomato Basil Soup

In the chicken noodle soup taste test I did, Rao's chicken noodle soup ended up on the lower end of the list, but their tomato soup fared ok. There were smaller chunks of tomato, which was more appetizing for my daughter. It was on the medium-thick side (not watery) and had visible herbs. 

The issue with Rao's was that it needed salt, the herb flavor was very mild, and there was a weird aftertaste. I remember their chicken noodle soup has a sour aftertaste as well. Even with all of that, it ranked higher than six other soups, which was interesting to see when I tallied the results.

Related: I Tried 24 Rao's Sauces and the Winner Tastes 100% Homemade

3. Good & Gather Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

If you want to try Target's tomato soup, it's in the refrigerated section near the produce. My husband's initial comment was that it wasn't acidic, which meant it wouldn't bother his stomach later. We definitely picked up on the tomato, but the additional ingredients seemed to soften its acidity. My kids thought it was a great complement to grilled cheese. This soup landed in third place because, while there were visually a lot of herbs, we didn't taste enough of them.

2. Progresso Vegetable Classics Tomato Basil Soup

Progresso ranked second because it reminded me of a homemade soup with its flecks of herbs, streaks of oil and strong tomato flavor. My son noted that he'd "eat this after school ." The level of salt was spot-on, it wasn't too sweet and it had a medium thickness that we enjoyed. My husband thought that its texture was versatile enough to be eaten alone or dipped with bread. 
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1. Panera Bread Creamy Tomato Soup

Panera Bread's tomato soup won our taste buds. It was thicker than the others and had a consistently well-balanced flavor of tomato, spices (especially pepper), herbs and cream. The controversy? The kids preferred Progresso over Panera. My husband and I thought that Panera captured the homemade taste and look of tomato soup with the creaminess without sacrificing volume or blandness and because I'm in charge of this taste test, I got to break the tie and crown the winner. I guess the kids can eat Progresso while we devour Panera. Win-win!

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This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 14, 2025, where it first appeared in the Food & Drink section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.