It's hard to envision a more satisfying meal on a chilly evening than a steaming bowl of deeply caramelized French onion soup. Even better when it's adorned with hearty, buttery croutons and generous amounts of melted Gruyère cheese. This warming winter dish has the power to render you speechless, mesmerized by endless cheese pulls and the flavorful, allium-infused beef broth.
If the thought of simmering your own French onion soup seems daunting, and the weather is too inclement to venture out to a local bistro, fear not. Your grocery store shelves are stocked with an array of soup options to quench your cravings. However, not all store-bought French onion soups are created equal—some are best avoided altogether.
I conducted a taste test on five store-bought, shelf-stable jars, cans, and packets of French onion soup to assess whether any met my expectations of homemade or restaurant-quality soup. Each soup was prepared according to the package instructions.
Some soups required dilution with additional water or broth. One came in powder form, necessitating reconstitution on the stove. Others were ready to consume straight from the jar. To maintain consistency, I refrained from adding traditional croutons or melted cheese to my soups during the test. However, if you're preparing any of these products at home, I highly recommend serving them with a crostini and a generous topping of Gruyère.
Below are the rankings of these five store-bought French onion soups, listed in descending order of preference.
5) Lipton Onion Soup & Dip Mix
Nutrition Information per serving (1 cup prepared): 20 calories, 0g fat (0g saturated fat), 610mg sodium, 4g carbohydrates (<1g fiber, <1g sugar), 0g protein.
This particular soup was the only powdered mix in the test. It offers versatility as it can be transformed into a dip by blending the pouch contents with sour cream or plain yogurt, or simmered with water to create a soup. For this evaluation, I adhered to the soup-making instructions.
Appearance: To prepare the soup, I combined the powder with 4 cups of water and simmered it for 10 minutes. Despite the full cooking time, the soup appeared thin, with sparse onions floating around that still retained some crunch, suggesting they hadn't fully reconstituted from their dry state.
Taste: This soup emerged as the thinnest and least captivating option I sampled. Its primary flavor profile was dominated by saltiness, while the onions remained flavorless and retained a dry, hard texture in the center. While it might serve better as a dip, I believe it would require ample time to fully rehydrate the onions before serving.
4) Progresso French Onion Soup
Nutrition Information per serving (1 cup): 45 calories, 0.5g fat (0g saturated fat), 690mg sodium, 8g carbohydrates (<1g fiber, 3g sugar), 2g protein.
This canned French onion soup boasts a rich broth but is notably high in sodium. It contains added sugars, possibly intended to enhance the caramelized flavors, yet the overall taste falls short.
Appearance: The soup is predominantly broth with few shreds of thick onion chunks floating amidst it. It lacks the robust, vegetable-packed appearance typically found in restaurant-style versions. The ingredient list reveals the use of apple juice concentrate and hibiscus juice concentrate to enhance its dark brown color.
Taste: The soup offers a well-seasoned broth profile, albeit leaning towards the salty side and lacking in pronounced onion flavor. It does exhibit more texture and body compared to most store-bought broths, likely due to the inclusion of added beef fat.
3) Campbell's Condensed French Onion Soup
Nutrition Information per serving (½ cup condensed soup): 70 calories, 1.5g fat (0.5g saturated fat), 790mg sodium, 12g carbohydrates (1g fiber, 5g sugar), 2g protein.
Campbell's condensed French onion soup is intended to be mixed with an equal amount of water. Simply pour the soup into a pot, add a can full of water, and heat everything up. This provides flexibility; you can adjust the amount of water to achieve your desired consistency, or opt for broth instead for added flavor.
Appearance: This canned soup contains more onions compared to Progresso, and they're sliced into smaller, spoon-friendly pieces. The onions are deeply caramelized and possess a rusty brown hue, mirroring the broth's color, which is partly due to added caramel color.
Taste: Despite having higher sodium content, this soup tasted less salty than both Progresso's and Lipton's. Once diluted with water, other flavors come forward, including a savory note contributed by a surprising ingredient: cheddar cheese.
2) Sutter Buttes French Onion Soup
Nutrition Information per serving (1 cup): 170 calories, 14g fat (3.5g saturated fat), 540mg sodium, 6g carbohydrates (1g fiber, <1g sugar), 4g protein.
This artisan jarred French onion soup offers a richer flavor, texture, and nutritional profile compared to most other products in this test. The higher fat content is derived from beef fat and butter, which significantly enhance the flavor and texture of each spoonful.
Appearance: Abundant with onions, this soup boasts a deep, rich, almost ruby-colored hue characteristic of long-simmered beef broth. Upon inspection, fat globules are visible on the surface of the cold soup, though they dissipate upon heating.
Taste: I relish the deeply caramelized, robust flavors of this soup, which are not reliant on added sugar. It presents a hint of acidity from brandy, albeit not as pronounced as in Williams Sonoma's version below. Sutter Buttes leans more toward a beefy, meaty flavor profile.
1) Williams Sonoma French Onion Soup Starter
Nutrition Information per serving (1 cup): 170 calories, 14g fat (3.5g saturated fat), 540mg sodium, 6g carbohydrates (1g fiber, <1g sugar), 4g protein.
I discovered this jarred French onion soup at Williams Sonoma, labeled as a "soup starter," but requiring no additional water or broth. Simply warm the soup and pair it with toasted bread and melted cheese for a complete dish.
Appearance: Bursting with thinly sliced caramelized onions, this soup boasts a natural caramel-brown broth with a pleasing shine and body. Upon opening the jar, visible fat is evident at the top, indicating the use of real beef and butter.
Taste: Delivering a restaurant-quality experience, this soup is rich and deeply savory, with a lively acidity from brandy and red wine vinegar. It offers a well-balanced flavor profile, abundant in alliums with a herby finish from thyme and marjoram. The presence of butterfat enhances the homemade-like quality of this jarred soup, both in taste and texture.