Canned Soup Is the Saltiest Thing in Your Pantry.
The one-line verdict: soup is a healthy format with one runaway problem — salt. A single serving of Progresso Vegetable Classics Minestrone Soup carries about 1550mg of sodium — roughly 67% of a day's limit — and the can is often two servings. On our scale, sodium is the one dimension that caps the entire category: no canned soup we grade clears a B-, no matter how wholesome the rest of the bowl is.
The receipts: canned soups, ranked by sodium
Pulled live from the catalog, saltiest first. Note that these are per serving — check the can for "servings per container" and multiply.
- Progresso Vegetable Classics Minestrone Soup — 1550mg sodium · Labelgrade B- (72) · fiber 9.15g · protein 10g
- Campbell's Condensed Chicken Noodle Soup — 870mg sodium · Labelgrade C+ (65) · fiber 0.96g · protein 3g
- Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger Soup — 790mg sodium · Labelgrade B- (72) · fiber 2.88g · protein 6g
- Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup — 660mg sodium · Labelgrade B- (71) · fiber 0.964g · protein 6.99g
- Amy's Organic Broccoli Cheddar Soup — 571mg sodium · Labelgrade B- (73) · fiber 3.12g · protein 10g
- Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup — 410mg sodium · Labelgrade C+ (66) · fiber 0.96g · protein 2g
Every score traces to the product's USDA-sourced label. Sort foods by sodium yourself in the filterable explorer →
Why one bowl can be most of a day's salt
Salt is load-bearing in a can of soup. It carries flavor, it preserves, and it papers over the muted taste that comes from cooking and storing food in a sealed can — so the recipes lean on it harder than almost anything else in the pantry. That's how a single serving lands at 600 to 900mg routinely, and the saltiest reach past 1,500mg — a number that brushes the entire daily limit (2,300mg) in one bowl. Then comes the serving-size trick: a standard can is frequently labeled as two servings, so the real sodium of a meal is usually double the figure printed in large type. Eat the whole can of the saltiest soups and you've spent your day's sodium budget on lunch.
Why the better soups still earn it back
Here's the honest other half. Sodium caps every soup, but it doesn't doom them equally — because the grade also rewards what's in the bowl. A bean, lentil, or vegetable soup brings real fiber and protein (some carry 8–10g of each), and those points pull the grade back up to a B- even with the salt. A condensed, low-fiber classic has nothing to offset the sodium, so it sits lower; a creamy soup adds saturated fat on top of the salt, a second strike. So the ranking isn't "all soup is bad" — it's "the wholesome, brothy, bean-and-vegetable soups are worth the salt, and the thin salty ones aren't." Same aisle, two different value propositions.
The honest caveat
Soup is not the enemy — it's one of the more sensible convenience foods you can keep around: hydrating, filling for few calories, and an easy way to eat beans and vegetables. The takeaway is a single habit, not avoidance. Buy the bean-or-vegetable version, reach for "low sodium" or "reduced sodium" when it exists, and check "servings per container" before you trust the sodium number. If you have high blood pressure, canned soup is one of the highest-yield places to cut salt; for everyone else, it's a good food with one figure worth a second look. For exactly how the six dimensions are weighed, see the methodology page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is canned soup so high in sodium?
Salt does three jobs in canned soup — flavor, preservation, and masking the flatness that comes from cooking food in a can — so manufacturers lean on it hard. The result is some of the highest sodium figures in the grocery store: many canned soups run 600–900mg per serving, and the saltiest land near or above 1,500mg, which is most of a day's recommended limit (the FDA target is 2,300mg) in a single bowl. The kicker is the serving size: a can is often labeled as two servings, so finishing one can quietly double those numbers.
Is canned soup bad for you?
Not inherently — and the grades make the nuance clear. Soup is hydrating, filling for few calories, and the bean-and-vegetable versions deliver real fiber and protein, which is why several still earn a B-. The single problem is sodium: it's the one dimension that caps essentially every canned soup, no matter how wholesome the rest of the bowl is. If you have high blood pressure or are watching sodium, canned soup is one of the first places to look. For everyone else, it's a fine food with one number worth respecting.
Which canned soup is the healthiest?
Look for two things: a real source of fiber and protein (beans, lentils, vegetables, or meat) and the lowest sodium you can find in that style. A minestrone or lentil soup that brings 8–10g of fiber and protein earns back points the salt takes away, which is how the better ones reach B-. Brothy bean-and-vegetable soups beat creamy ones (cream adds saturated fat on top of the salt), and a "reduced sodium" or "low sodium" version of any soup is a direct upgrade. The worst picks are the condensed, low-fiber, salt-forward classics with little to offset the sodium.
Does the "2 servings per can" thing really matter?
A lot, and it's the most common way the numbers fool people. Sodium, calories, and everything else on the label are listed per serving, and a standard can is frequently two servings — so a bowl that says "870mg sodium" is really ~1,740mg if you eat the whole can, which most people do. Whenever you read a canned-soup label, glance at "servings per container" first and multiply. The honest sodium number for a meal is usually double the one printed in big type.
Is homemade soup better than canned?
Almost always, for one reason: you control the salt. The soup itself — broth, vegetables, beans, meat — is a genuinely healthy format; canned versions just arrive pre-salted to a level you'd rarely add yourself. Homemade (or a low-sodium canned base you season to taste) gets you the same hydrating, fiber-rich, filling meal with a fraction of the sodium. If canned is what's convenient, the move is to buy the low-sodium version and add your own salt at the bowl, where a little goes much further than the amount baked into the can.
How is the Labelgrade calculated?
One 0–100 score from the same six weighted dimensions — protein density, ingredient quality, added sugar, sodium, saturated fat, and fiber — applied to every food alike. Soup is capped almost entirely by sodium: even a wholesome, fiber-rich bowl loses points there, which is why the category tops out at B-. The bean-and-vegetable soups recover some of it on fiber and protein; the condensed and creamy ones have less to offset. Every number traces to the product's USDA-sourced label; the full weighting is on the methodology page.