FITNESS Healthy Food Awards: The Best Soups from the Store

FITNESS Magazine
Kenji Toma/Fitness Magazine
Kenji Toma/Fitness Magazine

By Juno DeMelo

Soup seems virtuous enough; after all, an entire diet was built around the cabbage kind. But some contain more bloat-inducing sodium than you should consume in a day, while others (we're talking to you, "cream of" anything!) pack more saturated fat than a doughnut. To help you get your comfort-food fix minus the snug waistband, we worked with our team of nutritionists to choose seven soups that taste great but have no more than 5 grams of fat, 150 calories, and 690 milligrams of sodium per serving. Get ready to be bowled over.


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What Makes a Winner
Companies submitted 59 new soups to FITNESS. Our experts -- Anar Allidina, RD, a dietitian in private practice in Toronto; Keri Gans, RD, the author of The Small Change Diet; and Marissa Lippert, RD, the author of The Cheater's Diet -- analyzed the ingredients and nutrition facts to help us determine which deserved to move to the next round. Those finalists were sampled and voted on by FITNESS staffers.

365 Everyday Value Organic Minestrone Soup
Three kinds of beans -- kidney, garbanzo, and green -- plus pasta make this veggie medley hearty but not heavy. "It filled me up without weighing me down," one staffer said. (140 calories per cup)

Panera Low-Fat Chicken Noodle Soup
"Chicken chunks in soup can be rubbery, but these all-white-meat ones were tender," a reviewer said. Testers also liked the plump egg noodles in this "homemade-tasting" classic, which has more protein -- 14 grams -- than any of our other winners. (140 calories per cup)

Campbell's 100% Natural Butternut Squash Bisque
Pureed squash is naturally creamy, so this has a velvety texture despite being low in fat. A touch of apple juice gives it a "fall-in-a-can flavor I could see myself craving year-round," a staffer said. (110 calories per cup)

Related: 6 Easy Slow-Cooker Recipes

Dr. McDougall's Organic Black Bean Soup
Thanks to lime juice and poblano chilies, testers' taste buds were "flooded with flavor, not salt." Also on point: the balance of broth, fiber-packed beans, brown rice, and bell peppers. (150 calories per cup)

Imagine Italian-Style Wedding Soup
"With its white beans, garlic, meatballs, pasta, and spinach, this chunky soup really seemed like a meal instead of a starter," one editor declared. Others commented on the "rich, not watery, broth." (140 calories per cup)

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O Organics Organic Tomato Basil Soup
This "thick and creamy" pick had the lowest calorie count of any of our contenders. Good thing, because testers thought it would pair perfectly with a gooey grilled cheese. (90 calories per cup)

Pacific Organic Cashew-Carrot-Ginger Bisque
This spicy-sweet bisque, thickened with coconut and cashews in place of cream, delivers a "currylike kick" plus 90 percent of the vitamin A you need daily. (130 calories per cup)

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