The Best Store-Bought Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Hands Down (According To Reviews)

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When a Foodie features writer covered broccoli cheddar soups ranked worst to best by customer reviews, a few surprising trends emerged. While the shallow end of the pool was awash with thin, sodium-packed soups that put one more in mind of dishwater, the finest specimens were rich, creamy, and sumptuous enough to function as an entrée. Panera soups may not be made fresh in the store, but its refrigerated broccoli cheddar is a real hit.

Our writer found that customers raved over Panera's soup, ranking it high above several other comers. "Panera Bread's Ready-to-Heat Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup, in my opinion, is BETTER than homemade because I don't have to stand in the kitchen to cut, chop, measure, mix & cook my Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup!" one Walmart reviewer raved with enthusiasm that leapt off the screen. On Amazon, where the soup is available for purchase, another buyer kept things short and sweet: "These are soo good. Buy them all the time." Ours wasn't even the only soup ranking we found where Panera's broccoli cheddar soup claimed first place. As a whole, the internet sings the praises of this humble plastic cup of yumminess, which is hearty enough to serve for dinner, though it's especially nice when accompanied by a salad and a nice hunk of bread.

While canned soup can be salty, Panera's broccoli cheddar offering beats the pants off tinned knockoffs because, to many, it tastes homemade. Over on The Daily Meal, Foodie's sister site, a writer sampled all Panera's grocery store soups and sang the praises of the broccoli and cheddar, really spelling out the appeal: "[I]t was shocking how much I enjoyed the taste of this broccoli cheddar soup. It was properly seasoned — it was almost too salty but not quite. There was a savory broccoli and faint cheddar flavor in every bite. The best surprise was the large chunks of broccoli, which were delicious and nutritious."

Note that the soup was not, as per this writer, a salt bomb. Too often, packaged soups compensate for subpar flavor by adding what feels like a metric ton of sodium, which is not only unpleasant to eat and thirst-inducing but can, over time, increase your risk of heart attack or stroke. Making actual broccoli cheddar soup, as the Walmart reviewer pointed out, is time-consuming and labor-intensive. If you can eat a store-bought soup good enough to offer you that homestyle savor after just a few minutes on the stovetop or in the microwave, you'd surely take advantage. Therein lies the appeal of Panera's broccoli cheddar soup: it's more enjoyable than others, and, to borrow the tagline of a competitor, it eats like a meal. What's not to love?

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