8 Popular Store-Bought Black Bean Soups, Ranked

Black bean soup may be an under-appreciated dish on average in the U.S. While it may be more popular in certain cultures, on the whole it was harder to find in supermarkets than other kinds of soup like those made with chicken, meat, other beans and legumes (are beans and legumes the same thing?), and vegetables. In fact, we only found some soups that were widely available and popular enough to use in our ranking. The humble black bean doesn't deserve this. Black beans are delicious, highly nutritious, and have a savory quality that's unique among beans.

Soup made with black beans can be as simple as soaking dried beans overnight and boiling them with onion and garlic, or as intricate as you like with a variety of vegetables, herbs, spices, and toppings. If you're not sure how to make it, just follow the formula that gives you perfect soup every time.

I'd love to make black bean soup every time I wanted it, but when I can't, store-bought soup can come to the rescue. But which soup to buy? I've tasted some popular black bean soups and ranked them to make your choice easier. I considered qualities like appearance, aroma, flavor, texture, preparation methods, and nutrition. More information about our methods appears at the end of this article. Whether you love black beans and are looking for a convenient meal or just want to try something new, keep our ranking in mind the next time you're at the store.

I was surprised to rank this soup last among the contenders. I trekked to Whole Foods to buy this organic soup, which appears to be made of only natural ingredients. It contains filtered water, black beans, vegetables, brown rice, garlic, herbs and spices, potato starch, a small amount of sugar, and sea salt.

This soup has a more noticeable aroma than some of the other soups I tested, but I didn't notice anything bad. The appearance is also fine. It's dark reddish brown with a variety of visible ingredients. I spotted what looked like rice, bell pepper, onion, and tomato (with the blind taste test I didn't know what the official ingredients were until after I tested them all and looked at the packages). The texture is pretty liquidy, which seemed appropriate for soup.

The first taste revealed a silky mouthfeel, but with slimy undertones. That may be from the rice, which can be hard to keep firm when submerged in liquid.

The flavor is what put me off. It was bright but with a strange, unpleasant aftertaste. I didn't want to try more after the first bite. I can't explain this, given the good ingredient list. My best guess is the lower sodium content at 280 milligrams per cup (two to three or more times lower than the others) makes it taste less appealing when tested alongside all the other soups on this list. Finally, although it has a BPA-free liner, the tetra pack it's packaged in is not recyclable in all areas.

Progresso is a popular soup brand that takes up quite a bit of real estate in the supermarket soup aisle. Unfortunately, this black bean soup fails to deliver. The aroma was mild but didn't draw me in and make me want to taste it. The appearance is okay. It's liquidy and contains colorful chunks of black beans, corn, red pepper, and barley, but the color of the broth was on the gray side of brown, which made us look twice. When I tasted it, I noticed a silky mouthfeel from the beans, but the barley felt overly soft. Then I paused, feeling confused, as I tried to figure out how to describe the unpleasant initial flavor, and I didn't want to try any more. I tried it again anyway for evaluation purposes, and the taste improved a little. Maybe I had gotten used to it. This didn't happen with the previous soup, which is why I didn't rank Progresso's version last.

I'm also not a huge fan of the bioengineered ingredients and the fact that this soup contains the most ultra-processed ingredients of all of the soups I ranked. Plant-based eaters beware — the soup is vegetarian but not vegan, but I'm not exactly sure why. I've narrowed it down to either the modified food starch or the natural flavor, which can be derived from animals. Including animal products in a black bean soup seems like an unnecessary choice to me.

Bettergoods makes the best jarred Alfredo sauce, according to a similar Chowhound ranking, but it doesn't achieve similar fame here. At first whiff, it smelled like a chili or a salsa, which makes sense given the Southwest style. It looks more like a dark reddish brown tomato sauce, with visible larger chunks of beans, corn, and carrot. I didn't have a problem with the aroma or appearance, but the flavor and mouthfeel were a different story. The first mouthful was thick and silky, but viscous, and the flavor was slightly off-putting. It's rather spicy, which makes sense since the ingredients include green chili peppers, chili pepper, and chipotle peppers, but it's also sweet. The spiciness is not a problem, unless you're not a fan of heat.

The thick soup had an almost syrupy feel to it, which I noticed right away and gave me pause while tasting. I'd prefer more vegetable chunks, since the liquid took center stage. The second tasting was also unpleasant, unlike some soups which improve a little.

This soup was one of two with the most sodium, with a whopping 1,020 milligrams per cup. That took me by surprise because it doesn't taste salty. Maybe that's why it contains the most sugar, too, with 13 grams per cup, since sugar can be a simple fix for overly salty food. It also contains glucono delta-lactone, a coagulant and acidulant that doesn't appear in the other soups (except the next one). I wanted to like it, but I couldn't get past the texture and flavor.

This soup sold at Aldi is the first I've given a medium ranking. It looks like a dark reddish tomato soup with larger chunks of beans, corn, and carrot. It's thick and silky and the vegetables have a firm bite, but the soup is not dense because there's a higher proportion of broth to vegetables. The aroma and flavor are reminiscent of chili, and it's both sweet and spicy, as it contains several varieties of hot peppers. Unfortunately, the whole effect was a bit unpleasant and we didn't want to taste very much of it.

If you're having déjà vu, you're not alone. This soup looks and tastes almost exactly like the Bettergoods Slow Cooked Southwest Roasted Tomato Black Bean Soup above, although Bettergoods is a private line of products sold at Walmart. I only noted a very slight difference in flavor between the two. Even the names are similar and they're both sold in 24-ounce glass jars. The ingredients lists are almost identical, with minor variations in the order and names of ingredients. For example, the Bettergoods soup contains fire roasted corn and corn starch, while Aldi's version includes corn and modified corn starch. They're both made in Canada and the nutrition facts are almost exactly the same (the Bettergoods soup has 1,020 milligrams of sodium to Aldi's 1,030 milligrams, for instance). They both even list glucono delta-lactone. Coincidence?

My tastebuds didn't lie. I placed these next to each other during the blind taste test but somehow ranked the Aldi soup as slightly more palatable.

This is the first soup that had extra preparation steps. So far, the other soups were open, heat, and eat, and you could eat them cold if you were desperate (it's safe to eat canned soup without heating). This soup cup contains beans, tomato, lime juice, vegetables, spices, and herbs, all dried. At first when I saw the flavor packet, I assumed it was full of an artificial processed powder, but the ingredient list is pretty natural (yeast extract and natural flavor being the two exceptions). Once reconstituted with boiling water or filled with water and microwaved, it turns into an individual portion of soup.

I will say that the soup is rather thick. It is more like a thick purée with some small chunks of black beans showing. In fact, the texture is reminiscent of refried beans, so the soup experience I was hoping for was a little lacking. If you have any leftover, you'll need to add more water because it thickens up more. It does not have a strong aroma. I had to concentrate to notice it, and in the end it reminded me of cardboard.

The flavor is not bad. It's a little spicy, and the heat lingers. I mostly tasted the beans and the heat of the chili pepper, without much nuance from vegetables or other ingredients. It didn't taste artificial, but I noticed a slightly strange aftertaste. I ranked this in the middle. I could eat this again, and I expected worse for instant soup, but the experience wasn't optimal.

I was confused at first about whether this product was a soup or a can of black beans. The word soup only appears in the English translation on one side of the can, but not in the Spanish text on the other. A closer investigation revealed it's prepared with water, black beans, salt, olive and soybean oils, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, MSG, spices, sugar, and vinegar. This is more than just a can of beans.

However, the overwhelming aroma and flavor of this product is of black beans. It smells good — in fact, it smelled like I had just soaked dried black beans and boiled them on the stove. The flavor matches the aroma — mostly pure homestyle beans. This is not a very liquidy soup with a variety of colorful ingredients, and it's not spicy. All I could see were black beans and black liquid. However, I enjoyed it, and it's the first soup I've given a high ranking. It was very good on its own, but you could choose to add diced avocado and tomato or chopped herbs for more interest if desired.

I have to say one thing — it was extremely salty. Just 1 cup contains 960 milligrams of sodium, and you can taste it all because it has a negligible amount of sugar. MSG has also been shown to enhance the perception of saltiness, per the National Institutes of Health. I'd buy this again, but perhaps enjoy a smaller portion over unsalted rice next time to reduce the sodium intake.

I like Amy's canned soups despite the price tags, although I'm more likely to buy them when they're on sale. Amy's Black Bean and Vegetable Soup does not disappoint. But be warned — I was hit with a strong aroma of onion as soon as I smelled it. This soup is brown with firm bits of corn and very soft pieces of potato and carrot. I read on the can later that it also includes celery and leeks, although I didn't spot them. The texture is more like a puree or a lighter or more liquidy version of refried beans. It almost felt like eatign baby food. I didn't spot any beans. They were all blended in.

When I tasted it, I was hit with a strong onion flavor just like the aroma foreshadowed. After the tasting, I checked the can, and onion is the second ingredient in this soup, right after beans. The soup is not spicy. A light, bright flavor comes through after the original hit of onion fades. In fact, I didn't notice the strong presence of onion anymore after I tested a little, and I enjoyed this soup. It tasted natural.

I liked the fact that this soup is organic and non-GMO, too. If you really don't like onions you may feel differently, but I had no qualms about ranking this soup as one of the best in the lineup.

Frozen soups are hard to come by, at least in the U.S. They're much easier to find in a can or in a jar, so I appreciated Tabatchnick's product. Unfortunately, not all stores carry it, or they may not carry the black bean version. The box contains two individual pouches with instructions to remove the soup from the pouch and microwave it or to cook the intact pouch in boiling water. Not being fans of cooking food in hot plastic, I opted to remove the soup and simmer it on the stove, and it worked fine.

This soup has a mild aroma that reminded me of something I might make at home. The picture on the box shows a bowl of black bean soup with colorful pieces of red, green, and white vegetables, and the ingredient list includes tomato, onion, green and red bell pepper, and mirepoix. But in realit, wI could only see black beans and black liquid. It has a good liquid to bean ratio, and I like the plentiful whole bean pieces it includes.

When I tasted it, the mouthfeel was silky and smooth, and I did feel small bits of soft onion when I tasted it. It's ever so slightly spicy. Thankfully, I didn't pick up any artificial notes, weird aftertastes, or overwhelming single flavors. It tastes light and fresh and beany. Although I couldn't see the other ingredients, their underlying notes came through as I ate the soup. While this soup doesn't boast exotic flavors or eye-catching visuals, I really enjoyed it andwould definitely buy it again.

I drew on my experience as a recipe developer and lover of plant-based foods to inform this ranking. I especially love beans and cook a variety of bean dishes often. I chose soups that are easier to find across the country, and excluded a couple varieties of canned black bean chili, even though they looked tasty.

To perform the testing for this ranking, I set up a blind taste test. I gave each soup a letter and spooned a little bit into a testing bowl marked with the same letter, and then I mixed them up so I didn't know which was which. All the soups were heated before tasting. A fellow soup lover helped me with the tasting and provided a second opinion. I consumed apple slices and water in between tasting each soup and had a second taste of each one later to confirm our first impressions.

I didn't know what I was testing for the most part, although one of them had a distinctive appearance that gave it away. The soups were evaluated for appearance, aroma, texture, flavor, mouthfeel, and any artificial notes. I also took the ingredients and preparation methods into consideration and, to a lesser extent, nutrition facts, since most of the beans had pretty similar levels of nutrients like protein and fat.