It's that time of the year when things are starting to get dark and cold, so snuggling up with a good bowl of tomato soup right about now sounds totally perfect.
There are lots of great options out there to choose from if you don't feel like making it yourself, so I decided to test all of the varieties I could find at one of Canada's grocery stores to find which soup reigns supreme in the tomato category.
For this taste test, I picked up tomato soups from Loblaws and ended up with Campbell's Creamy Tomato Soup, Heinz Tomato Condensed Soup, Pacific Foods Organic Creamy Tomato Soup, Imagine Creamy Garden Tomato, and Just Soup Gluten-Free Creamy Tomato Basil.
There are definitely other options out there, but these are the ones that were available to me on that particular grocery shopping day, so it's what I'm rolling with.
As for how I'll be scoring these soups, I'll be ranking each of them out of 5 in terms of how much I enjoy them and which one I'd buy again.
Campbell's Creamy Tomato Soup
Campbell's is definitely a classic and is very nostalgic for me, so I was surprised to find that it was my least favourite tomato soup of the day.
It had a nice, thick and velvety texture that I enjoyed and was quite creamy, but I couldn't get over how overwhelmingly sweet it was!
To me, this is much too sugary to be enjoyable, and out of everything that I tried, it's the one I'm least likely to ever buy again and I almost didn't even want to keep the leftovers from the rest of the tin.
Rating: 1/5
Price: $3.59 for 515 mLs
Price per 100 mLs: $.070
Imagine Creamy Garden Tomato
I'd never tried products from the brand Imagine before, so I was eager to give this one a go.
The first thing I noticed after I gave it a shake and poured it into my pot was how very red and thick it was, almost resembling ketchup.
A few minutes later when I tasted it, I was surprised to find that it did indeed taste quite a bit like ketchup, but in a pleasant way. Like, I could totally use this soup as a tasty option to dunk some fries in, and this would be an excellent pairing for a grilled cheese, which is of course a tried and true tomato soup accompaniment.
That being said, it doesn't taste a whole lot like what I think of when I'm imagining tomato soup, so while I did enjoy it, it's not the one I'd reach for when craving the classic comfort food.
Rating: 2.5/5
Price: $5.99 for one litre
Price per 100 mLs: $0.60
Just Soup Gluten-Free Creamy Tomato Basil
At the priciest per 100 mLs out of all the soups I tasted, I had high expectations for Just Soup Gluten-Free Creamy Tomato Basil, and while it was really damn tasty, it also didn't really hit the tomato soup vibe.
This soup tastes like a delicious rose sauce and I actually used it with some penne and shrimp after the soup taste test to make dinner for myself and my partner and we both loved it. It tastes super luxurious and creamy, but in terms of a tomato soup, I'd say it's lacking the tomato-forward and somewhat acidic flavour one would expect.
I'd buy this again as a pasta sauce, but not as a soup!
Rating: 2.7/5
Price: $7.99 for 580 mLs
Price per 100 mLs: $1.38
Heinz Tomato Condensed Soup
Heinz is about as tomato-y as one can get, and this soup did not disappoint.
While I wouldn't say there's anything super special about this option, it delivers exactly what it says it will: tomato soup.
It's delightfully plain in that if you have a cold or you're nauseous, this is the soup you want because it won't upset your stomach and will just fill you up with warm goodness.
It tastes like what I used to eat while watching The Price Is Right during a sick day at home from elementary school, and you simply can't mess with that.
Rating: 4/5
Price: $1.69 for 284 mLs
Price per 100 mLs: $0.60
Pacific Foods Organic Creamy Tomato Soup
And lastly, my winning soup of the day went to an item I'd also never tried before: Pacific Foods Organic Creamy Tomato Soup.
In terms of thickness, this blend was neither thick nor watery but rather somewhere in the middle, which makes for a nice mouthful.
The flavour of the soup is super balanced — the sweetness of the tomato is matched with more savoury notes and it tastes like it has a good amount of seasoning, unlike the Heinz soup which seemed to be pure tomato.
This was easily the best soup of the day and I'm glad that I've discovered this brand; I'll have to try out more of their stuff now that the weather in Ontario is getting icy and cold since a hot mug of soup is the best relief from the dreariness of winter.
Rating: 5/5
Price: $7.99 for one litre
Price per 100 mLs: $0.80
And that's the end of my tomato soup taste test!
If chicken noodle soup is more your style, I recently did a taste test of popular brands such as Campbell's, Primo, Tim Hortons, Swiss Chalet and Habitant — and a Canadian classic totally stole the show.
And if you're more into instant noodles, you can always check out my review of super spicy instant noodles available at Canadian grocery stores, because winter is long and you gotta find a way to heat things up somehow!
These prices are confirmed at the time of publishing, but they can change at any time. Taxes and fees may not be included.
I Compared 5 Tomato Soups From Loblaws & The Winner Is Getting A Permanent Spot In My Pantry
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