Vegetarian Journal's Guide to Soups
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
When I was a child, I adored Cream of Mush- room soup. If I was home from school becauseI didn't feel well, that's almost always what I would choose for lunch. No, it was not homemade soup.It came from a can. I scraped it into a pot, carefully poured in a canful of milk, stirred, heated, and ate it with crackers crumbled on top. Similarly, when I was pregnant, even when nothing much tasted good, canned lentil soup did. It was even easier — open the can, heat, and eat. I suspect many readers have had the same experience with soup. When you're sick, tired, hungry, or cold, a can of soup makes an easy meal.
All canned soups are not alike, however. Some can be great sources of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, while others mainly provide more salt than you need along with some calories. How can you tell which products are the best?
The place to start is with the product label. Look at the ingredients first. When I started reading labels, I was surprised to learn that such innocent sounding products as Black Bean Soup (Walnut Acres) and Mushroom Barley Soup (Hain) contained beef broth or chicken broth, respectively. Certainly many meat-free products contain dairy products, egg whites, or honey. If you're not certain whether an ingredient is vegetarian or not, contact the company. I noticed that Healthy Choice Garden Vegetable Soup and Progresso Minestrone and Lentil Soups contained natural flavor. In the Healthy Choice product, the natural flavor is not derived from animals. Progresso was unable to guarantee that the natural flavor in their product was not animal-derived. In addition to checking on whether a product is vegetarian or not, those consumers who are sensitive to MSG will also want to check the label for this flavor enhancer, which appears in many soup products.
We're pleased to see how many soups contain organically produced ingredients and would like to see more. Imagine, Pacific Foods, ShariAnn's, Vegetarian Cafe, Walnut Acres, Health Valley, Westbrae, and Hain all make one or more soups which contain organically produced ingredients.
Once you've examined the ingredient list, take a look at the nutrition information on the label. Soups are usually low in calories and fat, although some cream soups can contain whopping amounts of fat, especially if prepared with whole milk. The main problem with canned soup is its sodium content. Brands found in the natural foods section tend to be lower in sodium than more conventional products, although this is not always true. A one-cup serving of Goya Black Bean Soup has close to half a teaspoon of salt — almost half the amount of sodium which is recommended for an entire day. Health Valley should be commended for making a number of low sodium soups including such popular flavors as Split Pea, Lentil, Vegetable, and Black Bean.
Fiber content of soups varies. Generally, soups based on beans or peas have more fiber than either tomato-based or cream-based soups, with vegetable-based soups being intermediate. The table accompanying this article gives the fiber content of a number of vegetarian soups. Bean soups are also commonly higher in protein than other soups, often having between 7 and 12 grams of protein in a cup of soup (a cup of beans has around 12 to 15 grams of protein).
We looked at the vitamin and mineral content of soups. It was quite variable. Bean soups were often high in iron. Soups providing at least one-fifth of the USRDA for iron were ShariAnn's Tomato with Roasted Red Bell Pepper, Spicy Mexican Bean, and Italian White Bean; Health Valley's 5 Bean Vegetable, Black Bean and Vegetable, Tomato Vegetable, and Lentils & Carrots; Goya's Black Bean; and Rokeach's 7-Bean. Soups with plenty of carrots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, or winter squash were often high in vitamin A, while tomato-based soups and soups containing lots of vegetables were high in vitamin C. The table accompanying this article shows which soups have at least 10% of the USRDA for iron, calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin C.
What about taste? We bought five different kinds of lentil soups and tried them all. Here's what we thought:
- Arrowhead Mills Red Lentil Soup: This was the overall favorite. It tasted more like a vegetable soup with a thin broth, mashed lentils, chunks of carrots, and red peppers. If only they used organically grown ingredients! Still, it's one we'll buy again.
- Walnut Acres Organic Condensed Green Lentil Soup: This soup's slightly sweet, smoky taste was especially appealing to the children who tasted it.
- Health Valley No Salt Added Organic Lentil Soup: Very thick and tasty with chunks of vegetables and whole lentils. Nice tomato flavor in the broth — shows us that you don't need lots of salt for a good flavor.
- Westbrae Natural Rich Mediterranean Lentil Soup:Comments ranged from "Pretty good" to "Weird taste; too salty." It was the highest in sodium of those we tried.
- ShariAnn's Organic Spicy French Green Lentil Soup: This was the one that the tasters liked least. Several people commented on its odd after-taste. It did have a spicy flavor which might be popular with some people.
The soups we selected to taste cost between 62 cents (Walnut Acres) and one dollar (ShariAnn's) for a 1-cup serving of soup. While the price of natural food soups is often considerably higher than brands more commonly found in supermarkets, there are definite advantages to buying natural food soups (like lower sodium and organically produced ingredients in many of the products). Alternatives do exist to prepared soups. You can make a big pot of soup on the weekend and freeze or refrigerate individual servings to be heated for a quick lunch. If cooking facilities are limited at your workplace, soup can be heated in the morning and placed in a thermos until lunch time.
We've rated soups based on their sodium, fiber, vitamin, and mineral content, and indicated our winners in the table accompanying this article. Super soups are italicized; they contain no animal products, have less than 400 mg of sodium in a serving, have 4 or more grams of fiber, and are high in at least one of the listed nutrients. Other good choices are marked with an asterisk. These products meet the sodium and fiber goals for super soups but may contain dairy products, egg whites, or honey.
| Product | Sodium (mg) | Calories | Fiber (gm) | High in | |
| BEAN AND PEA SOUPS | |||||
| Health Valley No Salt Added Lentil, v | 25 | 100 | 8 | A,C,Ir | |
| Health Valley No Salt Added Black Bean, v | 25 | 130 | 5 | A,Ir | |
| *Campbells Low Sodium Split Pea, d | 35 | 190 | 4 | A | |
| Health Valley No Salt Added Split Pea, v | 115 | 110 | 8 | A,Ir | |
| Health Valley Split Pea, v | 160 | 110 | 8 | A,Ir | |
| *Health Valley Lentils and Carrots, h | 220 | 100 | 10 | A,Ir | |
| *Health Valley Split Pea and Carrots, h | 230 | 110 | 4 | A,C,Ir | |
| *Health Valley 5 Bean Vegetable, h | 250 | 140 | 10 | A,C,Ir | |
| *Health Valley Black Bean and Vegetable, h | 280 | 110 | 9 | A,C,Ir | |
| ShariAnn's Indian Black Bean and Rice, v | 320 | 150 | 4 | Ir | |
| Arrowhead Mills Red Lentil, v | 320 | 100 | 3 | A,C,Ir | |
| ShariAnn's Spicy French Green Lentil, v | 320 | 130 | 1 | A,Ir | |
| Walnut Acres Split Pea Barley, v | 340 | 150 | 10 | A,Ir | |
| Health Valley Black Bean, v | 380 | 130 | 5 | A,Ir | |
| Walnut Acres Green Lentil, v | 390 | 100 | 7 | A,Ir | |
| ShariAnn's Spicy Mexican Bean, v | 400 | 210 | 8 | A,Ca,Ir | |
| ShariAnn's Great Plains Split Pea, h | 410 | 150 | 10 | A,Ir | |
| Progresso 99% Fat Free Lentil, v | 440 | 130 | 6 | A,Ir | |
| Walnut Acres Navy Bean, d | 460 | 110 | 7 | A,Ir | |
| Hain Vegetarian Split Pea, v | 480 | 130 | 9 | A,Ir | |
| ShariAnn's Italian White Bean, h | 490 | 170 | 4 | A,Ca,Ir | |
| Westbrae Black Bean Gumbo, v | 540 | 80 | 8 | Ir | |
| Westbrae Savory Bean, v | 550 | 70 | 10 | A | |
| Westbrae Bean Stew, v | 550 | 100 | 9 | A | |
| Westbrae Lentil, v | 550 | 100 | 8 | A,Ir | |
| Westbrae Split Pea, v | 590 | 110 | 10 | A,Ir | |
| Rokeach 7-Bean, v | 880 | 190 | 9 | A,Ir | |
| Arrowhead Mills Smoky Bean, v | 880 | 140 | 7 | A,Ir | |
| Campbells Black Bean, v, | 1000 | 110 | 5 | Ir | |
| Goya Black Bean, v | 1050 | 210 | 20 | C,Ca,Ir | |
| TOMATO-BASED SOUPS | |||||
| Health Valley Tomato, v | 380 | 80 | 1 | A,C,Ir | |
| Walnut Acres Tomato, d, h | 380 | 70 | 1 | A,C | |
| ShariAnn's Cream of Tomato, d, h | 450 | 80 | 0 | A,C,Ir | |
| Campbells Healthy Request Tomato, v | 460 | 90 | 1 | C | |
| Bell Pepper, v | 470 | 100 | 3 | A,C,Ir | |
| ShariAnn's Tomato with Roasted Garlic, h | 470 | 50 | 0 | A,C,Ir | |
| Pacific Foods Cream of Tomato, d | 570 | 100 | 1 | A,C | |
| Westbrae Tomato, d, h | 610 | 60 | 1 | A,C | |
| Imagine Zesty Gazpacho, v | 720 | 60 | <1 | C | |
| Campbells Tomato, v | 760 | 80 | 1 | A,C | |
| Campbells Tomato Bisque, d | 900 | 130 | 2 | A,C | |
| VEGETABLE SOUPS | |||||
| Health Valley No Salt Added Potato Leek, v | 35 | 70 | 3 | A | |
| Health Valley No Salt Added Vegetable, v | 40 | 80 | 4 | A,C,Ir,Ca | |
| Health Valley No Salt Added Minestrone, e | 45 | 70 | 3 | A,C | |
| *Health Valley Corn and Vegetable, h | 135 | 70 | 7 | A,C,Ir | |
| Health Valley Potato Leek, v | 230 | 70 | 3 | A | |
| *Health Valley Tomato Vegetable, h | 240 | 80 | 5 | A,C,Ir | |
| *Health Valley 14 Garden Vegetable, h | 250 | 80 | 4 | A,C,Ir | |
| Walnut Acres Potato Kale, v | 300 | 90 | 2 | A,C | |
| *Walnut Acres Vegetarian Minestrone, h | 340 | 120 | 5 | A,C | |
| Health Valley Vegetable, v | 380 | 80 | 4 | A,C,Ca,Ir | |
| Health Valley Minestrone, e | 380 | 70 | 3 | A,C | |
| Walnut Acres Sweet Potato Chowder, v | 420 | 130 | 3 | A,C | |
| Walnut Acres Vegetarian Vegetable, h | 460 | 80 | 2 | A,C | |
| Healthy Choice Garden Vegetable, v | 480 | 110 | 2 | A | |
| Walnut Acres Hearty Vegetarian Stew, v | 540 | 100 | 3 | A,C | |
| Westbrae Spicy Southwest Vegetable, v | 550 | 90 | 9 | A,Ir | |
| Westbrae Santa Fe Vegetable, v | 570 | 120 | 4 | C,Ir | |
| Rokeach Russian Cabbage and Potato, v | 570 | 90 | 3 | C,Ir | |
| Westbrae Minestrone, v | 580 | 110 | 5 | A,Ir | |
| Westbrae Garden Vegetable, v | 590 | 70 | 2 | A,C | |
| Vegetarian Cafe Roasted Tomato Vegetable, v | 590 | 120 | 2 | A,C | |
| Rokeach Vegetable, v | 790 | 110 | 3 | A | |
| Campbells Vegetarian Vegetable, e | 860 | 80 | 2 | A | |
| Campbells Chunky Vegetable, v | 870 | 130 | 4 | A | |
| RICE OR BARLEY SOUPS | |||||
| Health Valley No Salt Added Mushroom Barley, v | 25 | 70 | 3 | A,C | |
| *Health Valley Vegetable Barley, h | 210 | 90 | 4 | A,C,Ir | |
| Health Valley Mushroom Barley, v | 380 | 70 | 3 | A,C | |
| Hain Wild Rice, v | 480 | 80 | 1 | A,C | |
| Vegetarian Cafe 3 Mushroom, v Barley, d | 590 | 100 | n/a | ||
| Westbrae Unbeef Barley, v | 750 | 60 | 1 | A | |
| Rokeach Tomato Barley, v | 770 | 120 | 2 | ||
| Westbrae Unchicken Rice, d | 850 | 60 | <1 | A | |
| Rokeach Barley and Mushroom, v | 940 | 110 | 2 | A | |
| CREAM STYLE SOUPS | |||||
| Campbell's Low Sodium Cream of Mushroom, d | 50 | 160 | 2 | ||
| Imagine Creamy Mushroom, v | 310 | 80 | 2 | ||
| Imagine Creamy Sweet Corn, v | 310 | 100 | 1 | ||
| Walnut Acres Cream of Mushroom, d, h | 350 | 100 | 1 | Ca | |
| Walnut Acres Cream of Broccoli, d | 360 | 90 | 2 | A,C,Ca | |
| Imagine Creamy Broccoli, v | 370 | 70 | 2 | A | |
| Imagine Creamy Butternut Squash, v | 370 | 120 | 2 | A | |
| Walnut Acres Corn Chowder, d | 370 | 80 | 1 | A | |
| Walnut Acres Cream of Pea, d | 400 | 140 | 3 | A,C | |
| Pacific Foods Cream of Mushroom, d | 460 | 100 | 0 | C | |
| Hain Cream of Mushroom, d | 480 | 80 | <1 | A | |
| Walnut Acres Cream of Carrot, d | 510 | 150 | 1 | A | |
| Imagine Creamy Potato Leek, v | 550 | 90 | <1 | ||
| Westbrae Corn Chowder, d, h | 570 | 110 | 2 | A,C | |
| Vegetarian Cafe Broccoli Corn Chowder, d | 590 | 120 | 2 | A,C,Ca | |
| Westbrae Potato Leek, d, h | 90 | 110 | 1 | C | |
| Westbrae Creamy Mushroom, d, h | 680 | 70 | 0 |
All serving sizes are 1 cup of prepared soup. Soups are identified as v (vegan), d (contains dairy products), e (contains egg whites), h (contains honey) unable to determine whether or not product contains animal products). Products are listed from least to most sodium per serving within a category. Products which contain 10% or more of the USRDA for calcium (Ca), Iron (Ir), vitamin A (A), or vitamin C (C) are indicated in the last column as being high in one or more specified nutrients.
