We analyzed the sodium in a serving of all 219 types of Progresso and Campbell’s canned soups, America’s top two brands of canned soup. Half had 700 milligrams or more of sodium per cup, which is 30 percent of your daily recommended intake in what many would consider a snack. The most sodium-laden soups contained more than 900 milligrams per cup, and 1,900 milligrams if you gobbled down the entire can, as is common with ready-to-serve soups. That is before dinner.
Below are the 25 saltiest, counting down from No. 25 to No. 1.
Some soups pack a day’s worth of sodium in a single can. And as you can see from the sodium level in chicken noodle soup (which ranged from 410 milligrams per cup to 890 milligrams per cup), there’s a huge amount of variation in sodium levels among soups bearing the same name.
How We Measured This
All sodium numbers come from the manufacturers’ websites (progresso.com and campbells.com) as posted on Nov. 12, 2026. Sodium numbers are given for the serving size as well as for the whole can. For ready-to-serve soups, the serving size is one cup. For condensed soups, the serving size is half a cup of condensed soup prepared with water, which makes one cup (that’s how the serving size is defined on the cans). Ties are broken by the sodium per can. An 18-ounce can of ready-to-serve soup contains two one-cup servings. A 10.5-ounce can of condensed soup contains two and a half half-cup servings.
Progresso Reduced Sodium Southwest Style Black Bean soup gives two different sodium numbers on its website so we excluded it. Progresso Pitmaster Steak and Bean soup lists a sodium per cup number that is the same as the sodium per can number. We used the sodium per cup number because the sodium per can number backs it up and because that’s what the nutrition information on file with the USDA shows.
FDA’s daily value for sodium is 2,300 milligrams. The American Heart Association recommends a sodium limit of 1,500 milligrams a day for most adults.
Amy’s, Healthy Choice and Pacific Foods soups top out well below 700 milligrams of sodium per cup, according to nutrition information on file with the USDA, so none of those soups make the list.
We considered only the canned soups, chowders, chilis and bisques on the Campbell’s and Progresso websites, comprising 129 soups in Campbell’s Chunky, Condensed, Homestyle, Kids, Protein and Heart Healthy lines and 90 Progresso soups. We didn’t consider Progresso soups in sipping cups, Campbell’s soups in microwavable bowls, or frozen soups in either brand’s line. We also didn’t consider soups in tubs or broth.
The 25 Saltiest Canned Soups
Eight soups are nearly neck-and-neck at the top, separated only by what the whole can adds up to. Campbell’s soups make up 21 of the 25 spots.
At the bottom of the list: Progresso’s Rich and Hearty Chicken Pot Pie Style with Dumplings (840 mg); Campbell’s Chunky Baked Potato with Steak and Cheese and Chunky Chicken with Vegetables (830 mg each); Progresso’s Rich and Hearty Chicken Corn Chowder (830 mg); and condensed Campbell’s Bean with Bacon and Broccoli Cheese soups (820 mg each). Twenty-one of the 25 soups have more than 1,800 milligrams of sodium per can (if you drink or use up the whole can). All of the soups have at least 35 percent of the daily value for sodium in a cup serving.
Same Soup, Twice the Salt
Don’t let the type of soup fool you. Chicken noodle soup can range from 410 to 890 milligrams of sodium per cup, depending on the brand and variety. Of the 17 varieties of chicken noodle soup we analyzed from the two brands, Campbell’s Heart Healthy Chicken Noodle and Chunky Healthy Request Chicken Noodle sit at 410 milligrams. Campbell’s Chicken Noodle in the red and white can is 840 milligrams. The condensed Homestyle Chicken Noodle is 890 milligrams, which is more than double the sodium of its Heart Healthy cousin. Progresso’s chicken noodle soups range from 650 to 730 milligrams, and its Reduced Sodium Roasted Chicken Noodle is 460.
The sodium in tomato soup varies widely, too. Campbell’s condensed Tomato Soup is 480 milligrams, its Tomato Bisque is 870 milligrams, and its Heart Healthy Tomato Soup is 410.
Progresso’s median sodium content among its Light soups is 605 milligrams per cup; its Light Creamy Chicken Noodle soup, for instance, contains 690 milligrams per cup, more sodium than the Traditional Chicken Noodle soup (660 milligrams per cup). If you’re looking for soups that are actually lower in sodium, you’ll want to check out Progresso’s Reduced Sodium soups (460 to 580 milligrams per cup), Campbell’s Heart Healthy soups (all 410 milligrams per cup), Campbell’s Healthy Request Chunky soups (410 milligrams per cup), or Campbell’s 25% Less Sodium condensed soups (590 to 640 milligrams per prepared cup). The two unsalted varieties of Campbell’s condensed soups (Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken) contain just 50 and 60 milligrams of sodium per prepared cup respectively, which allows you to be the decider about how much sodium you want to add to your soup.
Moving up the list are Chunky Old Fashioned Vegetable Beef (870 mg/cup), condensed Cream of Mushroom (860 mg/cup), Chunky Beef with Country Vegetables (860 mg/cup), Cream of Celery (850 mg/cup), and Chunky Chicken Corn Chowder (850 mg/cup).
Four soups sit at 840 milligrams of sodium per cup: condensed Beefy Mushroom, condensed Chicken Noodle (red and white can), Progresso Traditional New England Clam Chowder and Chunky Old Bay Seasoned Clam Chowder.
Campbell’s Chicken Noodle, the classic most people picture when they hear the words canned soup, delivers 37 percent of your daily sodium allotment in one cup.
The Whole-Can Problem
The serving size on canned soups is deceiving. Most of the ready-to-serve soups are labeled as having two servings, but most people heat up the whole can and eat it for lunch.
Eleven of the ready-to-serve soups have 1,800 milligrams of sodium or more in the can, and 74 of the 159 ready-to-serve soups we looked at have 1,500 milligrams or more, which is the American Heart Association’s ideal upper limit for the whole day, in one can. The median ready-to-serve soup in our study has 1,490 milligrams of sodium in a can. That’s before you add crackers.
Condensed soups may look smaller, but when you follow the directions, one can makes two and a half cups of soup. The 10.5-ounce cans at the top of the list have between 2,100 and 2,225 milligrams of sodium.
At 890 mg of sodium per (prepared) cup are Chunky Creamy Chicken and Dumplings and Chunky Steak and Hearty Vegetables (1,930 mg per can for each). Campbell’s Homestyle New England Clam Chowder (not condensed) also has 890 mg per cup, although its can is smaller (16.3 oz; 1,680 mg per can). Also common in many kitchens are two other condensed varieties: Cream of Chicken (870 mg per prepared cup) and Tomato Bisque (870 mg). Note that the Cream of Chicken variety is sneaky because it’s often used as an ingredient, spooned over casseroles or added to slow cookers, in which case its sodium goes uncounted.
Brand by Brand
Campbell’s is the saltiest of the brands, with a median of 790 milligrams of sodium per cup. Progresso’s median is 670 milligrams.
Looking at lines within the brands, the three most popular Campbell’s lines (Homestyle, Condensed and Chunky) have medians of 790 milligrams each. Progresso’s Traditional line has a median of 655 milligrams; Rich and Hearty and Vegetable Classics both come in at 690 milligrams; and Pitmaster, the newest line, has a median of 680 milligrams, with the No. 1 soup as the outlier.
Of the 219 cans we looked at, 185 had at least 575 milligrams of sodium (a quarter of the daily value); only 31 came in at 480 milligrams or less.
What to Do With a Can
Don’t toss out soup. Just think of it the same way you would a salt shaker. A can of soup is plenty for two meals, so before heating, pour half out into a storage container for later, or divide it with a friend or family member. Look for soups labeled Heart Healthy, Healthy Request, Reduced Sodium, 25% Less Sodium and unsalted, and don’t rely on the word light to signal a low-sodium soup; check the sodium amount on the label.
Choose unsalted condensed cream soups for casseroles, as the other ingredients will add plenty of salt. Resist adding extra-salty foods like crackers or grilled cheese, which can add hundreds of milligrams of sodium to the meal. And if you are looking for more ways to watch your sodium, check out our list of the saltiest fast food in America and our rundown of the worst meals for high blood pressure.
The Label Is the Only Difference
That’s what makes the list less an indictment of Campbell’s or Progresso so much as an illustration of the breadth of their offerings: Next to the 890-milligram version of chicken noodle soup, for instance, Campbell’s also stocks a nearly indistinguishable can bearing a 410-milligram label. (The label is the only way to tell them apart.) Soup is a self-contained product, after all, designed to sustain you in a pinch without the aid of additional condiments, and salt is the ingredient that makes that possible.
Martha ‘Marti’ Jones founded Fitness Four after three decades of living with IBS, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and pernicious anemia.
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