Best Chicken Broth and Stock You Can Get in the Store 2025

We started out with simple criteria: low-sodium chicken broths and stocks that folks could find at supermarkets or big-box stores. By culinary definition, you make stock from simmering bones (likely with some meat still attached) and aromatics like carrots, onions, and celery, while broth gets its flavor from meat. If you were to poach a whole chicken in water, for example, at the end you’d have broth (and a cooked chicken). But in the context of labels, “stock” and “broth” seem to be used interchangeably — except in the case of bone broth, which is richer and more concentrated than normal stock or broth.

We settled on low-sodium and no-salt-added chicken broths because they allow people to have more control over how much salt they use. Every chicken broth and stock we tested had 6% daily value or less of sodium per 1-cup serving. We found many options on store shelves labeled “reduced sodium” and “40% less sodium” (compared with the brand’s full-sodium offering), but oftentimes those broths still listed upwards of 24% of the recommended daily value of sodium per 1-cup serving.

Before we tasted anything, we assumed that stocks with a higher protein percentage would be more robust. That turned out to be true, but we also found that more protein didn’t necessarily equate to a stock with more intense chicken flavor. In the case of high-protein bone broths, while they did taste like chicken, they also tended to have a muddier, deeper flavor. That’s fine for meat and poultry dishes, but it would probably overwhelm if used in a pan sauce for delicate fish like sole or fluke.

Many store-bought broths (including bone broths) and stocks add natural chicken flavor and other ingredients to make them more flavorful. We found that the most common ingredients in packaged low-sodium chicken broth included the following:

• Chicken broth or stock: This was the first ingredient in most of the contenders we tasted, and listings don’t usually break it down further into its components.
• Yeast extract: This flavor enhancer is derived from brewer’s or baker’s yeast. According to Jonathan Campbell, PhD, associate professor of animal science and extension meat specialist at Pennsylvania State University, “[Yeast extract] is simply used to replace sodium … and add more of a savory flavor.”
• Onion powder: Most people have used this potent seasoning before (you probably have some in your cupboard). It was in many of the broths we tested that had a roasted- or charred-onion aftertaste.
• Natural flavor: The FDA rules say that, among other things, “natural flavor” can be derived from plants, eggs, poultry, or meats. Other than that, it’s a mystery unless you have an exceptional palate.
• Natural chicken flavor: This was another ingredient we couldn’t quite pin down. We asked Campbell what, exactly, natural chicken flavor was. “I guess from a simplistic standpoint, it would more than likely be the use of [poultry] fat,” Campbell responded. As the saying goes, fat is flavor.

In 2020, we couldn’t host a group of taste testers as we’d usually do. I researched, bought, and tasted all the broths and stocks at home on my own. I heated each broth to a simmer, poured it into a clear drinking glass, and tasted it at various temperatures as it cooled. After I tasted each one, I packaged the broths in pint-size deli containers and took them to Wirecutter editor Winnie Yang, who tasted the brand-concealed broths on her own at her home. We took note of each brand’s intensity of chicken flavor and aroma. We also tasted for any off-flavors or overwhelming flavors other than chicken.

After culling the contenders we liked the least, I made a simple soup with each of the finalists that consisted of homemade egg noodles, napa cabbage, lemon, salt, and pepper, and I tasted the soups on my own.

This article was edited by Winnie Yang and Marguerite Preston.