Store-bought chicken broth is the Wild West of pantry staples. The flavors run the gamut from aromatic and full of umami to weak and watery, and it's hard to judge the overall quality based on the ingredients listed on a carton, can, or jar because most ready-made chicken broths have the same basic ingredients. And while it may seem like chicken broth only serves only as a supporting character in a dish, a top-tier broth can make a break or dish. Finding a quality broth is integral to adding depth and dimension to the flavor of what you are cooking, whether it’s a soup, stew, or sauce.

Though the flavor and feel of homemade chicken broth is unparalleled, making it is time-consuming, so we set out to find which ready-made broths can best recreate that signature savoriness.

For our taste test, we selected 12 different chicken broth brands from grocery stores and online retailers based on their popularity and availability. We limited our test to chicken broths and did not include stocks or bone broths. We also stuck to the low sodium or reduced sodium versions of each brand. Why? Because many original chicken broths contain extremely high salt levels, making it difficult to adjust seasoning while cooking. Like all our taste tests, we masked the brands for our testers so they wouldn’t know what brand they were tasting. We tried each broth plain and at room temperature.