Chicken broth is a versatile and useful ingredient that can add flavor to many dishes. But with so many options on the market, how much does chicken broth cost? In this article, we’ll break down the prices of different types of chicken broth so you can find the best value.
Canned Chicken Broth
Canned chicken broth is one of the most convenient and budget-friendly options. Many major brands like Swanson’s and Campbell’s sell canned chicken broth
- Swanson’s canned chicken broth costs around $0.89 to $1.19 for a 14.5 oz can. This works out to around $0.06 to $0.08 per oz.
- Campbell’s canned chicken broth costs roughly $0.79 to $1.29 for a 14.5 oz can. That’s around $0.05 to $0.09 per oz.
- Generic brands usually cost even less, with prices ranging from $0.50 to $0.79 per can.
Canned chicken broth is a handy pantry staple. Just crack open the can and use it to make sauces, soups, braises, and more. However, it can have a more processed taste than fresh broths.
Box and Carton Chicken Broths
Boxed and carton chicken broths offer more freshness at a slightly higher price point. Popular options include:
- Swanson’s boxed chicken broth costs around $2.19 to $3.49 for a 32 oz carton, or $0.07 to $0.11 per oz.
- College Inn boxed chicken broth is around $1.99 to $2.69 for a 32 oz carton, or $0.06 to $0.08 per oz.
- Pacific Foods organic chicken broth costs around $3.29 to $3.99 for a 32 oz carton, averaging $0.10 to $0.12 per oz.
The broth in boxes and aseptic cartons is higher quality than canned. The taste is fresher and more homemade. But it does cost around 1.5 to 2 times more than canned broth per ounce.
Chicken Broth Concentrates
Chicken broth concentrates offer an ultra-convenient way to store broth Popular options include
- Better Than Bouillon chicken base costs around $4.99 to $5.79 for an 8 oz jar. But because it makes 38 cups of broth when mixed with water, this works out to just $0.01 to $0.02 per oz – an excellent value.
- Knorr chicken broth concentrate costs $1.79 to $2.19 for a 1.4 oz package that makes 10 cups of broth. That’s around $0.02 per oz of finished broth.
Broth concentrates require mixing with water, but provide gourmet flavor at a fraction of the cost of pre-made broths. They’re ideal for cooks who use a lot of broth.
Fresh Refrigerated Chicken Broths
Refrigerated fresh chicken broths offer premium quality with a price tag to match. Some popular choices include
- Whole Foods’ 365 brand fresh chicken broth costs $3.99 per 32 oz, or $0.12 per oz.
- Trader Joe’s fresh chicken broth is $2.99 for a 32 oz carton, or $0.09 per oz.
- Pacific Foods refrigerated chicken broth averages $3.79 for a 32 oz carton, or $0.11 per oz.
Fresh broths contain no preservatives or artificial flavors. However, they have a very short shelf life of around 1 week. The cost can also add up compared to canned or concentrated options.
Homemade Chicken Broth
Finally, you can save money by making your own homemade chicken broth.
- Using leftover chicken bones/carcasses and spare veggies, you can make batches of broth for $0.02 to $0.05 per oz or less.
- Making your own broth takes time, but lets you control the ingredients and quality. It’s the cheapest route overall.
Homemade broth also makes good use of food scraps that would otherwise get thrown away. So it cuts down on food waste.
Key Takeaways:
- Canned chicken broth provides the cheapest and most convenient option at $0.05 to $0.09 per oz.
- Boxed carton broths offer better freshness at $0.06 to $0.12 per oz on average.
- Concentrates deliver gourmet quality for just $0.01 to $0.02 per oz.
- Fresh refrigerated broths provide premium quality at $0.09 to $0.12 per oz.
- Making your own broth is cheapest overall at $0.02 to $0.05 per oz.
Other good chicken broths
If you want a lighter bone broth with greater ingredients transparency: Pacific Foods Organic Bone Broth Chicken Unsalted (about $5.50 per quart) is a respectable runner-up to the Good & Gather bone broth. Compared with that one, this bone broth is lighter in body and chicken flavor, and it’s more rounded out with vegetables, herbs, and spices. The Pacific Foods bone broth also stands apart from the competition in that the label fully spells out the ingredients, listing water, organic chicken, organic vegetables (onions, carrots, celery), and so on. On most of the broths and stocks we tasted, the labels listed only “chicken broth” or “chicken stock” as the first ingredient. The Pacific Foods bone broth is a good all-purpose choice for most recipes, and it would even make a fine soup base with additional carrots, onions, and fresh herbs.
For a decent and economical supermarket option: The College Inn Unsalted Chicken Stock (about $2.60 per quart) is a solid choice. It got different grades from the testers: I thought it was okay, and Winnie ranked it as her number-two pick. In her notes, Winnie wrote that this stock had “decent chicken flavor” that was “pleasant and clean.” She also found it “surprisingly rich” given the “fairly clear straw color.” I put the College Inn Unsalted Chicken Stock squarely in the middle.
For a supermarket brand with more intense, chicken-y flavor: Swanson Unsalted Chicken Cooking Stock (about $3.20 per quart) is inoffensive and was available at most of the supermarkets I shopped at while researching this guide. Winnie and I were split on the flavors we picked up in this one—she detected a charred onion flavor, whereas I thought it had a pleasant bit of gaminess, like a stock made from a more mature chicken. We think it’s one of the better-tasting big-brand chicken stocks that most folks can find at their local supermarket.
This is not a comprehensive list of everything we tested in previous iterations of this guide, just what’s still available.
Swanson Organic Low-Sodium Free-Range Chicken Broth (about $4 per quart) doesn’t taste terrible so much as it doesn’t taste like much of anything. Even though this broth had a “cleaner” flavor than most of the others we dismissed, it was insipid, thin, and described as “weaksauce” by our blind-taster.
The Pacific Foods Organic Free Range Chicken Broth Low Sodium (about $3.30 per quart) was too weak on chicken flavor and aroma for the price. An onion-powder flavor, while not overtly offensive, dominated and lingered on the palate.
Target’s Good & Gather Organic No Salt Added Chicken Broth (about $2 per quart) is very affordable for an organic product, and we think we know why: In our tests it was watery and barely tasted like anything, chicken or otherwise. If buying organic is a priority, you’re better off spending slightly more for a quart of the Imagine organic low-sodium broth.
“Milky white” and “bland” best describe Whole Foods 365 Organic Chicken Broth Low Sodium (about $2.50 per quart).This broth stood out for its lack of both flavor and color. We detected a faint chicken aroma, and that’s about it.
To paraphrase Winnie, our blind-taster, the Progresso Chicken Broth Unsalted (about $2.70 per quart) tasted like the plastic from the carton more than anything else. I also thought this one was plasticky, with a strong onion-powder and yeast aftertaste.
Intense onion flavor dominated Swanson Unsalted Chicken Broth (about $2.50 per quart). The chicken flavor was there, but the yeast extract in the ingredients took over and lingered on the palate for a while. If Swanson broths and stocks are the best option at your local supermarket, skip this one and grab either the Unsalted Chicken Cooking Stock or the Organic Low-Sodium Free Range Chicken Broth.
I don’t like to drag subpar products through the mud, but the Rachael Ray Stock-in-a-Box Low-Sodium Chicken Stock (about $3.00 per quart) was one of the worst we tasted. It had no discernible chicken flavor or aroma. Instead, it was watery and plasticky tasting, with an unidentifiable off-flavor that lingered way too long on the palate. The Rachael Ray stock is the only one we tested that’s made from watered-down chicken stock concentrate, not chicken stock or broth. And the difference was glaringly obvious.
We don’t know which ingredient made Kitchen Basics Unsalted Chicken Stock (about $3.30 per quart) taste so sour. The only clue we could gather from the ingredient list was “natural flavor.” In our tasting notes, we agreed that the strong acidic flavor was the most memorable characteristic. Winnie called it “thin” and mused that it “might be worse” than the Rachael Ray stock.
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FAQ
How much is in a can of chicken broth?
Swanson® 100% Natural Chicken Broth, 14.5 Oz Can (Pack of 24)
How much is 1 cup of chicken broth?
A cup of chicken broth is 8 ounces. Sixteen ounces would be two cups.
Does Dollar General sell broth?
Buy Swanson 100% Natural Chicken Broth, 32 oz from Dollar General – Instore.
How much chicken broth is in a box?
