Chicken broth is a versatile ingredient that can be used to make soups, stews risottos and more. With so many options available, it can be tricky to know where to find high-quality chicken broth. In this article, I’ll go over the pros and cons of buying chicken broth from grocery stores, specialty shops, and making it yourself at home.
Grocery Stores
Grocery stores are the most convenient place to buy chicken broth. You can easily find it in the soup aisle alongside vegetable, beef, and other broth varieties.
The major benefit of buying chicken broth at the grocery store is that it’s readily available and easy to find You don’t have to go out of your way or visit multiple shops to get it. Grocery stores like Kroger, Publix, Safeway, etc. will have chicken broth in stock year-round
Additionally, grocery store chicken broth is very affordable. A 32 oz carton of Swanson or Store Brand chicken broth typically costs between $2-$3. For the amount you get, this is a budget-friendly option.
However, one downside of grocery store chicken broth is that it often contains preservatives and additives like MSG, yeast extract, and sodium phosphate. The broth may also be diluted with water instead of being 100% chicken stock.
The flavor of mass-produced chicken broth tends to be mild. So if you’re looking for an intensely chicken-y tasting broth, you may want to look elsewhere. But for basic cooking needs, grocery store chicken broth gets the job done.
Specialty Stores
Specialty food shops and butcher shops offer higher quality chicken broth options compared to what you’ll find at the grocery store. These small-batch broths are usually made with just chicken and aromatics like onions, carrots, celery, and herbs.
Broths from specialty stores are often referred to as “bone broths” because they simmer real chicken bones to extract more collagen, minerals, and nutrients. This makes the broth thicker and richer tasting.
Some popular national brands of specialty chicken broth include Osso Good, Bonafide Provisions, and Kettle & Fire. You can also check your local butcher shop or farmer’s market to see if they make fresh chicken broth.
The downside of these specialty chicken broths is that they are significantly more expensive than grocery store brands. A 16-17 oz container costs $8-$12. The higher price reflects the quality ingredients and small batch production.
Additionally, you may only be able to find these at Whole Foods, natural food stores, or have to order online if you don’t live near the company’s retail locations. So accessibility is lower.
Make Your Own
Making your own homemade chicken broth is rewarding and allows you to control all the ingredients. With some time and effort, you can make tasty chicken broth from scratch.
To make chicken broth at home, you’ll need:
- Chicken carcass or wings/legs/thighs
- Veggies like carrots, celery, onion
- Herbs like parsley, thyme, bay leaves
- Water
- Salt and pepper
Add the chicken pieces and veggies to a large pot. Cover with water by a few inches. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 2-6 hours, skimming fat and scum periodically. Strain the broth through a mesh sieve. Season with salt and pepper.
The great thing about homemade broth is that you know exactly what’s in it. You can use the highest quality chicken and minimal additives. The broth will be rich, flavorful, and free of preservatives.
On the downside, making your own chicken broth is time consuming. It can take hours of hands-on work to properly simmer, strain, and cool the broth. You also need to plan ahead to have chicken parts ready to go.
Because of the lengthy process, making your own chicken broth only makes sense if you’ll use up a large batch within a few days. Otherwise, you’re better off buying pre-made.
The Best Places to Buy Chicken Broth
To recap, here are my top recommendations on where to buy chicken broth:
- Grocery stores – Best for convenience and affordability
- Specialty shops – Best for premium quality and richness
- Make your own – Best for controlling ingredients and customizing flavors
For everyday cooking needs, I usually buy chicken broth at the grocery store. My favorites are Swanson and Store Brand broths which provide good flavor at a low cost.
When I want to make a special soup or stew, I’ll use a specialty chicken broth from the butcher shop or an online brand like Osso Good. The deeper chicken flavor really enhances these dishes.
I try to make homemade chicken broth every couple months when I have time. It brings a fresh, wholesome taste to recipes that’s hard to replicate with store-bought broths. But due to the time required, I rely on pre-made broths more often for convenience.
The next time you’re shopping for chicken broth, keep these options in mind. Consider what factors – price, quality, convenience – are most important to you. That will help determine whether the grocery store, specialty shop, or DIY route is the best choice for your needs. Whichever you choose, chicken broth is a handy staple that makes cooking easier.
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.
Chicken Broth Tips From Our Experts
FAQ
Is chicken stock the same as chicken broth?
Is boxed chicken broth healthy?
What aisle is chicken broth usually on?
Chicken broth is usually found in the canned goods section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.