Phantom Gourmet: Chicken Noodle Soup Taste Test

BOSTON (CBS) -- Phantom recently purchased four cans of chicken noodle soup at a local supermarket. The comforting contenders were Campbell's Home Style, Healthy Valley Organic, Progresso, and Wolfgang Puck. See if you can guess which brand ended up at the top of the food chain.

Healthy Valley Organic finished in last place. This no-salt-added chicken noodle soup was simply subpar. The weak-looking broth foreshadowed the even weaker flavor coming out of this can. Making matters worse, the pieces of carrot and dark meat chicken were tiny, and the noodles were a bland, mushy mess.

At the completely opposite end of the soup spectrum was Wolfgang Puck Free Range Chicken Noodle. This brand was a total salt bomb. In fact, Phantom felt the need to chase each spoonful with a big gulp of water. There appear to be veggies, chicken, and spices swimming in this salty sea, but their flavor was no match for chef Puck's heavy hand with the salt shaker.

The runner-up is Campbell's Home Style. The good news is that it's loaded with thick spiral egg noodles that stay fantastically firm in the full-flavored broth. The bad news is that, while there are big chunks of white meat chicken, they are unappealingly dry and chewy. This soup isn't bad, but it needed to be a bit better to take the top spot.

At the top of the food chain is Progresso. This big can comes with a convenient pull top, making it easy to get at all the good stuff inside. The curly egg noodles are soft, but not mushy. The chunks of chicken are moist and plentiful. The carrots and celery impart earthy goodness. And the rich, thick broth coats the mouth like a warm blanket on a cold day. That's why Progresso Traditional Chicken Noodle soup is at the top of the food chain.

Watch Phantom Gourmet on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 11 a.m. on myTV38.