Summer is over and soup weather is here! Nothing beats homemade soup, but it takes effort to make and then you end up with a big batch that you might not necessarily want. When I saw this Rao’s Vegetable Minestrone Soup at Costco, I was intrigued. This is the brand that elevated store-bought pasta sauce with their marinara sauce. Have they done the same thing with boring old canned soup?
Other soups from Costco are the Cuisine Adventures French Onion Soup, Authentic Asia Hand Wrapped Shrimp Wonton Soup, Kirkland Signature Chicken Tortilla Soup, Johnny’s Potato Cheddar Soup Mix, Sprague Organic Lentil Soup and the Tim Horton’s Chicken Noodle Soup.
Location in Store
I found this located in the aisle with the noodles, pasta, pasta sauce and other canned soups. The item number is 1671862.
Taste
I was really looking forward to trying this soup because I love Rao’s Marinara Sauce so much! It’s pretty much the only pasta sauce I buy. I find this soup just a tad bit disappointing compared to how good the marinara is.
The broth is very salty, I could do with a bit less salt. The broth is also tomato-based and a bit acidic so if you’re like my husband and have reflux you may want to be aware of that! I do like that the broth has a nice flavor from the herbs and basil and also tastes homemade.
There’s a mix of celery, carrots, onions, green peas, green beans, potatoes, zucchini, kidney beans and chickpeas in the soup. Honestly, it’s mostly noodles, carrots and potatoes. There were three kidney beans, one chickpea and five green beans in my entire jar. I didn’t notice any zucchini.
The carrots are pretty crispy but the rest of the vegetables, including the potatoes are pretty soft. The noodles are a perfect al-dente which I love, not too firm but also not very mushy. I definitely enjoyed the soup but wish there was more of a variety of vegetables and the broth was a bit less salty.
The ingredients list has parmesan cheese listed as an ingredient but I don’t taste any hints of parmesan.
Cost
Three 435 liter jars costs $8.97 Canadian at Costco. That’s actually not bad considering that cans of soup can be $3 each and they’re not jarred, slow-simmered soup.
Convenience
The best-before date on the soup is seventeen months from when I purchased it. You can either microwave the soup or heat it on the stovetop. I always like to heat mine up in a pot on the stove.
The soup needs to be refrigerated after opening. I warmed my entire jar and put the leftovers in the fridge for the next day and microwaved it without any issue. I paired the soup with a grilled cheese sandwich and it made a perfect, comforting, convenient dinner.
Nutrition
Calories
One jar contains 170 calories, one gram of fat, 34 grams of carbohydrates, six grams of fibre, eight grams of sugar, seven grams of protein and 1220 milligrams of sodium. That’s a ton of sodium for a 170-calorie food!
All soups contain a lot of sodium but this has more than other soups. Although most people might not eat an entire jar in one sitting, some may so if you’re watching your sodium, take note.
Ingredients
I like that the ingredients list has mostly ingredients you’d put in a homemade soup. It contains eggs, milk and wheat. The egg is in the pasta and the soup is dairy-free.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 8/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 7/10
Overall
Give it a try!
This soup is pretty good, it doesn’t have the wow factor that Rao’s Marinara does but it’s tasty, convenient and a definite comfort food! I didn’t love it enough to actively search it out to repurchase again at Costco.
If you’ve tried this Costco Rao’s Minestrone Soup, what did you think of it? Leave a comment below!
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
Three 435 liter jars costs $8.97 Canadian at Costco.
Now that’s a lot of soup! Not to mention a spectacular deal! 😉
You might even say it’s a SOUPER DEAL! LOL!
Would like to try this but the sodium level is off the charts. Hopefully they will make a reduced sodium version available.
Campbells bought out Raos right? is this the authentic Raos recipe, it seems the sodium is soooo high.
Off the charts compared to …? If you’ve ever eaten a soup that does not have adequate salt or seasoning, they typically aren’t palatable.
Most soups typically tend to be higher in sodium but if you aren’t consuming them on a regular basis or in excessive quantities I would think any negative consequences are minimal.