Cheddar broccoli soup is hands-down my favorite kind of soup in existence. Period. It always has been ever since I was a little kid who would get it from the old chain G.D. Ritzy’s every time I went…it was cheesy, it was creamy, and it was ridiculously good. Even the canned stuff is delicious, and it’s generally my go-to soup when I am sick, because, well, let’s be honest here: chicken-noodle is pretty gross.

But now Chef’s Cupboard dares to ask, “What would happen if we took the delicious base of broccoli-cheddar soup, and then added some extra shit that’s not even remotely necessary?” Well then, the end result would be this here soup, which adds not just potato, but potato AND chicken into the mix. Unsurprisingly, it pretty much fails miserably.

For starters, the broccoli and cheese base isn’t even that good to begin with. It’s very liquidy, which is a good start, because having a broccoli-cheddar paste just sounds very unappetizing. But there’s not a whole lot of cheddar flavor in there, nor a lot of broccoli flavor, with the small pieces that float around here and there the only reminder broccoli’s even in it at all. The entire concoction also has a smell that reminds me of feet, which was already off-putting before I even shoved a reluctant spoonful into my mouth.

On top of having a less-than-adequate base flavor, the chicken just comes off as completely unnecessary. I can kind of see the addition of the potato–why not add another vegetable into the mix, especially one that doesn’t taste like much on its own–but the chicken is pointless. It’s pointless because its main contribution is making the whole concoction smell uninviting, and because there’s not even that much in it to begin with. If there’s not a lot in it, then it must not add much to the flavor, and if something doesn’t add much to the flavor, then what’s the point of adding it in the first place? It also got less appetizing as I got lower in the bowl, because the soup started “separating”, making it look like it was spoiling, right in front of my eyes. Gross.

This just feels like a food experiment that was accidentally approved, canned, labeled, and erroneously put on store shelves. Also, why would you make something like this available all the time, when you rarely (if ever) even offer a plain cheddar-broccoli soup, for those that like their soups more straightforward, and without forced meat additions? I’m starting to see why I gave up canned soups a long time ago, and why lifting that ban was completely foolish.

Overall: 2/10. Terrible soup. They start with a bad cheddar-broccoli base, add potatoes (understandable), then inexplicably throw in some meat, as if everyone’s chief complaint is that the only way broccoli-cheddar soup could be better, is if there was some chicken thrown in. Worse yet, the chicken makes the whole mixture smell like feet, which acts as a warning for those about to put some in their mouths. Why would Aldi offer this junk year ‘round, especially when they rarely (if ever) offer a plain cheddar-broccoli canned soup? I won’t ever get this junk again.