Costco Customers Call This 2-Star Jarred Soup 'Completely Tasteless' And 'Extremely Salty'

Costco can be a magical place — a haven, if you will, for bulk buys, free samples, and its gloriously cheap food court hot dog meal. But we all know how the old saying goes, right? Every rose has its thorn — and when it comes to the Boulder Organic Chicken Wild Rice Soup offered by the chain, customers insist it misses the mark.

On paper, the soup certainly looks tasty — satiating thanks to the protein in the poultry, presumably decadent since it's enriched with a touch of cream, and texturally robust from the wild rice and veggies. However, those who've tried it tell a different story — and the complaints anchoring its subpar rating range from blandness to being a sodium bomb to simply not being filling enough. "This is the most tasteless soup I have ever had in my life," one Costco shopper wrote. "Low flavor and not much rice," another stated. "Total disappointment and waste of money."

Elsewhere on the internet, one Redditor who was disappointed in the soup's profile asked for ways to doctor up its base for more complexity. The consensus from folks who successfully spruced it up was that the soup could do with more body, whether by adding a cornstarch slurry or another kind of starch — it'll be an improvement, but not a total fix. "I added some pastina and let it cook in the soup," one commenter explained. "Much better, but it was definitely [still] a dud." Sigh. Ultimately, this one is likely a skip.

If you're in the market for some effortless meals you can have on hand, the good news is there are numerous options at Costco still worth nabbing — so all is not lost. If you were drawn to the chicken soup for its macronutrients, the warehouse offers an array of protein-packed frozen items that are as plentiful as they are filling. But perhaps what you really wanted was to tuck into a warm, nourishing bowl of brothy deliciousness, in which case its Kirkland Signature Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup is hard to beat. "Very nice flavor, and appropriate salt," one Redditor wrote. "My favorite ... I buy it in the winter even when no one at our house is sick," another user stated.

Of course, if you've already purchased the Boulder Organic variety, and all the usual tricks — adding acid, incorporating aromatics, or thickening it up — still fall flat, keep your chin up; you aren't bereft of options. Instead of trying to force a mediocre entree to shine on its own, try repurposing your soup to enhance other dishes. Use it to help moisten the base of a veggie-forward pot pie, stir it into a rice-heavy casserole for a bit of extra creaminess, or even combine it with unsalted stock and pour it over a tray of baked chicken to act as a savory braising liquid. It might take some trial and error, but with a little patience, even a Costco miss can find its way to a pretty darn tasty finish.