The chicken flavor was "not strong enough" in the Swanson stock, and instead tasted more vegetable-forward and "watery and murky." Carrot, celery, and onion juice concentrates make up part of the ingredients, and overshadow the taste of chicken. It lacked the body that homemade stock would, as did Better Than Bouillon. It's hard to emulate the real thing on such a large scale.
That said, Better Than Bouillon tasted "way too intense." It has the nostalgic (for some) flavor of "canned chicken noodle soup" and a ton of salt. (They do make a low-sodium version, but it isn't as widely available in grocery stores, so we tested regular.) It had a more prominent real chicken flavor, but the green-yellow hue (from added turmeric) is a little off-putting. Better Than Bouillon was the chicken winner with one caveat: never use it at full strength. The jar recommends 1 tsp. of paste to every 8 oz. of water. We'd double the amount of water to dilute it, or use a low-sodium version.
Boxed Swanson Beef Stock vs. Better Than Bouillon Beef Base
Bon Appétit does not suggest using commercial beef stock because it rarely holds a candle to the flavor of homemade, and unfortunately neither Swanson nor Better Than Bouillon changed our minds about that. The smell of both was "off-putting," but they didn't taste quite as bad as they smelled. The stock had a "flat" taste and "wasn't savory enough—almost sweet without any beefy taste or umami." The beef Better Than Bouillon had a "musty" scent and mostly tasted like salt. We think you'd be better off adding an extra short rib bone to a pot of water to impart "beefy" flavor to a soup rather than using a box of beef stock. There was no clear winner here, but if they had to choose, the Swanson stock had a slight edge in flavor.
