Review: Campbell’s Chunky Spicy Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

Bottom Line: Campbell’s Chunky Spicy Chicken & Sausage Gumbo is thinner than you expect from a gumbo but it is still a hearty soup that brings some heat.

Fall is upon us, and cooler weather is on the way. Okay, maybe not in Texas where we are still in the mid-to-upper 90s as September wraps up, but I am hoping the temperature is going to drop soon. And when those cold winds do start blowing through, a steaming hot bowl of soup is generally just the right thing to warm you up. Fortunately for those of us who like spicy food, several of the major soup producers have been kicking things up lately with spicy versions of their products. (You can read my review of Progresso’s Spicy Tomato Soup here and their Spicy Jambalaya here.) And just recently I found a can of Campbell’s Chunky Spicy Chicken & Sausage Gumbo on the shelf so I decided to give that a try.

That soup has chicken and Andouille sausage in a rich broth along with veggies and rice and all you have to do is put it in a bowl and heat it up. The Campbell’s Chunky Spicy line also includes a Spicy Quesadilla, Spicy Chicken Noodle, and Xtra Spicy Ghost Pepper Chicken Noodle. I have been looking for the latter and will report back when I have tried that one.

For the Spicy Chicken & Sausage Gumbo, the broth is not thick like you would expect from a gumbo, but it does have the richness that you look for in that dish. It also has a good, peppery kick and some heat that jumps out right away. The cubes of chicken are not very plentiful and those are mostly just there for texture, though they do add a bit of flavor. They were a little more generous with the sausage (though I would still like a little more) and it delivers a salty and spicy kick. The okra is sparse at best and not too heavy on the okra flavor (that pod can quickly overtake a dish).  Sometimes I couldn’t differentiate it from the celery,  and that is fine by me because I prefer my gumbo okra-less. There are chunks of that celery along with red pepper (and a few pieces of onion), but they don’t add much additional flavor. And the rice is mostly there to help fill you up. If you want to call this a hearty chicken and rice soup, I’m fine with that, though I can see it satisfying a gumbo craving.

Right out of the can, this soup definitely has some spice. I noticed it with the first spoonful and it continued to build as I worked my way through the bowl. I would put it close to the Medium level on my scale as is, and after adding some Louisiana hot sauce it moved closer to hot. This is a rare canned soup that you can eat with no additional flavorings and still enjoy, though I still like that extra pop from the hot sauce. And this is a far cry from the condensed soups of old, certainly something worth having in the pantry at all times.

Calorie-wise, this can of soup will not break the bank. They show one serving as 150 calories, but who are we kidding? You know that you are going to slurp down the whole can, even if you try to start with that smaller portion. The can totals up to 320 calories which is not bad at all and even allows you to have a piece of garlic toast with it just like if you were in a New Orleans restaurant. But if you are watching your salt, you may want to avert your eyes. As is typical with canned soups, that is high at 1850mg. As a plus, I can pronounce almost all of the ingredients listed on the label which is not so common for these types of soups. (Life lesson: never read the ingredients of packaged Raman soups.)

I believe that this is considered a relatively permanent addition to the Campbell’s Chunky line, but they do tend to cycle through the varieties available over time. My local HEB does not carry many of the spicy canned soups (Campbell’s or Progresso brand) and I found this at Kroger in Houston. I see that Target and Walmart advertise that they carry these soups, but I have found availability there to be hit-or-miss at best. I plan on stocking up next time I am in Houston, and hopefully I will find the Ghost Pepper Chicken Noodle Soup there as well.

Nutrition Info:

Ingredients: Water, Diced Tomatoes In Tomato Juice, Rice, Chicken Meat, Andouille Sausage (Pork, Water, Seasonings [Spices, Dextrose, Dried Onions, Dried Garlic], Salt, Hickory Char Oil [Soybean Oil, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor], Sodium Nitrite), Celery, Okra, Contains Less Than 2% Of: Green Peppers, Red Peppers, Modified Cornstarch, Tomato Paste, Salt, Sugar, Onions, Cayenne Pepper Sauce (Cayenne Peppers, Vinegar, Salt, Garlic), Distilled Vinegar, Potato Starch, Paprika, Spices, Flavoring, Dried Chicken Broth, Yeast Extract, Carrots, Carrageenan, Chili Pepper Extract, Chicken Fat. May Contain Traces Of Wheat.

Serving Size: 533g (1 Can)
Calories: 320
Fat: 10g (3.5g Sat/0g Trans)
Protein: 17g
Carbs: 41g
Sodium: 1850mg