Review: Buffalo Wild Wings Flies Too Close To The Sun With New Campbell's Chunky Soup Collab

Some food pairings don't make sense on the surface, but work once you dig a little deeper. Chicken wings and celery, for instance, while perhaps a bit odd, are widely accepted as a kind of fire-and-ice pairing. But, chicken wings and soup? That one may raise a few eyebrows. If you think that sounds like a winning combination, though, good news, Campbell's Chunky and Buffalo Wild Wings have teamed up to bring the flavor of wings to the soup that eats like a meal.

Releasing this month, Campbell's Chunky Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic Chicken Noodle Soup is bringing one of the wing spot's classic flavors straight to your pantry. I enjoy a good soup now and then, and when I shop for my own, Chunky is the brand I gravitate towards because it lives up to its name with hearty noodles, veggies, and plenty of protein (even if the Campbell's brand isn't without controversy). So naturally, when Campbell's reached out to see if I wanted to try the new collaboration, I said yes. Read on to find out if this Parmesan Garlic Chicken Noodle soup is a mashup made in foodie heaven or a mistake better left on the shelf.

The Campbell's company sent me samples the day this collaboration hit shelves. After receiving the samples, I snapped some photos, then microwaved my soup until it was hot, and dug in. My evaluations are based on texture, aroma, flavor, and overall quality. Some recommendations are based on first-hand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by the manufacturer/distributor/etc.

I think marketing might be an issue here because I can't get over the idea that I'm basically eating wing sauce with a spoon. On one hand, the flavors are well executed. There's a light spice that really hits in the aftertaste, and the garlic in the recipe is front and center, as is the Parmesan flavor. There are bits of vegetables present, but the most prominent are some slivers of green onions, so don't expect any major chunks. While the noodles are a little soft for my preference, they're large and rather plentiful, which is what one would expect from a Campbell's Chunky Soup. Similarly, the chicken is tender, but there's just something not quite right here.

I feel like the best version of this soup pulls the plug on the noodles and chicken, turning it into a straight, condensed cheese soup. It's already thick, so the changes would be minimal. A Midwestern casserole using a garlic-parmesan soup base would be fantastic. There are plenty of options to bring the chicken and noodles back, whether it's fried chicken coated in canned soup or a mac and cheese needing some extra flavor. Even a pasta dish that goes the soup route for added creaminess would work, but as it stands, this feels like someone dumped a whole lot of wing sauce in my soup and I'm not in love with it.

While the soup did grow on me the more I consumed it, I'm not entirely sure Campbell's landed the plane with this collaboration with Buffalo Wild Wings. The flavors are great and do Buffalo Wild Wings' Parmesan Garlic sauce proud, but the whole thing is a bit overpowering in a soup. I dipped some Ritz crackers in during the latter half of my meal, and that combination was fantastic. Honestly, I love the idea of Buffalo Wild Wings lending its sauce to more soups intended as ingredients, not as stand-alone meals. Give me a buffalo sauce chicken soup base and I promise tailgates will never be the same.

The good news is that cans of soup are sold individually, so it's easy to try this collaboration out for yourself. I'd recommend doing so, especially if you're a Buffalo Wild Wings fan. As you're eating, consider what other Buffalo Wild Wings sauces should make the jump to soups. I'm voting for the Thai Curry Sauce because that one might actually make some sense in soup form.

Campbell's Chunky Buffalo Wild Wings Parmesan Garlic Chicken Noodle Soup is being released to stores nationwide beginning this month. The suggested retail price is $3.79 per can, but prices may vary by retailer.

In a move I think should be entirely illegal, a single can of this soup contains two one-cup servings. I'm going to give you the nutritionals for a full can, though, because I can't imagine eating half a can of soup at once unless I was sick. (In which case, this probably wouldn't be the one I'd choose.) A full can contains 530 calories, 17 grams of protein, and an eyewatering, but delicious, 1630 milligrams of sodium. The chicken meat used also contains zero antibiotics, which is a nice bonus.