Cooking pros will tell you the best soup or stew begins with the best stock or broth. The best-tasting chicken broth is homemade, of course, but few of us have time for all the simmering and straining.

        Fortunately, the grocery shelves now overflow with cans and cartons of chicken broth. To narrow your choices, we asked the Taste Team to sample 10 brands of chicken broth blindly, at room temperature.

        The clear favorite: Boston Market Roasted Chicken Broth. The team raved about Boston Market's rich, intense chicken flavor, good body and homemade appearance.

        Kroger's Clear Chicken Broth finished second in our taste test, followed by the Butterball brand.

        Of the top three, the Butterball broth is the skinniest (0 fat grams per serving). Boston Market has 1 fat gram and Kroger 2 grams of fat per serving. Kroger's broth is the best buy, at 49 cents per 14.5-ounce can. The Butterball broth costs 99 cents, and Boston Market is priced at $1.39.

        For those keeping score, here's how the rest of the chicken broth contestants finished in our taste test (in order): Campbell's, Swanson, Sweet Sue, Campbell's Healthy Request and Health Valley. College Inn and Kitchen Basics tied for last place.

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