The healthiest canned foods, ranked by the index

The canned aisle is where a lot of people give up on eating well. The cans look processed, the labels list sodium in the hundreds of milligrams, and the whole shelf feels like a step down from fresh. It is not. Canning is mostly heat and a sealed can, and the food inside keeps the protein, fiber, and minerals it started with. When you run canned staples through our Nutrient Density Score, which measures nutrition per calorie on a 1 to 100 scale built on USDA FoodData Central values, several of them land in the same range as the fresh produce people feel virtuous about buying. The difference is that a can costs less, lasts for years, and is ready in the time it takes to open it.

This guide ranks the canned staples worth keeping in the pantry, explains where the scores come from, and shows how a thirty-second rinse changes the sodium math. If you are stocking a pantry with an eye on cost, pair this with our cheap and nutrient-dense guide, because canned protein and legumes are among the best value on the whole list.

The ranking, from top to bottom

Here is how the core canned staples score. Every number below is the food's real per-calorie density score, and the sodium figures are the measured amount per 100 grams in the USDA reference data.

• Canned light tuna in water, 79. Fish, tuna, light, canned in water, drained solids is the standout. It carries about 19 grams of protein per 100 grams for roughly 86 calories, which is why it scores as high as it does. Sodium sits near 247 milligrams per 100 grams in the drained solids, moderate for a canned protein and easy to lower further with a rinse.
• Canned refried beans, fat-free, 74. Refried beans, canned, fat-free bring fiber and plant protein at a low calorie cost. The trade-off is sodium near 350 milligrams per 100 grams, so this is a food to buy in a lower-salt version when you can.
• Canned pink salmon, based on 70. Canned salmon is typically pink or sockeye, and pink salmon scores 70 with only about 75 milligrams of sodium per 100 grams before canning. Buy it with the soft bones in and you also get calcium that fresh fillets do not provide.
• Canned chili with beans, 69. Chili with beans, canned is a genuine meal in a can, with protein and fiber, but it carries the highest sodium of this group at about 423 milligrams per 100 grams. Treat it as a convenient base rather than an everyday staple.

Tomatoes and pumpkin: the concentrated canned wins

Tomatoes are the other reason to trust the canned aisle. Concentrated tomato products score at the very top of our produce range because canning and drying pack more nutrition into fewer calories. Tomato powder scores 93 and sun-dried tomatoes score 87, both with sodium near 107 to 134 milligrams per 100 grams. Canned crushed and diced tomatoes are the everyday version of the same idea: a low-calorie base loaded with potassium and vitamin C that turns into soup, sauce, or a braise.

Canned pumpkin deserves a place too. It is simply cooked, pureed squash, and the fresh form, pumpkin, raw, scores 97 with almost no sodium at all, about 1 milligram per 100 grams. Plain canned pumpkin, not the sweetened pie filling, keeps that profile and is one of the least salty things in the whole aisle.

Beans and lentils: the pantry value play

Dry legumes are nutrient-density champions, and the canned versions are the same food with water and salt added for shelf life. Lentils score 70 and carry only about 6 milligrams of sodium per 100 grams in their dry form, while soybeans score 84 and mung beans score 82. Canned kidney, black, and cannellini beans give you that fiber and plant protein without the overnight soak. The only thing the can adds that you may not want is sodium, and that is the one number you control at the sink.

Draining and rinsing: the sodium fix

The single biggest knock on canned food is salt, and it is also the easiest to fix. Two moves cut it sharply. First, drain the can, which removes the salty packing liquid that beans, tuna, and vegetables sit in. Second, tip the food into a colander and rinse under cold running water for about thirty seconds, tossing so the water reaches everything. For canned beans, draining and rinsing removes a large share of the added sodium, and the effort costs you almost nothing.

A few extra habits stack the deck in your favor. Buy no-salt-added or reduced-sodium cans when the shelf offers them, since they start lower before you even rinse. Choose tuna and salmon packed in water rather than oil to keep the calorie count down and the density score up. And do not salt the dish until you have tasted it, because canned ingredients often bring enough on their own. If sodium is a focus for you, our low-sodium eating guide goes deeper on where the salt hides and how to swap it out.

How to use the ranking

Think of the canned aisle as a shortcut to the same protein, fiber, and minerals you would buy fresh, at a lower price and with no spoilage clock. Keep water-packed tuna and canned salmon for fast protein, keep beans and lentils for fiber and plant protein, and keep tomatoes and pumpkin for a nutrient-dense base you can build a meal around. Drain, rinse, and skip the added salt, and a well-stocked pantry becomes one of the most reliable ways to eat well without spending more.