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Canned chicken is nothing like a freshly roasted, fried or poached bird. But it’s a pretty handy pantry item with serious potential. Toss it into a green salad, add it to broth for an instant soup, or stir it up with mayo, apple and dill for a sandwich mix.

The one drawback to all canned chicken is the odor, which is akin to canned tuna. Unlike tuna, however, the odor quickly dissipates, leaving a can of white protein that’s flaky and tastes very much like the chicken found in canned soup.

The best canned chicken has bold, authentic flavor and is carefully cooked, retaining the tenderness of a well roasted and nicely seasoned bird, with large chunks and just enough salt to please. Sadly, few hit that mark. Most canned chicken is overcooked, over salted and basically over processed. The worst don’t even taste like chicken anymore.

Here’s the scoop on the best versions, cans filled with tasty, tender chicken — and the canned fowl that tastes as foul as it smells. Nutrition details refer to 2 ounces of chicken.

Tender, juicy bites with natural chicken flavor make this the best choice for anyone looking to enjoy it in a salad or sandwich. The chunks are large enough to slice. 60 calories, 1 g fat, 210 mg sodium, $9.99 for 6 12.5-ounce cans at Costco. (4 stars)

Cooked in bone broth, this chicken has authentic roasted flavor — and the broth is worth using. It’s slightly overcooked, but otherwise a good effort. 45 calories, 1 g fat, 210 mg sodium, 9 g protein. $3.99 for 10 ounces at Safeway. (3½ stars)

Pleasant texture and fresh chicken flavor make this a good choice, but it’s too salty. 47 calories, 1 g fat, 307 mg sodium, 9 g protein. $2.19 for 10 ounces at Smart & Final. (3 stars)

This has good chicken flavor, but it’s so incredibly tough and dry, you can barely get a fork into the meat. 44 calories, 1 g fat, 260 mg sodium, 9 g protein. $1.80 for 5 ounces. (2 stars)

In a blind tasting, this could easily pass for tuna. It smells like tuna, flakes like tuna — and it’s so dry that it needs to be stirred up with mayo to make it edible. 40 calories, .7 g fat, 209 mg sodium, 8 g protein. $2.39 for 4.5 ounces at FoodMaxx. (1 star)

Salt and tin are the most prominent flavors in this can of extra-fatty chicken. 40 calories, 1 g fat, 210 mg sodium, 8 g protein. $1.99 for 4.5 ounces at Safeway. (½ a star)

The strange, chemical-like flavor of this excessively dry chicken makes this a memorable bite — in a bad way. 50 calories, 2 g fat, 90 mg sodium, 8 g protein. $1.54 for 12.5 ounces at Walmart. (No stars)Related Articles Restaurants, Food and Drink | Taste-Off: The most delicious sliced ham — and the slimy seconds Restaurants, Food and Drink | Taste-Off: The best supermarket mole — and the ones to avoid

Rock bottom is this can filled with tiny bits of tasteless, dry, yellow-tinged … tuna? Yay for no salt, but this is simply inedible. 45 calories, 1 g fat, 80 mg sodium, 9 g protein. $2.49 for 5 ounces at Safeway. (No stars)

Reviews are based on product samples purchased by this newspaper or provided by manufacturers. Contact Jolene Thym at timespickyeater@gmail.com. Read more Taste-off columns at www.mercurynews.com/tag/taste-off.

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