The best canned tomatoes are all about high-quality tomatoes with a smooth, savory, sweet, and bright tomato flavor. You can eat them right out of the can and feel great about it. We recommend these seven.
A lot of times we waltz into a taste test here at Sporked and think, “There’s no way all of these products are going to taste different.” And then each time we’re proven wrong like a bunch of dummies. Canned tomatoes vary wildly in flavor and quality. Some are plump and tart, others are cooked and soft. Some are smoky, others are sweet. And then there’s the matter of format, i.e. whole peeled versus diced tomatoes. One’s great for sauce, the other great for soups. As somebody who uses canned tomatoes regularly (I’ve made enough red sauce in my day to fill an oil tanker), I discovered three or four brands during this taste test that I’m going to keep stocked in my pantry for a variety of reasons. Here’s what we learned about the best canned tomatoes.
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- Bianco DiNapoli Whole Peeled Organic
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Food writers across the internet think these are the best canned tomatoes, and we agree. Chris Bianco, who makes some of the best pizza in the country, is behind this chef-driven brand, and that means the California-grown tomatoes are high quality, organic, and have a well-balanced flavor—wonderfully sweet, tart, and salty. Each can features a bit of sea salt and basil, which accents the deep, meaty flavor of the tomatoes themselves. They’re not too firm, but they’re not overcooked either. They achieve this lovely middle ground where you can slice them like butter. Because they have the kind of flavor you expect only from fresh vine-ripe tomatoes, they’re surprisingly delicious plain. For that reason, these are great for pizza, but work wonderfully for pasta and soup too.
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- Cento San Marzano Certified Peeled Tomatoes
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If not for Bianco DiNapoli, these would have been the best canned tomatoes, easily. Unlike a lot of San Marzano frauds out there, Cento’s tomatoes actually come from the San Marzano region of Italy. Simply enter the code on the can into Cento’s website and you can trace them back to the farm where the tomatoes were grown. That’s really cool in this age of miscellaneous labeling and food misinformation. All that said, these tomatoes taste so wonderfully robust, you understand why San Marzanos are the most coveted Italian tomato on the planet. They’re just so naturally meaty, fragrant, and vegetal—they taste natural and wonderful. Cento’s canned San Marzano tomatoes are my new go-to for making red sauce at home. They’re that good.
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- Cento Italian Peeled Tomatoes
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While they aren’t certified San Marzano tomatoes, Cento’s Italian peeled tomatoes are deliciously salty and herby. This can is filled with whole basil and high-quality tomatoes, which is why it reminds me of a pomodoro sauce. It’s ready to eat if you want it to be—just crush the tomatoes, heat, and pour it over pasta. Overall, the four different flavors are sweet, acidic, salty, and herby, which is all we want out of the best canned tomatoes.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde/Amazon
- Mutti Whole Peeled Tomatoes
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The texture of these whole peeled tomatoes from Mutti indicates to me that they were cooked, then canned. Some whole peeled tomatoes are so ripe that you can crush them in your hand and the juice squirts all over the place, but these tomatoes feel broken down and almost mushy. That’s not a bad thing, however, as the taste here is exceptionally sweet, savory and meaty. Turns out Mutti’s canning process is quite different from otther brands. They peel the skins and then submerge the tomatoes in a passata (an uncooked tomato puree that has been strained of seeds and skins). The result is a well-rounded tomato flavor that hits exactly right. If you hate canned tomato tartness, you’ll be happy to hear Mutti doesn’t have any of that sourness. These tomatoes are just sweet and meaty.
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- San Merican Whole Peeled Tomatoes
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These are the tomatoes I usually buy from the grocery store when I’m making red sauce at home. I just love the label on the can, which has color-coded stripes to indicate what kind of tomato is inside (green is whole, blue is diced, and purple is crushed). The saltiness here is noticeable, and after cross checking the nutritional facts against other brands, San Merican does in fact have more sodium than the other canned tomatoes on this list. Salted tomatoes are an iconic flavor, though, and here it works. San Merican’s tomatoes also have a prominent tartness, so forget about the pure, natural sweetness of Mutti. There’s also this distinct umami flavor with San Merican that feels fishy or something. It’s subtle, and not off putting, but it’s perceptible. Strong umami and salt, plus widespread availability, make San Merican a quality choice.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde/Instacart
- Muir Glen Fire Roasted Organic Diced Tomatoes
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Diced tomatoes are great for chili, which is why these salty and meaty Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes are my choice for a pot of soup. Spring for these instead of your grocery store’s generic—Muir Glen’s natural tomato flavor will do much more for your chili or stew than the overbearing, unpleasant tartness of a cheap can of tomatoes. Plus, these diced tomatoes are fire roasted, so there’s some additional smoky flavor here that works great for soups.
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- Pomi Chopped Tomatoes
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Pomi’s tomatoes are so interesting to me that I had to include them on this list. While they taste great, there’s a slightly weird flavor that I just can’t place—almost briny and meaty like an olive. There’s also no sodium at all here, which is nuts. Pomi’s chopped tomatoes are just so singularly smooth and delicious that they’re completely unique. Pomi advertises that they use “freshly picked sun-ripened Italian tomatoes” and it shows. Give Pomi a chance; it might be your new favorite brand of canned tomatoes.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde/Instacart
Best of the Best
Best San Marzano
Best Sauce Ready
Best Sweet
Best Salty
Best for Soup
Best Chopped
Other products we tried: Mutti Diced, Sprouts Diced, Sprouts Whole Peeled, Muir Glen Organic San Marzano, San Merican Diced, San Merican Crushed, Hunt’s Diced, Hunt’s Whole Peeled, Carmelina e San Marzano, Great Value Diced, Good & Gather Whole Peeled.
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