Greatest Canned Tomatoes, Ranked by Wirecutter and NYT Cooking

Our entire lives have changed dramatically since we started working on this guide in early February. At the moment when most of us are at home and grocery stores struggle to keep supplies in stock, the best canned tomatoes are all you can find in your closet or on the shelves. So take the ranking below with a grain of salt: Many of the recommended brands may be out of stock. And while we liked some brands more than others, each will serve you well in a calming pot of chili or a batch of sauce. For inspiration, try Marcella Hazan’s perfectly simple tomato sauce, our favorite instant pot butter chicken, a light shakshuka, or a hearty vegetarian ribollita (great use for the beans you bought too!).

If you’ve ever scratched your head at the seemingly endless selection of canned tomatoes in your grocery store, you are not alone. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve stood there overwhelmed for far too long before embarrassedly shoving a can or two into my shopping cart, hoping the contents will be as tasty as the colorful labels suggest.

Having worked in the food and restaurant industry for more than a decade, I can tell you that no two brands of canned tomatoes are exactly alike. Some tomatoes are tough, underripe, and bland. Others are velvety, bright red, and full of flavor. To find the best cans of whole peeled tomatoes, I organized a blind taste test with some of my colleagues from the Wirecutter test kitchen and NYT Cooking (The New York Times is the parent company of Wirecutter). We tried 28-ounce cans of 12 different brands and found a wide variety – from tomatoes that were sweet enough to eat straight out of the can to tomatoes that had a hint of dead animal on them. We were also surprised to learn that the price didn’t always match the quality. Yes, we liked some expensive brands, but one of the cheapest was also one of the tastiest.

Here is our ranking. You can also find an overview of the results as well as some more recipe suggestions on NYT Cooking.

The best

Photo: Michael Murtaugh

1. The Bianco DiNapoli Organic Whole Skinned Tomatoes ($ 6 to $ 7 per can) were hands down the best canned tomatoes we tried. They had a nice balance of sweetness and acidity with a strong tomato flavor. NYT Cooking’s Julia Moskin said she wouldn’t hesitate to put these canned tomatoes on a sandwich (in fact, she liked them so much that she has since ordered an entire case). I found that its attractive deep red color, slightly thick puree, and semi-firm texture made for a rich, velvety sauce. The Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes are sold in some Whole Foods stores or online. Remember, these tomatoes are canned with a sprig of fresh basil, so they are best for Italian food.

Photo: Michael Murtaugh

2. The Market Pantry Whole Peeled Tomatoes (approx. 1 USD per can), Target’s house brand, were a surprise favorite in our range. Sara Bonisteel of NYT Cooking wrote that they have “a good balance between sweetness and acidity,” and Marilyn Ong of Wirecutter commented, “Overall, they have a good tomato flavor.” We like the even shape of these tomatoes, which were completely peel free . Alexa Weibel from NYT Cooking rated the sauce as “Forward, bright and fresh”. Since the Market Pantry tomatoes do not contain basil, they are suitable for a wide variety of recipes.

Photo: Michael Murtaugh

3. The San Merican Whole Peeled Tomatoes (SMT) ($ 4 to $ 7 per can) were roughly the same as the Market Pantry tomatoes we tested. They were well peeled, evenly shaped, and quite fleshy. Sara noticed her “good mouth structure”, which we all found pleasantly firm without appearing unripe or crispy. Ligaya Mishan from NYT Cooking wrote in her review notes, “I felt like I could eat this on my own without even cooking.” Marguerite Preston, Senior Editor at Wirecutter, enjoyed the richness of those tomatoes in the sauce. Like the Market Pantry tomatoes, the SMT tomatoes do not contain any basil.

Better than average

1. The Cento San Marzano Certified Peeled Tomatoes ($ 2.60 to $ 5.70 per can) have a delicate texture that easily falls apart. Ligaya found it “velvety tasting, but more earthy than light,” and Wirecutter’s Winnie Yang saw more tomato flavor in it [juice] than in the solids. “The sauce was a little sweeter, but overall not bad. Like the Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes, the cento tomatoes also contain basil.
2. The Hunt’s Whole Plum Tomatoes ($ 1.60 to $ 2 a can) had a good balance of sweetness and acidity when tasted raw. I liked their smooth texture that had some integrity, but they still easily broke apart in the mouth or with a spoon. That said, there was some unripe tomatoes and peel mixed in which was uncomfortable. The sauce was chunky and not as homogeneous as the others we tried.

Just okay

1. The Whole Foods 365 organic full bowl tomatoes ($ 1.70 per can) were workable and much better than the non-organic Whole Foods 365 tomatoes we tried, but nothing special. Winnie wrote that the raw tomatoes “lacked depth, but they are light”. Marguerite said the sauce was “a little too sweet and a little bit sour”.
2. The Rega Rega San Marzano tomatoes ($ 4.60 to $ 6 per can) were the only ones we tested that were certified as DOP. They were sour, not too sweet, and had a pleasant tomato flavor. They also had a soft, velvety texture and a deep red color. But the sauce was quite sour and only got average grades.

Not recommended

1. The Organico Bello Premium Whole-Peel Tomatoes ($ 5 per can) were not well balanced. The word sour kept popping up on our tasting notes. Sara wrote that the raw tomatoes “smelled like bones – that touch you get when you walk through the woods, when you know you are passing a dead animal. Astringent. “The astringency did not decrease when it was cooked and dominated the sauce.
2. The Bella Terra Organic Italian Whole Peeled Tomatoes ($ 5 to $ 6 per can) had a taste perceived by multiple tasters. Alexa wrote: “Tastes like chemicals, a taste that shouldn’t exist in nature. Hideous. “
3. The Whole Foods 365 Whole Peeled Tomatoes ($ 1.30 per can) tasted significantly different from their organic counterpart tomatoes. Those tomatoes were flat, bland, and poorly peeled – a cardboard cutout of a tomato, if you will. The sauce was both bland and overly tart with very little tomato flavor coming through.
4. The Muir Glen Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes ($ 3 to $ 5.70 per can) had a surprising amount of peels and a dull, mostly sour taste. Some of our testers also felt a chemical odor emanating from the tomatoes. The sauce was too sour too.
5. The Contadina Whole Roma Tomatoes with Basil ($ 3.30 per can) were the most disgusting we opened. The addition of dried Italian spices overwhelmed the taste of the tomatoes and sauce, and flooded the kitchen with the smell of oregano. In addition, these tomatoes were sweetish and sad, muddy brown in color. Julia summarized this in two words: not good.

How we selected and tested

With tons of options for canned tomatoes, I first interviewed Wirecutter employees who live in 10 different states in the country to get a feel for what brands are available in their area. I wanted to test tomatoes, which for most people in the US are relatively easy to find at large grocery chains or online.

I also spent some time examining ingredients and labels. When browsing through canned tomatoes in the store, it helps to be familiar with a few terms and ingredients:

• San Marzano and DOP: These terms are sometimes merged. San Marzano tomatoes, valued for their mild taste, can be grown anywhere. Certain San Marzano tomatoes are DOP (or Protected Designation of Origin) certified, which guarantees that they are grown, processed and canned in a specific geographical area in Italy. As our tests show, none of the terms is necessarily a quality indicator.
• Calcium chloride: Many American brands include this additive in their ingredients. It gives the tomatoes a firmer texture and prevents them from falling apart that quickly. So if you prefer tomatoes with a softer texture, for example to make pizza, look for tomatoes without calcium chloride.
• Added flavors: I have generally stayed away from tomatoes with sugar or “natural flavorings” (read: dried herbs) among the ingredients. I made an exception for Contadina tomatoes because they’re so common, but I regretted it. The only flavor addition that we didn’t mind (besides salt) was fresh basil.

We cleaned our palates with salt crackers, Italian bread and water between tastings. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

After testing, we examined all of the whole tomatoes and their corresponding sauces side by side. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

A tester evaluating a quart container of whole peeled tomatoes.
Photo: Michael Murtaugh

We cleaned our palates with salt crackers, Italian bread and water between tastings. Photo: Michael Murtaugh

After much deliberation, I decided on 12 brands to test out (to get them I had to take trains, buses, and cabs across New York City to more than 10 grocery stores and order multiple cans online).

For the blind taste test, I hired the palates of some members of the NYT Cooking team: the writers Julia Moskin and Ligaya Mishan as well as the editors Sara Bonisteel and Alexa Weibel. I’ve also added three editors from Wirecutter’s kitchen and equipment teams: Marguerite Preston, Marilyn Ong, and Winnie Yang. We tried each can of tomatoes twice: once straight out of the can and heated and then made into Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce again (which I cooked in advance with a teaspoon of kosher salt and 195 grams of onions each to ensure consistency). I also decanted a can of each brand into a quart container so the testers could examine all of its contents.

We rated the sweetness, acidity, texture, color, taste and overall appearance of the canned tomatoes that cleaned our palates with water, salt crackers and Italian bread between tastings, and largely agreed with our favorites. We have found that the quality of each brand is consistent from one can to the next, but we cannot say for sure how consistent each tomato crop will be from year to year. We’ll be revisiting our favorites in about six months to see if there are any big differences.