12 Best Canned Tomatoes, from Diced to Stewed to Whole

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. Or you can use them to make sauces, chili—even salsa. If you don’t have at least one of the cans from this list of the best canned tomatoes in your pantry, then you owe your pantry an apology. 

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. 

It’s a complicated world out there when it comes to finding the best canned tomato for the job. Lucky for you, we cleared the supermarket shelves of every canned tomato we could find—from canned San Marzano tomatoes, to canned diced tomatoes, to canned tomatoes for pizza sauce, to canned tomatoes from Italy, and beyond. Find the best brand of canned tomatoes for you in our updated list, which now includes the best canned tomatoes for salsa, the best canned stewed tomatoes, and the best canned crushed tomatoes.  

Best Stewed (Soft)

Even though these are canned stewed tomatoes, they’re still vibrant and bright and salty. They do taste cooked, but they do not taste like they’re canned. And they’re not too sweet, like some of the other canned stewed tomatoes we tasted. They’re sliced and soft—like they’ve been stewing away on a stovetop for an hour. Some folks use canned stewed tomatoes as a ketchup replacement in recipes like meatloaf, and that’s the kind of thing these are the best canned stewed tomatoes for. Keep a can of these around when your recipe needs some sweet and some umami.  —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Stewed (Firm)

While Hunt’s canned stewed tomatoes are sweet and very soft, Del Monte’s are much firmer and they also taste less stewed. That said, I think they taste just stewed enough to give any soup or stew some quick depth of flavor. Chop them up and toss them in some canned minestrone to give it more of a homemade feel or use them to enhance canned enchilada sauce. These are some of the best canned stewed tomatoes to buy when you want to give your food some extra slow-cooked flavor but don’t have time to do any slow-cooking. Be warned: They do have skins. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / DoorDash

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best No Sodium

Pomi’s canned chopped 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 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 the best brand of canned tomatoes for you—especially if you’re making a caper-y pasta sauce like puttanesca.(And if that’s the case, be sure to read our ranking of the best capers, too.) —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best for Chili

Diced tomatoes are the best canned tomatoes for chili, and these salty and meaty Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes are my choice for a pot of chili or soup. Muir Glen’s natural tomato flavor will do much more for your chili 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 with chopped chile peppers, ground meat, and cumin. — Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best Crushed

We’ll go into more detail about this canned tomato brand later (spoiler alert: Bianco makes the best canned tomatoes on this list). Right now, let’s just talk about the fact that they make the best canned crushed tomatoes. The flavor is balanced between sweet and savory, and the texture almost comes across as creamy. I am completely converted and willing to spend the extra money on this brand, because I tried other canned crushed tomatoes and these were the best canned crushed tomatoes by a long shot. Plus, it’s one of those nice instances in which the can with the best packaging actually does taste the best. —Justine Sterling 

Credit: Liv Averett / World Market

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

Best for Pizza Sauce

These are the tomatoes I usually buy from the grocery store when I’m making red sauce at home. The saltiness 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 it helps make them the best canned tomatoes for pizza sauce. You want that bold, punchy flavor to pair with gooey, creamy mozzarella and stand up to any toppings you choose. San Merican’s tomatoes also have a prominent tartness and distinct umami flavor. Strong umami and salt, plus widespread availability, make San Merican a quality choice for some of the best canned tomatoes for sauce—just remember to taste as you season. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Spicy

If you haven’t had Ro-Tel in a while (or ever), then you may not remember or know exactly not spicy Ro-Tel is on its own. Stirred into melty Velveeta for some of the world’s greatest queso, Ro-Tel is tamed. But tasted alone, oh boy, this stuff is H-O-T hot. It’s essentially just like slightly more watery canned salsa. Obviously this is the best canned tomato to make queso. But it’s also one of the best canned tomatoes for chili (or any other zesty soup or stew) when you need to kick up the heat. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Ralphs

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best for Salsa

Looking for the flavor of Ro-Tel without the spice? Then Trader Joe’s has the best canned diced tomatoes for you. These tomatoes are like a more tomato-forward Ro-Tel dupe with just a kiss of spice on the end. You can really see the roasty bits of charred skin, which I love. You can pour this into a bowl with some chopped onions, cilantro, and salt (plus some chopped chile peppers if you need heat) and have yourself a great time. These are the best canned tomatoes for salsa, for sure, especially if you gravitate towards roasted salsa. —Justine Sterling  

Credit: Liv Averett / Trader Joe’s

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

Best Sweet

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 are broken down and almost mushy. That’s not a bad thing, however, as the taste is exceptionally sweet, savory, and meaty. Turns out Mutti’s canning process is quite different from other brands. They peel the skins and then submerge the tomatoes in a passata (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, then these are the best canned whole tomatoes for you. Mutti doesn’t have any of that sourness. These tomatoes are just sweet and meaty. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best for Spaghetti Sauce

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 for spaghetti sauce. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Best San Marzano

If not for Bianco DiNapoli (see below), these would have been the best canned tomatoes, easily. But they’re still the best canned San Marzano tomatoes and the best Italian canned tomatoes we tasted. 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 the tomatoes in your can of tomatoes 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 canned tomatoes taste so wonderfully robust, you understand why San Marzanos are the most coveted Italian tomato on the planet. They’re just so meaty, fragrant, and vegetal—they taste natural and wonderful. Cento makes the best canned San Marzano tomatoes and they are my new go-to for making red sauce at home. They’re that good. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best of the Best

Food writers across the internet think this is the best brand of canned tomatoes, and we agree. Chris Bianco, who makes some of the best pizza in the country, is behind this chef-driven brand, and has made sure 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. This is the best canned tomato money can buy. —Danny Palumbo

Credit Liv Averett / Amazon

Rating:

9.5/10

Sporks

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, Mutti Polpa, Mutti Cherry, Mutti Baby Roma, Trader Joe’s Diced & No Salt Added, S&W Mexican, S&W Original, Happy Harvest, Great Value, Centro Chunky Style Crushed Tomatoes, Centro Crushed Tomatoes, S&W Italian Recipe

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