You may be looking for the best canned tomatoes for homemade tomato sauce — or a chili recipe, salsa, or classic tomato soup. We tasted 28-ounce cans from 12 different brands and found a huge range—from tomatoes that were sweet enough to eat straight out of the can to ones that carried a whiff of dead animal. Right now, as most of us stay hunkered down at home and grocery stores scramble to keep pantry items in stock, the best canned tomatoes are whatever you can find in your cupboard or on store shelves. Do you love canned tomatoes but hate the preparation that comes with them? Test Kitchen Assistant Kat Boytsova didn't see that as a downside—she suggested using the acidic tomatoes to your advantage by braising them with tougher cuts of meat. Sounds pretty dreamy, right? To revisit this article, select My⁠ ⁠Account, then View saved stories. I also spent some time examining ingredients and labels. Ligaya found them “velvety tasting, but more earthy than bright,” … When you open up this can look at how beautifully bright red the tomatoes are. Cento San Marzano Certified Tomatoes, 28-Ounce Cans (Pack of 12) To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. 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. ... Mutti — 14 oz. San Marzano tomatoes are not just a staple in my family’s famous recipe, but are considered to be the best tomatoes in the world to use in sauces. Cento San Marzano Organic Peeled Tomatoes, $24 for a case of four 28-oz. We immediately started making a mess of ourselves, slurping sauce to assess acidity, sweetness, and texture, and cleansing our palates between bites with bread. Here’s our ranking. 365 Organic, $1.69: A- At less than $2, the Whole Foods house brand of tomatoes is a great option. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood there overwhelmed for far too long before sheepishly sliding a can or two into my cart, hoping the contents are as tasty as their colorful labels suggest. A good judge of quality is if the label says D.O.P. The tomatoes we liked best had thinner, tender-firm walls, and their cavities were the largest and most full of flavorful jelly. They were the softest, and when they were cooked, they almost immediately collapsed into a smooth sauce. 6 Pack of Whole Peeled San Marzano PDO Tomatoes (Pelati San Marzano) from Italy’s #1 Tomato Brand. BUY IT: Cento San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes, $4 from Target. This organic variety was one of two canned tomato varieties we tested that didn't contain calcium chloride as a preservative (the other was the ultra-fancy Gustarosso brand below). © 2020 Condé Nast. They’re sweeter and are known for having low acidity, few seeds, and skin that you can easily remove. We didn’t even prefer Italian-grown tomatoes. Advice, staff picks, mythbusting, and more. If you’ve ever stood scratching your head at the seemingly endless choices of canned tomatoes in your grocery store, you’re not alone. Muir Glen (packed in juice), $3.49 for 28 ounces. "'San Marzano' applies both to a variety of tomato and a geographically specific region," he says. A certain type of pizza is even required to have sauce made with San Marzano. BUY IT: MUIR GLEN San Marzano-Style Whole Peeled Tomatoes, $13 on Amazon. (Note: In some parts of the country Redpack is sold as Red Gold. I also included three editors from Wirecutter’s kitchen and appliance teams: Marguerite Preston, Marilyn Ong, and Winnie Yang. by Christine Cyr Clisset and Michael Sullivan. Others are velvety, brilliantly red, and full of flavor. Carmelina's … Recipe planners such as eMeals, PlateJoy, The Fresh 20, and Cook Smarts can wean you off prepared foods and teach you to love cooking. There is one canned tomato that stands out from the rest and that is the San Marzano. Let us help you. We've heard it all before. San Marzano with Basil Silky, D.O.P.-certified tomatoes make a perfectly balanced sauce. Our Favorite Canned Whole Tomatoes are American. We tasted each can of tomatoes twice: once straight out of the can and heated through, and then again made into Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce (which I cooked in advance, using one teaspoon of kosher salt and 195 grams of onions each time, for consistency). This commonly available organic supermarket brand uses a similar breed of tomato as the classic San Marzano, but it's grown in California rather than the San Marzano region of Italy. Sauces are an essential part of any part. Instructions are for a Big Batch of Marinara Sauce utilizing a huge can of Nina San Marzano Tomatoes 106 ounces which you can purchase for less than four dollars at Costco. They are also known to have a thicker consistency compared to other canned plum … We pitted store-bought varieties of canned whole tomatoes (including San Marzanos and plain old plum tomatoes) against each other in a blind taste test. When the tomatoes are canned… Best Seller in Canned & Jarred Peeled Tomatoes. Which brand came out on top. "There are roma tomatoes and assorted hybrids grown in San Marzano -- perfectly fine, but not as delicious as San Marzanos -- and San Marzano tomatoes … With countless canned tomato options to consider, I first polled Wirecutter employees living in 10 different states across the country to get a sense of which brands were available in their area. Some tomatoes are tough, underripe, and insipid. If you’re browsing canned tomatoes in the store, it’s helpful to be familiar with a few terms and ingredients: A tester evaluating a quart container of whole peeled tomatoes. These products are exceptionally tasty. Since no one really likes the taste of whole tomatoes straight from the can, I prepped all five varieties we tested in the same way: I crushed the whole tomatoes by hand, stirred in 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and simmered them for 25 minutes. After all, San Marzanos are famous for their sweetness and their tomato-ey intensity, plus a delicate acidity that can balance out rich meats and cheeses. … After much deliberation, I settled on 12 brands to test (procuring them required darting around New York City by train, bus, and cab to more than 10 grocery stores, plus ordering several cans online). We were also surprised to learn that price didn’t always correspond to quality. Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Anna Hampton, MUIR GLEN San Marzano-Style Whole Peeled Tomatoes, MUIR GLEN San Marzano-Style Whole Peeled Tomatoes, $13 on Amazon, Simpson Imports SAN MARZANO Whole Peeled Tomatoes, the white can with just “San Marzano” written on the side, San Marzano Whole Peeled Tomatoes, $10 on Amazon, Cento San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes, $4 from Target. BUY IT: Gustarosso San Marzano Tomatoes, $7 on Amazon, This US-owned company (all of the tomatoes are grown on family-owned farms in Indiana) delivered on what we always wanted: a pure tomato flavor with a balance of acidity and sweetness. These were the only certified San Marzano tomatoes in the tasting, with a pleasant acidity and … GUSTAROSSO POMODORO S. MARZANO DELL'AGRO SARNESE-NOCERINO D.O.P. But is the San Marzano reputation more hype than fact? Tasters loved the clean, authentic tomato taste, and Senior Editor Anya Hoffman felt a little vindication when she chose this variety as her favorite in the blind test (it's the kind she uses at home). Muir Glen consistently ranks at or near the top of … Since 1995, Epicurious has been the ultimate food resource for the home cook, with daily kitchen tips, fun cooking videos, and, oh yeah, over 33,000 recipes. We evaluated the sweetness, acidity, texture, color, flavor, and overall appearance of the canned tomatoes—cleansing our palates between tastings with water, saltine crackers, and Italian bread—and were largely in agreement on our favorites. At Cento, we go to great lengths in monitoring our planting, growing and harvesting processes to ensure our tomatoes … Ad Choices. Cento San Marzano Organic Peeled Tomatoes, 28 Ounce (Pack of 6) These certified San Marzano Italian Plum Tomatoes are the highest quality, and are incredibly flavorful These items … We assumed that, unlike peanut butter, there wouldn't be a whole lot of variation among canned tomatoes. These tomatoes are set apart from others because of their rich flavor and low acidity. Wirecutter is reader-supported. You know that one about books and covers? We’ll revisit our favorites in six months or so to see if there’s much variation. Top tomatoes. ), BUY IT: Redpack Whole Peeled Plum Tomatoes (12 Pack), $36 on Amazon, How to Make 3-Ingredient Tomato Pasta Sauce. I also decanted one can from each brand into a quart container, for testers to examine the contents whole. We taste-tested to find out if the fancy regional Italian tomatoes really are better than other canned varieties. All rights reserved. … For the blind taste test, I enlisted the palates of a few members of the NYT Cooking team: writers Julia Moskin and Ligaya Mishan, and editors Sara Bonisteel and Alexa Weibel. According to The Kitchn, San Marzano tomatoes are a specific variety grown in one particular region of Italy: the Agro Sarnese Nocerino of the Sarno River Valley near Mount Vesuvius. We found the quality of each brand to be consistent from one can to the next, but we can’t say for sure how consistent each crop of tomatoes will be from year to year. If it was summer and I still had my incredibly fruitful San Marzano tomato plants in the garden, I’d probably use fresh tomatoes … And that's a good thing, right? When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. You’ve probably seen this variety in the white can with just “San Marzano” written on the side. canned tomatoes san marzano is the best-canned food. Surprisingly, these tomatoes were almost universally disliked, with complaints about bland flavor and an “awful mushy texture.” Perhaps they'd be more tempting when tossed with pasta, but on their own, these San Marzanos let us down. No added preservatives means less concern about the… San Marzano tomatoes are widely recognized by top chefs, Italian cooks and food aficionados as the gold standard for taste. tomatoes in juice. If you’re looking for inspiration, try making Marcella Hazan’s perfectly simple tomato sauce, our favorite Instant Pot butter chicken, a bright shakshuka, or a hearty vegetarian ribollita (also a great use for those beans you bought!). Joe Cicala, executive chef of Le Virtú in Philadelphia, uses two types of Italian canned tomatoes, one DOP San Marzano and a pointy cherry tomato also grown in Campania called … So in an effort 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 Wirecutter’s parent company). 1 I Sapori di Corbara: Sua Eccellenza (520g): £4.95 A combination of San Marzano tomatoes in Corbarina juice. Photo: Michael Murtaugh, After testing, we examined all of the whole tomatoes and their corresponding sauces side by side. BUY IT: San Marzano Whole Peeled Tomatoes, $10 on Amazon. 4.1 Some major benefits of canned foods are; 5 How to select the best canned italian tomatoes… Cento San Marzano Organic Peeled Tomatoes, 28 Ounce (Pack of 6) 4.7 out of 5 stars 1,795. You may be wondering if San Marzano tomatoes are … Most editors picked this one as a prime choice for making marinara and it came in second place to the winner. Turns out that goes double for tomatoes and labels. Senior Writer Sam Worley picked this variety as the most balanced, while other tasters pointed out a lively acidity that in some cases, went a little too far. Best Canned Tomatoes: Are San Marzano Really Worth It? Epicurious may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Authentic San … These products are exceptionally tasty. What makes this variety so special? San Marzano tomatoes are the BEST kind to use for marinara sauce. But it turned out that comparing can to can was a lot more like comparing apples to, say, aardvarks. Each variety of cooked tomato was placed into separate numbered tasting bowls for a blind tasting with the Epi staff. Since we began working on this guide, in early February, all of our lives have changed dramatically. After pureeing pounds of tomatoes, potatoes, and apples in five food mills, we think the OXO Good Grips Food Mill is the most effective and the easiest to use. Canned tomatoes are awonderful pantry ingredient. The Cento San Marzano Certified Peeled Tomatoes ($2.60 to $5.70 per can) have a delicate texture that falls apart easily. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Back in the day, hunting down a can of them took time and effort; nowadays, you'll find a few different varieties on the shelves in most supermarkets. Six pack of 28-ounce cans gives you plenty to stock in your pantry. Our version, which calls for canned San Marzano tomatoes and a quick purée with an immersion blender, is easy, too: It requires a small amount of patience but delivers an enormously soothing payoff. What's more, they're actually grown in Italy, in the Valle de Sarno region, the only place where San Marzano tomatoes can earn the coveted "Pomodoro S. Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino" label and meet the E.U. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. And San Marzano tomatoesare often considered the bestcanned tomatoes. If canned tomatoes were cars, this imported Italian variety would be like the Ferrari: Fancy, flashy, and almost triple the price of the others. San Marzano tomatoes are often celebrated as the best canned tomatoes money can buy, but they can be a little pricey. Much like how Champagne can only be called champagne when grown in the Champagne region in France, San Marzano tomatoes must be grown in the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino region of Italy to be called such. Photo: Michael Murtaugh, We cleansed our palates in between tastings with saltine crackers, Italian bread, and water. Also, note that there is a nice beautiful tomato … These tomatoes are famed fortheir balanced flavor that … First off, it's the San Marzano variety of tomato, famous for its rich flavor, tender texture, and mild acidity. 's standards for "D.O.P.," or a "designation of protected origin". Gustarosso San Marzano Tomatoes, $7 on Amazon, Redpack Whole Peeled Plum Tomatoes (12 Pack), $36 on Amazon. cans at amazon.com La Fede D.O.P. Old-fashioned tomato soup is the ultimate comfort food. But most the sauces … Sclafani Whole Peeled Tomatoes. Canning is a method for preserving food in an airtight container that keeps the food safe from the environment and pollution. You can also find a rundown of the results, along with a few more recipe suggestions, on NYT Cooking. And although we liked some brands more than others, any will serve you well in a comforting pot of chili or batch of sauce. San Marzanos are the best canned tomatoes in the world, the crème de la crème, the gold standard by which all others must be judged. Rega Rega San Marzano Tomatoes ($4.60 to $6) San Marzano D.O.P. Best Overall - Carmelina San Marzano Whole Peeled Tomatoes Peeled Canned Tomatoes are very versatile, and it can be the only canned tomatoes product you need. Known throughout Italy as the best sauce tomato. Photo: Michael Murtaugh. The companies preserve the best … San Marzanos are the best canned tomatoes in the world, the crème de la crème, the gold standard by which all others must be judged. It had just the right amount of sweetness, testers said, but fell a little flat in overall acidity. One tomato in a can should be like, well, a tomato in a can. Furthermore, they … When a summer heat wave hits and you want to cook, the right gear can make all the difference between a sweltering kitchen and a reasonably cool one. Wrong. The price of yearly membership is worth it just to be able to buy these cans of tomatoes. Even setting aside the label, as soon as I opened the can, I could tell these these tomatoes were different. The biggest surprise? 1.9 San Marzano, Whole Peeled Tomatoes, 28 oz; 1.10 Tuttorosso Crushed Tomatoes with Basil, 28oz Cans (Pack of 6) 2 Related Products; 3 canned italian tomatoes: The best one; 4 Is it good to Eat Canned food? So take the ranking below with a grain of salt: Many of the recommended brands may be out of stock. © 2020 Wirecutter, Inc., A New York Times Company, Bianco DiNapoli Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes, Cento San Marzano Certified Peeled Tomatoes, Whole Foods 365 Organic Whole Peeled Tomatoes, Organico Bello Premium Whole Peeled Tomatoes, Bella Terra Organic Italian Whole Peeled Tomatoes, Cooking Tools That Keep Your Kitchen Cool, How a Meal Planning Service Made Me a Better Cook. Back in the day, hunting down a can of them took … All products featured on Epicurious are independently selected by our editors. Learn more. As it turned out, the San Marzano hype was all for naught. Sam loved that this variety was “sweeter than some of the others, but sort of a nice jammy sweetness.” Aside from being the best canned tomatoes we tried, these were also the cheapest. I wanted to test tomatoes that would be relatively easy for most people in the US to find at major grocery store chains or online. Garnish with crunchy, delicious Basic Croutons.Needless to say, great tomato … Yes, we liked some expensive brands, but one of the cheapest was also one of the tastiest. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. The best canned tomatoes to get in 2020 are the Cento San Marzano and the Ro-Tel. Having to peel canned tomatoes can be a real… San Marzano, which means the tomatoes were certified to be grown and canned in within a specific Italian region, and are held to a … Of all the models we’ve tested since 2013, the Cuisinart Custom 14 Food Processor remains our favorite because it’s simple, powerful, and durable. ( 12 Pack ), $ 7 on Amazon are independently selected by our editors Marzano tomatoes ( 4.60... Corbarina juice, Redpack Whole Peeled plum tomatoes ( Pelati San Marzano tomatoes in your pantry tomatoesare often considered bestcanned! 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