The Definitive Guide to the Tastiest Tinned Tomatoes in the UK!
The world loves tomatoes. We love them all equally in their various shapes and sizes and if we could, they would be incorporated into every meal.
But when it comes to the best tinned tomatoes. The quality varies wildly from tin to tin, making it extremely difficult to pick the best tinned tomatoes for your recipe.
Whether you are making a pasta sauce, moussaka or a shakshuka, the quality and type of your tinned tomatoes really matters.
With the incredible amount of choice on offer at pretty much every supermarket, it’s actually quite difficult to choose a high-quality brand & type to purchase for your meals.
Well. You are in luck!
We are going to give the low down on the best type of tin tomatoes to buy and we have also tested 5 varieties to help you decide which is the best for you!
We will start by explaining which is the best tinned tomatoes that you should be buying.
Which Type of Tinned Tomatoes Should I Buy?
This is an easy one.
Buy Whole Peeled Tinned Tomatoes. Every. Single. Time.
Whole peeled tomatoes are so versatile and can be made into practically anything you want. You can leave them to naturally break down the pan for a more intense flavour, crush them up for a pasta sauce or dice them up in the pan when making a soup.
Many of us pick up diced or crushed tinned tomatoes as we believe they are easier to work with. This may be slightly true, but these variations are known to have some pretty horrid additives added to them so they keep their shape whilst stored in the tin – Not cool man.
Anyway, now that it cleared up, let’s crack on with the brand taste test we conducted!
Which Are the Best Tinned Tomatoes?
This is the big question that everyone is asking isn’t it?!
Can you really taste any difference between a high premium can of tomatoes compared to a low-end cheap tin?
Will a more expensive tin actually make my overall dish taste any better?
All will be revealed soon!
Unfortunately, there is an endless supply of brands that produce tinned tomatoes in our supermarket – far too many in fact to test them all individually in a single setting. Therefore, we grabbed 5 of the most well-known brands out there and pitted them against each other to find out once and for all which tinned tomatoes is the best!
In order to keep this test as natural & fair as possible, we carried it out under the following pretences:
- We would empty the tinned tomatoes into a cold pan and heat over medium heat for about 20 minutes.
- We would then remove from the heat and allow to cool for about 2 minutes.
- We would then taste each tin individually and give it marks for sweetness, acidity, tomatoness (not sure that’s a word but we will roll with it) & saltiness.
The best tinned tomato brands we tested are as follows.
- Napolina Peeled Plum Tomatoes
- Cirio Peeled Plum Tomatoes
- Sainsburys Taste The Difference Plum Tomatoes
- Tescos Peeled Plum Tomatoes
- Asda Peeled Plum Tomatoes
Right – Now that is all cleared up, let’s get to the results of the test!
The Results – Which tin of tomatoes is the best in the UK?
There was one standout leader in our test. Can you guess which one it was already?
No?
It was the Cirio Peeled Plum Tomatoes! Those Italians know exactly what they are doing when it comes to tomatoes, don’t they?!
This tin was head and shoulders above the rest and really delivered a great collection of flavours that will compliment any dish you decide to make with them. It boasted a perfect amount of saltiness, sweetness, acidity yet retained a rich tomato flavour.
None of the other variants we tested came even close to the full-bodied nature distributed by the Cirio tinned tomatoes.
Now, we conducted this test to find out which would be the best in its raw form without any kind of seasoning or flavours added.
Whilst we had the other tins in front of us, we wanted to test whether or not with the right seasoning we could achieve the same great taste Cirio delivered with other varieties.
The outcome?
Kinda yeah.
If you are looking to save some cash and buy the cheaper brand of tinned tomatoes, with the right blend of seasoning you can get them tasting as good as the most expensive brand.
This blend of seasoning involves 3 tsp of extra virgin olive oil & ½ tsp of sugar, salt & pepper.
By adding this to any brand of tinned tomatoes, you are likely to achieve a perfect balance in the flavours and bring out the very best from each tin you use!
5th Place
Asda Peele
d Plum Tomatoes
Cost: £0.35
Notes: This tin was super acidic and we really didn’t enjoy the after taste. It was not sweet enough and overall, it lacked the rich tomato flavour we were looking for. One plus side to this tin was that the saltiness was just right.
4th Place
Tesco Peeled Plum Tomatoes
Cost: £0.35
Notes: Sweeter than we were expecting but it did not deliver on the rich tomato flavour front. It also lacked the required saltiness and we would recommend adding an additional ¼ tsp of salt if you are going to use this tin.
3rd
Sainsbury’s Peeled Plum Tomatoes
Cost £0.35
Notes: Quite good when compared to the previous two! It delivered a well-balanced affair of saltiness & sweetness with a subtle flavour of tomato in the background. Ideally, this tomato flavour would be in the foreground, but I suppose you can’t have everything for £0.35p can you?!
2nd
Napolina Peeled Plum Tomatoes
Cost £1
Notes: Despite being more expensive than the previous entries on the list, the Napolina did not disappoint on the taste front. The strong balance of saltiness & sweetness provided a great tasting blend and the low acidity did not leave a nasty lingering aftertaste.
1st
Cirio Peeled Plum Tomatoes
Cost £1
Notes: Truly the best tin of tomatoes on our list. It gets everything right in terms of saltiness, sweetness, acidity & tomatoness! If you are looking to impress the next time you make a tomato-based dish, then a tin of Cirio is for you!
Winner: Cirio Peeled Plum Tomatoes
Budget Winner: Sainsbury’s Peeled Plum Tomatoes
Andy
Ever since I started cooking I’ve been fascinated by how different people’s techniques are and how they best utilise the ingredients around them. Even the person living next door will have their own unique way of frying an egg or cooking a salmon fillet.
This fascination led me on a journey across the globe to discover the countless practices and traditions the world of cooking has to offer. I thought you’d enjoy and find value in sharing that journey with me so I created Cooked Best!