Last Updated: April 7, 2023
Tomatoes are not the easiest garden plants to grow. As a result, harvesting tasty, fresh tomatoes is one of the most satisfying accomplishments for any gardener.
When selecting varieties, most growers seek out the best tasting tomatoes. So, in this article, I’ve rounded up some of the most flavorful, universally-loved tomatoes you can grow in your own backyard.
We have grown a lot of tomato varieties (and more every year), so we’ve had our fair share of bad-tasting varieties. This article is made up of our personal favorites for taste, and a few that are commonly regarded as winners.
Best Tasting Cherry Tomatoes
If you love snacking on your tomatoes in the garden, then chances are you love cherry tomatoes. So do I.
Cherry and grape tomatoes are my favorites to grow, and I spend every summer popping them like candy. Here are some of my top picks for flavorful cherry tomatoes:
- Indigo rose. Indigo rose was developed at OSU by Jim Myers, and is the first “improved” tomato variety with anthocyanins in the fruits. These pigments cause the tomatoes to blush purple when exposed to sunlight. More importantly, indigo rose has a delicious, sweet flavor. They’re perfect for snacking, and for adding beautiful, deep color to salads and sauces.
- Super Sweet 100. One of my personal all-time favorites is the super sweet 100. This hybrid produces 1-1.5″ fruits packed with sweetness and just the right touch of tartness to balance it out. The plants can grow super tall, and produce some of the largest trusses I have ever seen (several dozen tomatoes per strand!). If you want to impress your friends and family with truly delicious cherry tomatoes, try super sweet 100.
- Sun gold. You may be surprised to see hybrid tomatoes as some of the best tasting varieties, but fear not! Sun gold has an incredibly sweet, candy-like flavor that is nearly unmatched in the tomato world. You’ll get early yields and continuous harvests from this indeterminate variety. Want to try something similar? Sun sugar has apparently beaten sun gold for overall sweetness.
- Camp joy. For the best well-rounded flavor in a cherry format, camp joy delivers. This variety is more than just pure sweetness, it has depth and complexity that is hard to find in smaller tomato types. It also carries some disease resistance, making it a great starter variety with impressive flavor.
- Jaune flamme. This slightly larger cherry tomato has been a winner for decades. The apricot-orange colored fruits have a balanced mix of sweet and tart, making them versatile in the kitchen. This French variety is great fresh, roasted, dehydrated, in sauces, or on salads.
- Sunrise bumble bee. If you’re looking for a stunningly beautiful cherry tomato with amazing flavor, then you need to try the Sunrise bumble bee. The fruits have splashes of orange, red and green as they ripen. These plants are vigorous and fast growing too, so you can expect a bumper crop of delectable tomatoes, all summer long.
- Ildi. More grape than cherry, these small, yellow tomatoes produce early and abundantly. The tiny pops of sweetness will keep you going in the summer garden, and are perfect for adding gorgeous golden color to your meals.
- Amy’s sugar gem. If any tomato’s name can make your mouth water, this one might be the one. Jeff McCormack developed this cross between a red cherry and a larger heirloom called ‘Tappy’s finest.’ The result is a larger cherry type with exceptional sweetness and depth of flavor. One of the tastiest tomatoes!
While there are a huge number of tasty cherry tomatoes, this list is a great place to start. If you’re new to growing, you can’t go wrong with any of these scrumptious cherry varieties!
Best Tasting Large Tomatoes
While my preference is with the smaller tomatoes (especially for snacking), larger, globe-type tomatoes have their place, too. So, if you’re looking to make delicious tomato sauce, or grow the perfect sandwich slicer, here are some of the best tasting varieties:
- Cherokee purple. One of the most notable and delicious slicer tomatoes is the Cherokee purple. The unique brownish, crimson color is intriguing, but the flavor is the main reason to grow them. Cherokee tomatoes perfectly explain why people speak highly of “heirloom” varieties – the flavor is incredible!
- Brandywine. Another heirloom with outstanding flavor is the brandywine variety. If you’re in need of an XL tomato with amazing taste, this beefsteak type will deliver. Keep in mind, these will grow tall and require support, especially later in the season as the up to 1lb fruits form! Struggle with tomato diseases? Try the Brandywise variety from Fruition Seeds.
- Better boy. Another large variety, better boy is a great choice for anyone who needs to grow a lot of tomatoes. This super high-yielding variety has medium to large fruits and tasty, full-bodied flavor. Originally bred to improve on the ‘big boy’ variety, this one is a keeper.
- Garden peach. While not all will agree with me on this one, I think the garden peach tomato has excellent flavor. Not only that, but the slightly fuzzy, thin skin gives this variety an extra layer of unique experience. I love eating these in fresh tomato salads or on sandwiches. Learn more here.
- Berkeley tie dye. Coming in both the classic pink and also green varieties, the Berkeley tie dye is one of the best tasting tomatoes out there. These have won countless awards for their beauty and their flavor, so if you want to grow something special, this is a great choice.
- Rose de Berne. In Europe, the Rose de Berne is widely held as one of the best tasting tomatoes, period. The medium size has all the complexities you might expect from the massive beefsteak types, only in a smaller package. Easier to maintain and support in the garden, and beautiful, too.
- Gold medal. This variety comes from an Ohio tomato collector and was once called “the sweetest tomato you ever tasted.” With gorgeous bi-colored fruits of golden yellow and sunset-red, these are stand-out slicer tomatoes in every way. Eat them on sandwiches, in sauce, and dehydrated.
Most of these larger tomato varieties have potential to become a favorite in the garden. If you’re looking for a new tomato to grow with amazing flavor, you can’t go wrong with any of these.
Tips for growing tastier tomatoes
While variety selection is probably the most important step towards delicious tomatoes, there are some techniques you can use in the garden, too. Here are some proven methods for growing more flavorful tomatoes:
- Plant in full sun. Tomatoes love sunlight, so find the sunniest spot in your garden for the plants. Also, make sure to space your plants properly. Another common method to get more sun on your plants is to trellis your tomatoes and grow them vertically. This can save precious space in your soil by maximizing vertical space.
- Water less often near harvest time. While tomatoes drink lots of water, they have their limits. If your tomatoes are nearing ripeness, water less than you normally would. This helps concentrate sugars and flavor in the fruits. Too much water at harvest time can also lead to cracking, so this tip is a no brainer!
- Enrich the soil. Tomato plants use lots of nutrients throughout the season. If the soil is lacking nutrition, enrich it with organic amendments like compost, slow release fertilizer, worm castings, or blood and bone meal. Avoid adding epsom salt or eggshells, as these offer little benefit to the soil.
Share your top tomatoes for flavor in the comments below. I’m always interested in growing new varieties to discover even better tomatoes. With that said, I’ll always grow many of the tomatoes on this list!
Calvin
Hi, I’m Calvin, creator of Tomato Geek. I have over a decade of gardening experience and I love helping others grow healthy plants!
Last year, I grew 4 different varieties of tomato, including Homestead, Cherokee Purple, and Gold Medal. The fourth variety was Marion, I think. The community garden had to move from where it was last year. I think the new location will work out. The manager said that everything would be ready for planting on June 1; but, the last time I checked, none of the beds have been moved in.
This year, I am growing only three varieties of tomatoes: Better Boy, Early Girl, and Homestead. I’ve always liked growing Early Girl. My parents used to grow Better Boy and Early Girl. Last year was my first year to grow Homestead. I liked it well enough that I wanted to grow it again.
I usually eat tomatoes sliced up on a sandwich. I don’t have a favorite for flavor. When I have a lot of ripe tomatoes, I will dehydrate them. Then I can store them in a jar for a long time. The dehydrated tomatoes have a flavor similar to sun-dried tomatoes. They can be crumbled up and put in soups and stews. They can also be sprinkled on pizza and pasta.
Hi – have to say that this list is a bit “tilted” towards newer, sweeter varieties. Plenty of Americans are sure to like these. As someone who had quite a few years to enjoy New Jersey’s tomatoes, not sure many of these would make my list of top-tasting tomatoes.
IMO there are roughly “two” categories of tomato lovers: the ones who go for the sweeter, newer ones, who likely also like their tomato sauce to have some added sugar.
The other group are like me: go to any lengths possible to find that old-fashioned, explode-in-your-mouth all-out tomato-y flavor there is. Definitely zero sugar added to tomato sauce. And only want heirlooms (or possibly Rutgers) that are *safe* still to can, when most varieties are no longer safe to can unless you add acid! Last year found several Russian, Ukrainian, and Israeli varieties that came close – since no longer living with Jersey soil.
Right, can’t make a list of favorites without it being a bit biased and of course subjective! What were your favorites when living in Jersey?
I have annually planted some Early Girl BUSH variety tomato plants and they have done quite well. I am pleased to see your recommendation.”
Another variety that I have planted off and on over the years is BIG BEEF. Nice, great tasting tomatoes that only get as large as a baseball, usually slightly less. Whatchathink?
FYI…An experiment last year was for me to place my soaker hose DOWN in the same hole ( in my case, it was a trough because I ran my cultivator from one end to another making a 12+” depth… end-to-end in the soil ) to facilitate my planting and spacing between tomato plants. That way, when I watered via my soaker hose, ALL the water went directly to the tomato plant roots, no wasted water via runoff than otherwise would have been, if the soaker hose was laying on top of the soil and mulch. Worked PERFECTLY and even with more tomato plants… my water usage was less than previous years. Thoroughly enjoy and benefit from your Tomato communications. Thanks, TIM DEAN 50+ years of growing THE best tomatoes ever.
Glad to see you recommend CAMP JOY tomatoes. I successfully planted them for several years back in the late 90’s and early 20s.
IMO, they are THE BEST.
For a long time, I couldn’t find seeds and unfortunately, my seed collection was lost in my TN back to OH move.
Mr. Stripey is far and away my favorite heirloom! I grew it last year, and while it takes a long time to mature, the good size, fruity flavor and fewer seeds make it ideal for remarkable tomato sandwiches. I am surely growing it again this year.
Thanks for sharing! Definitely a beautiful variety