With so many tomato varieties, it can be hard to choose which ones to plant. We've gathered the best to help you grow the best crop ever!
Top 10 Best Tomato Varieties to Grow
Published on May 29, 2025
Sungold
With its golden fruits and extremely high sugar content, Sungold is the king of cherry tomato varieties. The vigorous plants grow 6 feet or more and produce long clusters of the rich fruity tomatoes. Beyond its exceptional flavor, Sungold is also early maturing, very productive, and disease-resistant.
Why we love it: You don’t have to wait long for sweet Sungolds as the harvest begins just 60 days from transplanting and continues until hard frost.
Jasper
For gardeners who struggle to grow blight-free tomatoes, Jasper is the answer. The resilient plants of this disease-resistant variety grow 6 feet tall and bear endless clusters of the sweet, cherry-sized tomatoes. The deep red hue of the fruits adds a pop of color to salads, or enjoy handfuls as you wander through your garden.
Why we love it: The 3/4-inch diameter fruits are not only delicious, but resistant to cracking.
Fantastico
As the name suggests, this truly is a fantastic variety — especially for containers, hanging baskets, and small space gardens. The compact plants grow just 18 inches tall, but spread up to two feet across. Fantastico yields a generous crop of glossy red, grape-shaped fruits that are perfect for snacking, salads, or pastas.
Why we love it: For such a small plant, Fantastico produces a huge amount of bite-sized tomatoes. Expect hundreds per plant!
Bush Early Girl
Early to mature and reliable, Bush Early Girl is perfect for pots or raised beds. The determinate plants grow 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall and start to produce a ton of 3- to 4-inch diameter fruits a mere two months from transplanting. The bright red tomatoes are sweet, meaty, and make a sublime summer sandwich.
Why we love it: The compact growth is easy to support with cages or 4-foot-tall stakes.
Backyard tip: There are many reasons to stake your tomato plants. First, it keeps the plants off the ground, which reduces the risk of soil-borne diseases. But tomato plants that are grown vertically also ripen their fruits earlier as they receive more even sunlight. Plus, you can fit more tomatoes in your garden when you grow them on cages, stakes, and other supports. And that means more delicious tomatoes to enjoy!
Blush
Blush tomatoes are almost too pretty to eat — almost! The glowing golden fruits are marbled in red and have a sweet, almost tropical, taste. Classified as a long cherry or Saladette tomato, the unique fruits grow 1 1/4 inches wide and 2 1/2 inches in length. The tall plants are very high-yielding.
Why we love it: This two-bite tomato is open-pollinated, so you can save the seeds from year to year.
Sunrise Sauce
Savor the flavor of garden tomatoes year-round by canning or freezing homemade tomato sauce. Sunrise Sauce is a superb paste variety with bright orange fruits that are sweet and meaty with few seeds. The bush-type plants are ideal for containers or garden beds and grow just 3 feet tall.
Why we love it: The majority of the blocky fruits ripen at the same time so you can make big batches of sauce.
Cherokee Purple
Famous for its rich flavor and burgundy-purple fruits, this treasured heirloom variety is essential for a tomato lover. The vigorous plants grow 6 feet tall and produce their large fruits from mid-summer through frost. The tomatoes have a flattened globe shape and are delicious fresh in sandwiches and salads or cooked into a dark red sauce.
Why we love it: The unmatched flavor of Cherokee Purple has made it a frequent winner of tomato tasting competitions from coast to coast!
Kellogg’s Breakfast
Considered one of the best heirloom tomato varieties, the massive fruits of Kellogg’s Breakfast offer the perfect blend of sweet and acid. Growing up to 2 pounds, the golden orange tomatoes are ripe and ready to pick about 80 days from transplanting. They also have thin skin and few seeds for an optimal taste experience.
Why we love it: The beefy texture and rich flavor makes this one of the most delicious tomato varieties for summer sandwiches.
German Johnson
German Johnson is a heritage tomato with old fashioned flavor and pinkish-red fruits. The large lobed tomatoes, which weigh up to one pound, are dense, nearly seedless, and have a mild acid-sweet taste. The indeterminate vines yield a good crop of the mouthwatering fruits.
Why we love it: It has the incredible flavor of Brandywine, a popular heirloom, but offers higher yields.
San Marzano
Bring a taste of Italy to your garden with this heirloom paste tomato. Regarded as one of the best sauce tomato varieties, San Marzano fruits have few seeds, easy-to-peel skin, and quickly cook down into a deeply flavored sauce. They’re produced in clusters of five to six fruits on dense vigorous vines.
Why we love it: Whether you want to make tomato or pizza sauce, or tomato paste, this is the tomato variety for you. The dense fruits have a rich flavor, hint of sweetness, and touch of acidity.
