One Easy Step To Upgrade Canned Tomatoes Without Extra Ingredients

Canned tomatoes are a versatile ingredient worth stocking in your pantry. Whether you're preparing a creamy roasted tomato soup recipe, whipping up pasta sauce from scratch, or making homemade pizza, this staple is useful in all kinds of dishes. Affordable and convenient, this preserved produce saves you time in the kitchen while still delivering great flavor.

While picking shelf-stable tomatoes over those plucked off the vine might seem counterintuitive, canned tomatoes' quality is nothing to scoff at, especially when the red fruit isn't in season. But if you're hesitant to cook with canned ingredients (or you just want your food to taste even better), there's a quick, easy way to enhance this item's flavor.

While canned tomatoes are technically cooked and ready to use, their processing simply preserves them — it doesn't necessarily make them taste "cooked." If you want to improve these tomatoes' flavor without any extra ingredients, heating them to the point of caramelization will add complexity and richness to any dish. By removing excess water and developing the fruit's natural sugars, you'll be left with sweeter tomatoes and a better-tasting meal. There are a couple of methods to choose from, but thankfully, the process is remarkably simple (and sweet).

If you want flavorful sauces and soups in times other than summer, canned tomatoes are likely your best bet, but you can still improve upon them. Unlike fresh tomatoes that you can buy year-round from the grocery store, these canned fruits are harvested during peak ripeness — usually in summer or fall. While they're exposed to heat at several points throughout their processing (canned tomatoes are usually blanched for peeling and pasteurized for preservation), they still taste relatively raw.

To make canned tomatoes more flavorful (particularly sweeter), turn to the stovetop. After straining the tomatoes and setting their juice aside, expose them to direct heat and start caramelizing. As the water inside the fruit evaporates, the flavor will become more concentrated.

At the same time, the fruits' sugars will begin to brown, and this chemical reaction will create new flavor compounds that enhance the tomatoes' overall taste and sweetness. For a slightly slower (but hands-off) option, you can caramelize your tomatoes by roasting them in the oven. Regardless of which method you choose, however, cooking your canned tomatoes is a surefire way to bolster the flavors of your final dish. Besides, Giada De Laurentiis even cooks fresh tomatoes to make them sweeter, so why not canned, too?

Figuring out which canned tomatoes are best for your culinary creations can be tough. Crushed, pureed, diced, whole, fire-roasted, vine-ripened — the options can be overwhelming. Depending on how they're processed and seasoned, canned tomatoes' flavor can vary, especially in terms of sweetness, saltiness, and acidity.

If you're trying to find the best canned tomatoes out there, look for the whole, peeled variety. These will give you the most flexibility and freedom when cooking. While you can certainly use them as they are, you can also puree or chop them to suit your dish's desired consistency. Worth noting is that most whole canned tomatoes are preserved in either juice or puree. The former is better for meals with fresh flavors, while the latter is ideal for rich stews and sauces.

The type of tomatoes you choose also plays a major role in their taste when canned. The pinnacle of tomato varieties is the San Marzano. This Italian-grown plum tomato is beloved for its satisfying sweetness, low acidity, and highly concentrated flavor — traits credited to the Sarnese-Nocerino district where it originated. San Marzano tomatoes also have fewer seeds and are less watery than most varieties. (Just keep in mind that identifying a can of authentic San Marzano tomatoes can be tricky, as there are lots of imposters out there.) Fortunately, no matter what type of canned tomatoes you choose, caramelization will make them — and your dish — taste undeniably delicious.