Paste Tomatoes
The best varieties for sauce, canning and passata, and how to grow a batch big enough to put up
If you want to turn your harvest into sauce, salsa or canned tomatoes for the year, paste tomatoes are the type to grow. They are bred to be meaty and dense, with thick walls, few seeds and low moisture, so they cook down into rich, thick sauce fast rather than simmering for hours to drive off water. This guide covers the best paste varieties, how to choose between them, and how to grow enough for a real batch.
Paste Tomato Variety Picker
Tell the tool what matters most and it will suggest a paste tomato to grow. Every variety here is a real type widely available in the US.
Which paste tomato should I grow?
Want help with timing and reminders for your zone? Open the Planting Season app.
Why grow paste types
Salad and slicing tomatoes are juicy and watery, which is wonderful fresh but slow and thin in the pot. Paste tomatoes are the opposite. The flesh is dense and meaty, the seed cavities are small, and the moisture is low, so a pot of paste tomatoes thickens into sauce quickly with far less boiling. That saves time, fuel and effort on a big sauce or canning day, and gives you a richer result.
The trade-off is that paste types are not the best for fresh eating. They taste fine raw but lack the juicy sweetness of a slicer or the candy sugar of a cherry. Grow them for the kitchen and grow a slicer or cherry alongside for the salad bowl.
Determinate vs indeterminate
The growth habit of a paste tomato decides how its harvest arrives, which matters a lot when you are cooking in bulk.
Determinate types like Roma and Roma VF are bush plants that ripen one concentrated flush of fruit over a couple of weeks. That is perfect if you want a single big canning day, because a whole row comes ready together. They stay compact and need little pruning.
Indeterminate types like San Marzano, Amish Paste and Speckled Roman are vines that keep ripening a steady, staggered supply all season until frost. That suits cooking smaller batches as you go, but you will need tall staking or caging and regular pruning of suckers.
Best paste tomato varieties
San Marzano is the famous long Italian paste tomato, a slim indeterminate type prized for sauce. Speckled Roman is a striking red-and-gold striped meaty heirloom that cooks down beautifully. Here are the varieties worth growing.
| Variety | Habit | Days | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roma | Determinate | 75 | The classic all-rounder. Reliable, meaty, low-moisture fruit that ripens in one flush. Ideal for a single big canning day. |
| San Marzano | Indeterminate | 80 | The famous long Italian sauce tomato. Slim, meaty, low-moisture fruit that cooks down into rich sauce over a long staggered season. |
| Amish Paste | Indeterminate | 85 | Larger heirloom paste with more flavor than most sauce types. Slightly heart-shaped fruit, excellent cooked. |
| Speckled Roman | Indeterminate | 85 | Red-and-gold striped meaty heirloom. Beautiful and dense, cooks down into a rich, flavorful sauce. |
| Roma VF | Determinate | 75 | Roma with built-in resistance to verticillium and fusarium wilt. The same one-flush canning workhorse, with disease protection. |
Growing for a big batch
To put up sauce for the year you want quantity, so grow several plants and grow them well. As a rough guide, plan on about 5 to 10 paste plants per person for a year of sauce and canned tomatoes. Determinate Romas make a big single-day batch easy because they ripen together. For indeterminate types, either grow more plants or freeze fruit as it ripens until you have enough for a cooking session.
Give paste tomatoes full sun, at least 6 to 8 hours a day, and rich, well-drained soil. Plant deep, burying the stem to the first leaves, space plants 24 inches apart for airflow, and mulch well. Feed with compost at planting, then a potassium-rich tomato fertilizer once flowering begins, every one to two weeks through fruiting.
Even water and feeding
Consistent watering is the key to a clean paste crop. Water deeply at the base of the plant and keep the soil evenly moist, letting mulch buffer the swings. Uneven watering is what triggers both blossom end rot and cracking, and paste types are especially prone to blossom end rot.
Feed for fruit, not foliage. Compost and aged manure at planting cover early growth, then move to a potassium-rich tomato or bloom fertilizer once flowers set. Ease off nitrogen as fruit forms or you will get a leafy plant and few tomatoes.
Common problems
Blossom end rot
A sunken brown patch on the bottom of the fruit, common in paste and plum types. It is a calcium problem driven by uneven watering, not a disease. Water evenly and mulch to hold steady moisture, and it usually clears up on later fruit.
Fruit cracking
Splits in the skin after heavy rain following a dry spell, when the fruit takes up water faster than the skin can stretch. Mulch and water evenly so the fruit does not swell in a sudden surge, and pick promptly before forecast rain.
When to plant by zone
Plant paste tomatoes after your last frost, once nights stay above about 50F and the soil is warm, starting seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks earlier.
| Region / Zone | When to plant |
|---|---|
| Cold North and Midwest and Northeast (zones 3 to 6) | After last frost, May to early June |
| Mid-Atlantic and Upper South (zones 6 to 7) | After last frost, April to May |
| Deep South (zones 8 to 9) | Spring and again in fall, skipping peak summer heat |
| Florida and frost-free South (zones 9 to 10) | Cool dry season, roughly August to February |
Plan your sauce garden in the App
Add your paste tomatoes, pick the variety from the in-app dropdown, and get sowing, transplanting and harvest reminders tuned to your zone.
Open the App →Plan your varieties in the app
This guide helps you choose a paste tomato. The Planting Season app helps you grow it. When you add a tomato you pick the variety from the in-app dropdown, and the app tracks it from seed to harvest with reminders tuned to your region. Pair Romas for the canning day with a slicer for sandwiches and keep them on one plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best paste tomato for sauce?
Roma is the classic all-rounder for sauce and canning, reliable, meaty and widely available. For deeper flavor try San Marzano, the famous long Italian paste tomato, or Amish Paste, a larger heirloom with more flavor than most sauce types. Use the variety picker on this page to match a paste tomato to what you need.
What makes a paste tomato different from a regular tomato?
Paste tomatoes are bred to be meaty and dense, with thick walls, few seeds and low moisture. That means they cook down into thick sauce quickly without hours of simmering to drive off water. Salad and slicing types are juicier and watery by comparison, which is great fresh but slow and thin in the pot.
Are paste tomatoes determinate or indeterminate?
It depends on the variety. Roma and Roma VF are determinate, ripening one concentrated flush that is perfect for a single big canning day. San Marzano, Amish Paste and Speckled Roman are indeterminate, ripening a steady staggered supply over a long season for cooking as you go.
How many paste tomato plants do I need for sauce?
As a rough guide, plan on about 5 to 10 paste plants per person if you want to put up a year of sauce and canned tomatoes. Determinate varieties like Roma make this easy because the fruit ripens together for one big batch. Stagger plantings of indeterminate types or grow extra plants if you prefer to cook smaller batches more often.
What is the best paste tomato for canning?
Roma and Roma VF are ideal for canning because they are determinate, so a row ripens together and gives you one big batch on one canning day. Their thick flesh and low moisture mean less time boiling down. San Marzano and Amish Paste also can well but ripen over a longer staggered season.
Why do my paste tomatoes get blossom end rot?
Blossom end rot, the sunken brown patch on the bottom of the fruit, is a calcium problem driven by uneven watering rather than a disease. Paste and plum types are especially prone to it. Water deeply and consistently, mulch to hold steady soil moisture, and it usually clears up on later fruit.
When do I plant paste tomatoes?
Plant paste tomatoes after your last frost once nights stay above about 50F and the soil is warm, starting seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks earlier. In the Deep South plant in spring and again in fall to dodge peak summer heat, and in frost-free Florida grow through the cool dry season from about August to February and skip the hottest summer.
Source: university extension tomato growing and home canning guidance.
See also: How to Grow Tomatoes and Tomato in the Plant Library