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When You Should Actually Cook Your Canned Tomatoes By Maria Scinto Dec. 8, 2025 10:00 am EST

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Although conventional wisdom would have it that fresh foods are always better than canned ones, there are a few notable exceptions, with canned tomatoes being right at the top of the list. Even professional chefs use canned tomatoes , since they're always in season and make for more consistent results than using fresh but flavorless winter tomatoes. They can't be swapped out for fresh tomatoes in all recipes, however — no one wants a canned tomato caprese salad, and canned tomato salsa cruda is also not the best idea.

The reason is that canned tomatoes nearly always need cooking in order to develop their flavor.

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