5+ Best Tasting Hybrid Tomatoes to Grow

There is an ongoing debate about which tomatoes are better to grow, hybrid or heirloom. While there is a place for both types of tomatoes, hybrid tomatoes do tend to yield more and have more disease resistance than their heirloom counterparts. But heirlooms tend to have a more intense taste, and can have different flavor profiles, ranging from tart and sweet to savory and smoky.

Fortunately, breeders know this and there are some hybrid tomato varieties that try to bring that heirloom taste we love to more vigorous, disease-resistant hybrids. Below are some of the best-tasting hybrid tomatoes you should try in your garden. It’s difficult to keep a list like this short, so there are several other alternatives included which have also been touted by gardeners as having excellent flavor.

Disease acronyms: F (Fusarium Wilt); V (Verticillium wilt), TMV (Tobacco Mosaic Virus), A (Anthracnose)

Note to international readers: Many of the US-based seed companies mentioned in this article also ship internationally.

Best Tasting Hybrid Tomatoes

Chef’s Choice Pink

Award-winning pink beefsteak bred to have heirloom flavor while retaining hybrid vigor and disease resistance

Days to Maturity: 80 days
Type: Beefsteak, slicing; indeterminate
Fruit Description: 12 to 14 oz, flattened round shape, pinkish red color
Disease Resistance(s): V, F, TMV, A 
Get seeds: Totally Tomatoes (US), Hoss Tools (US), Burpee (US), Tomato Growers Supply Company (US), Eden Brothers (US), Seeds ‘n Such (US), Osborne Quality Seeds (US), True Leaf Market (US)
Alternative Varieties: Chef’s Choice Red, Chef’s Choice Orange, Brandy Boy, Big Beef

Chef’s Choice is an award-winning series of meaty beefsteak tomatoes. They are very productive and highly disease resistant. They are all round and slightly flattened, but the actual size varies by variety. Chef’s Choice Pink is the pink variety, and is one of the largest, meatiest in the series, and prized for its flavor, which is sweet and rich.

This variety was bred specifically to have the kind of flavor chefs love in heirlooms, but with the reliable production and disease resistance of hybrids. Because of its high-quality fruit and excellent vigor in the garden, Chef’s Choice Pink was designated a 2015 All-America Selections winner.

All Chef’s Choice varieties are great, but the Red, Orange, and Black versions all have excellent flavor as well, and are all AAS award winners.

 

Sungold

Phenomenally sweet and early-producing cherry tomato hybrid

Days to Maturity: 60 to 67 days
Type: Cherry; indeterminate
Fruit Description: Golden orange color, 1-inch fruits, very sweet and tart
Disease Resistance(s): F, V, and TMV
Get seeds: Johnny’s Selected Seeds (US), Renee’s Garden (US), Burpee (US), Territorial Seed Company (US), Trade Winds Fruit (US), Veseys (Canada), West Coast Seeds (Canada), Simply Seed (UK), Premier Seeds Direct (UK), Mr. Fothergill’s (UK)
Alternative Varieties: Sun Sugar, Sunpeach, Super Sweet 100, Sweet Million, Clementine, Golden Gem

Sungold (sometimes marketed as Sun Gold) is widely popular among gardeners and market growers for good reason–this variety is an incredibly sweet cherry tomato, with its golden orange fruits with thin skin bursting with sweetness and tartness when you bite into them. This might be the most intensely-flavored tomato on this list. Sugar content varies but can sometimes reach over 10%. For comparison, an average banana has around a 10% sugar content.

Sungold cherry tomato plants are fast-growing and productive, yielding ripe tomatoes after 60 days from transplanting. They also boast multiple disease resistances to Fusarium wilt, Verticillium wilt, and Tobacco Mosaic Virus. 

There are only two downsides to growing Sungold cherry tomatoes: they grow so vigorously that they can get out of control if not pruned, and they are more prone to splitting after a rain as they get close to ripening.

Sungold seeds are very easy to find, but if you can’t find them, Sun Sugar is a very similar variety. There are also lots of other exceptionally delicious hybrid cherry tomatoes like Sunpeach, Super Sweet 100, and Sweet Million.

 

Big Brandy

A hybrid of two delicious heirlooms, resulting in earlier, higher yields of big, uniform fruits

Days to Maturity: 75 to 80 days
Type: Beefsteak, slicing; indeterminate
Fruit Description: Large, reddish pink, slightly ribbed; 12 to 16 oz
Disease Resistance(s): None listed
Get seeds: Totally Tomatoes (US), Territorial Seed Company (US), Pan American Seed (US), Tomato Growers Supply Company (US), Seeds ‘n Such (US), William Dam Seeds (Canada), Veseys (Canada), Fatalii Seeds (EU)
Alternative Varieties: Chef’s Choice Pink, Brandy Boy, Big Beef, Madame Marmande, Burpee’s Supersteak, Porterhouse

Big Brandy is a super meaty beefsteak variety with rich heirloom flavor combined with hybrid vigor. This hybrid is the result of a cross between Brandywine and Big Dwarf. The result is a very vigorous, higher-yielding indeterminate hybrid tomato that retains the same heirloom flavor of its parents. 

This variety produces large, pinkish fruits that can sometimes reach 1 lb in weight. And unlike many heirloom varieties, Big Brandy tomatoes have relatively uniform, blemish-free skin, making them excellent for market growers.

While Big Brandy plants are significantly more robust and prolific compared to their heirloom parents, this variety does not have any additional specific disease resistance. If you live in a disease-prone area, some more disease-resistant alternatives are Chef’s Choice Pink, Brandy Boy, Burpee’s Supersteak, and Big Beef.

 

Cherokee Carbon

A Cherokee Purple hybrid with greater vigor and prolific yields

Days to Maturity: 75 to 80 days
Type: Beefsteak, slicing; indeterminate
Fruit Description: Large, dark red with green shoulders, 10 to 12 oz
Disease Resistance(s): None listed
Get seeds: Territorial Seed Company (US), High Mowing Organic Seeds (US), Totally Tomatoes (US), Seeds ‘n Such (US), Gurney’s (US), Holmes Seed Company (US), Tomato Growers Supply Company (US), Swallowtail Garden Seeds (US), Gaia Organic Seeds (Canada)
Alternative Varieties: Purple Boy, Chef’s Choice Black

The Cherokee Carbon is a hybrid tomato that’s the result of crossing two popular black/purple tomatoes: Cherokee Purple and Carbon. In recent years, the Cherokee Purple has become a very popular heirloom variety for home growers because of its meaty fruit with rich, smoky flavor. Cherokee Carbon takes that same umami flavor of both varieties but with greater vigor, more productivity, and harvestable fruit sooner.

Cherokee Carbon’s indeterminate vines will continue producing until a frost or disease kills them. Although more vigorous than its parents, this variety does not have any specific disease resistances. If you’re looking for an alternative disease-resistant purple/black hybrid, try Purple Boy or Chef’s Choice Black.

 

Sugary

Award-winning, prolific, disease-resistant grape tomato hybrid with huge yields of exceptionally sweet tomatoes

Days to Maturity: 55 to 65 days
Type: Grape; semi-determinate
Fruit Description: Small, reddish pink, 1/2 to 2 oz
Disease/Pest Resistance(s): F, Nematodes
Get seeds: Urban Farmer Seeds (US), Totally Tomatoes (US), True Leaf Market (US), Seeds ‘n Such (US), Nichols Garden Nursery (US), West Coast Seeds (Canada), T&T Seeds (Canada)
Alternative Varieties: Five Star Grape, Sugar Rush, Juliet, Valentine, Red Torch 

For those looking for a productive, disease-resistant, yet delicious hybrid grape tomato, Sugary ticks all the boxes. Sugary is a 2005 All-America Selections winner for its excellent productivity, superb crack resistance, and very high sugar content for a tomato, reaching as high as 9.5%. 

Sugary is also unique in this list as the only semi-determinate variety, meaning it will continue to grow and produce all season like an indeterminate tomato, but has shorter vines and a more compact growth habit like a determinate tomato. Because of its more compact growth habit, it can grow well in 3- to 5-gallon pots.

Sugary stands out as one of the best-tasting grape tomatoes you can grow. If you can’t find Sugary seeds, Five Star Grape and Sugar Rush are also very flavorful, and Juliet is your classic, tangy and sweet grape tomato variety. Valentine and Red Torch are also great substitutes.